I've been trying to start this post for the last couple of weeks but wasn't sure how to approach it or re approach it.
I started to move on to Intermediate series December 08, and blogged about it in the post reprinted in full below. There was quite a heated response 25 comments or so that you can read here http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-to-start-intermediate-if-your-home.html
This week I finally made the split to 2nd series, making it my main practice. That makes it took about six months of working Intermediate into my practice. Sometimes this meant Primary in the morning and Intermediate in the evening and sometimes half a week of one, the rest of the week the other. Sometimes I would practice Primary plus 2nd up to Kapo and other times primary plus the second half of intermediate.
What I want to do now, in the next couple of posts, is reassess that decision to begin it when I did and look at how I personally found the change.
There's also clearly a lot of tension around the issue of new poses and moving on to the next series. In the Shala the decision is made by the teacher, but for us who practice alone, at home, the decision is ours. There are of course guidelines which some may consider to be hard and fast rules. It all becomes even more confusing and murky when we consider Ashtanga historically and contrast how the practice is taught in Mysore currently as opposed to back in the 70's when you might learn the first two series and part of the third in three to four months.
My own views have probably changed a bit since the December 08 post too. Anyway below is the original post and here's the link again to it's comments http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-to-start-intermediate-if-your-home.html
When to start Intermediate if your home practice Monday, 8 December 2008
I'm Sure everyone has different views on this, Swenson's has this to say.
" The general criterion I offer for entering Intermediate series is that one should have sufficient knowledge of the flow of the Primary series so that it is not necessary to refer to any external source, such as a video, book, tape or diagram, to prompt the mind as to which asana is next in the sequence. It is also logical that one should be able to continue through the entire Primary sequence from beginning to end, without stopping.'
Ashtanga yoga: The practice manual p129
I flirted with Intermediate a couple of months ago but decided to stick with Primary a little longer. I wanted to nail my Jump Back as there are less standard Jump Backs in Intermediate and I figured, if I didn't get the kind of jump back I wanted before I started I might never get it.
I also wanted to be able to do Pachimottasana's better. My forward bend had improved but I'd never been able to get my calves to stay on the mat until recently. The improvement in my Supta Kurmasana was the deciding factor. I could now get my leg to stay behind my head and wanted to develop that in all the pada sirasanas. Back Bending was improving and EVERYONE goes on and on about Kapotasana, wanted to get in on that. and thought it would help me with dropping back.
Basically it just seemed right. It certainly wasn't out of boredom, I LOVE Primary series, and of course it still needs work but then wont it always and besides it's not like you stop doing Primary altogether. The plan is to do intermediate five days a week and Primary once a week.
The other factor was time. Moving my practice to after work meant I had more time. A new series takes a lot of working out before you get that flow going and can bring the time down. It's taking me a little over two hours at the moment.
First impressions? I have to say it's exhausting. This surprised me as a couple of times I'd done all Primary and then all of Intermediate as well and was knackered but still walking. Maybe taking it more seriously and trying to do it properly is making the difference. I mean I'm into handstand as you know, and yet the forearm stands are killing me, and how come the Shalabasanas and Dhanurasanas are so dammed hard, my thighs ache to ........ well to wherever aching things ache a lot to when they want to make a big deal out of it aching. Kapotasana.....forgetaba ,and what the hell is Vatayanasana all about?
And the Intermediate Jump Backs / Jump Through? What a mess, one that should keep me and this blog busy for a couple of years. If I spent the last six months working on one style of JB where to begin on the eight or so weird transitions in Intermediate. I mean jumping back from lotus, come on already!
Interesting thing though, Intermediate seems to be more about Jumping Through than Jumping Back. There's the whole jumping into asana which I haven't really touched on yet. If your NOT moving into Intermediate and are afraid this blog will no longer be for you, then I think The whole jumping in and out of asana will be as much for Primary as for Intermediate. Watch John Scott's jumps into asanas in his Primary video or David, Lino or Kino. It improves the flow more makes the practice seamless still. My Intermediate transitions so far this week? Laughable really giggle-able. Thank god I practice at home, how does anyone have the nerve to begin this in a public Shala?
Next : 21b Approaching Intermediate
5 comments:
wow... quite a discussion in the comment section of your old blog post!! Very interesting.
All I can say is that I learned 2nd in a very, very non-traditional way in a big, generic yoga studio and learned the sequence all at once. But did I learn it right? no way. Could I actually do it? NO! Some of it, sure- but it was lame. When I started a mysore practice with a teacher, I was taken way, way back- and for good reason. My practice (including quite a bit of primary) was re-built, and I'm so thankful for it!!
Do I really care what others are doing? Not so much. Go Grimmly, go!
Hi Liz, yes, it got a bit heated back there. My experience was very much like yours, I learnt it all in one go but found it unpracticable, too messy, awkward, no flow to it. I've had to rebuild it, and it's only now, six months later that I'm getting any flow to 2nd.......but I'm getting ahead of myself, tomorrows post.
Thanks for the link to the old post discussion. I found some great insights there. I can relate to Ursula's thoughts about the backbends. I started doing Sweeney's moon sequence at his workshop and realised how stiff I was in the back bends. So as I am far from starting the 2nd I will be doing moon sequence twice a week on my own, just for the back bends.
Anyway, great reading in this blog of yours.
I am looking forward to your comments about the Sweeney workshop, I gather you are there this weekend.
I'm an occasional reader of ashtangi blogs, and a late-starting ashtangi. I should declare my (non)-interest. I am so far from navasana that discussion of second series is totally academic. So I admit that I don't have any practical experience of much of this.
All I would say - like Liz - is "Go, Grimmly, go!" You seem to be on to the right track for you.
The old blog post and the various comments were fascinating. From that thread, Ursula's comments make a lot of sense for me. As far as I can tell, she too has had to work out a lot of things for herself.
I have practised in shalas and at home. I have also done some Iyengar yoga (although I much prefer "mysore style" practice for its fluidity and *silence*!) One of the interesting things about Mr Iyengar is that he really is interested in "research" - sequences of poses are constantly changing in his practice, and Iyengar teachers find it fascinating to follow him on his experimental journey. I have often wondered if the "research" bit of "AYRI" was a bit of an in-joke by Pattabhi Jois at Iyengar's expense, although I accept that small details of the practice change from time to time.
The issue of backbends seems to be a real hangup for Ashtangis. I have never understood the underlying logic for (say) putting ustrasana in 2nd series, while UD is in 1st. Ustrasana is often the first backbend introduced in Iyengar classes. If you look at Anne Nuotio's splendid backbending video (easy to find on Google) she talks about using the "2nd series" backbends as a warm-up for UD - and you can really see what she means.
Grimmly's post makes good connections to teaching more generally. I couldn't agree more. As an ex-schoolteacher, I remember some good advice when going on teaching practice: "use any spare time you have to watch good teachers in action. It doesn't matter what they are teaching". I wonder how many teachers of any yoga have done this, or indeed have watched anyone teaching anything except yoga since the end of their formal education?
Finally, a random thought from the teaching of music. If you are learning big works (Beethoven piano sonatas, for example), many teachers will use short extracts for pedagogical reasons long before the student attempts the whole work. When the student later tackles the whole work, they find some things in it which are familiar and which have already been learnt. This gives confidence.
Some teachers ask students to work on difficult pieces by starting on the last page, and working backwards. This means that the student is always moving from the less-well known material to something over which they have more control - this is encouraging and is a good way to maintain interest and confidence.
I know very few music teachers who apply one method of teaching to all students, and very few indeed who insist that every detail on page 1 is mastered before one is even allowed to look at page 2.
No fatou couldn't make it to the Sweeney workshop, had to work. But Susan of Susananda blog went and has PROMISED us a report.
Thank you for your long comment Claveciniste. Loved where you said you liked the 'SILENCE' of mysore style as opposed to Iyenga. I remember someone else saying something similar re Bikram.
We do get wrapped up with backbends don't we. I guess from the end of primary it becomes the big thing, dropping back, coming up, which they say you have to be able to do before yu can move on to 2nd making it a bigger deal than perhaps it should be. Then there's Kapo to cope with and finally Tic Tocks to worry about, backbends tend to dominate before LBH takes over. I think Ustrasana has to go where it does as it's the perfect prep for langu and kapo but I agree with Anna that
2nd series Backbends are good prep for UD and especially coming up. I did it that way around and it worked for me.
Re teaching I get to know a lot of music teachers in my Job (woodwind repairer and there are some excellent teachers but some godawful ones too. They seem to think just because they can play to grade 8 they can teach (sound familiar). The worst are Flute players or violin teachers who teach Saxophone, hate that.
What you say about music students learning extracts from larger pieces makes me think of Swenson's book. I love that he has several variations for each pose allowing you to practice through the whole series, using those variations where necessary. That worked for me with Mari D for example, what's the point of staying there for six months or two tears when you could just do a variation and move on. (noticed i wrote two tears instead of years but kind of like that so left it in).
thanks again for this. I feel bad that I only seem to focus on Intermediate here lately. I'm still practicing primary, still thinking about it, perhaps I should do some posts on some of the more wiley asana from Primary and some of the hints and tips I've come across or worked out for myself that have helped. I keep saying that practicing intermediate makes you look at primary in new ways, I should post on this. if i post a couple of hints maybe I'll get even better ones posted in the comments, always wanted this blog to be more of a resource than just a practice diary.
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