Developing a Home Practice Part 22. This practice we do can be exhausting

Great if we're practicing in Goa and can spend the rest of the day on the beach, going to bed at 8pm, but assuming we're working, how do we live with this intense practice. This question came up elsewhere and it made me think how I coped with this in the beginning and occasionally still do.

It takes time to develop the stamina needed for this pratice and it never lets up. Once you learn the first series you start working on improving your vinyasa perhaps, exhausting. Once your comfortable with that you start adding on 2nd and have that long long practice until the split. But 2nd is knackering too, so no let up there, and then it all starts again with 3rd. And of course you have off days when you seem to lack energy and you try to remember if the moon was full and if perhaps there is something to that lunar nonsense after all. The beginnings of a cold or end of a cold, a later night than usual, an extra glass of wine or larger helping of pasta. You can improve your diet of course and give up the drink and go to bed early but even then you have off days.

Anyway this is how I occassionally dealt with/deal with this exhausting practice of ours.

Taking the vinyasa after each Asana rather than each side helps conserve some energy. I've done that when I had a cold or was running late. I also did it when I was just getting the Jump back and wanted to conserve some energy and rather than try Jumping back and through each time approached it more strategically. When I was adding on Intermediate up to Kapo and getting really tired I sometimes did the same thing. How many Sury A' and B's are you doing? Dropping it back to three of each is acceptable, especially in the warmer months, or perhaps five A's 3 B's. Make the first four Navasana's shallow but the last one a good one.
Reflect on your practice weekly rather than daily. Focus on your Mari's one day but be gentle with the rest of the practice. Another day focus on Kurmasana's and another on forward bends. Over the week it evens out. I'm sometimes doing this with Intermediate at the moment, one day really going for it up to Kapo and cruising the rest of the series another day cruising up to Kapo and focussing on LBH. On my day off and Sunday I give myself a really intense practice and try and do each pose the best I can, the rest of the week can almost be preperation for these days.

There will be days when your practice flows and you seem to have all the energy in the world. Your present in every pose and float like a butterfly through each vinyasa. Each binding pose is fully bound and there's not a waver in your balancing asanas. Your strong and graceful, elegant and poised......Next Year in Jerusalem

Ahimsa (non-violence) is one of the Yama's promoted by Ashtanga, be kind to yourself.