I'm becoming more and more attracted to Vinyasa Krama. By Vinyasa Krama I mean Krishnamachariya's style/method of yoga as presented by Ramaswami in his book The Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga. http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/search/label/reviews I had planned on doing one of his sequences every Sunday until I'd worked through the whole book. However, being sick this week (bad cold/man flu/ stomach bug, not sure which) and not feeling up to a full Primary or Intermediate, I've been doing one of his sequences every day.
Saturday: On your feet sequence
Sunday: Asymmetrical SequenceMonday: On one leg Sequence
Tuesday: Supine Sequence. (was feeling lousy so only managed half the sequence)
Wednesday: Rest of Supine and Meditative Sequences (if I can drag myself out of the sickbed).
Thursday: Bow Sequence
Friday (Today) I just did primary as usual.
I'm enjoying this, feel I'm getting a broader understanding of Yoga, not just of Asana but also the breath and Bandhas. Interesting too gaining some insight into how Ashtanga was sequenced, the why and the wherefore.
As I said I decided to keep doing it this week because I was sick and wanted something a little lighter but these sequences are actually quite intense, bloody hard too in places. I can feel muscles along the whole length of my legs, following Tuesdays Supine Sequence, that I hadn't felt before
There's a different pace to the Vinyasa Krama sequences. I was going to say slower but in Ashtanga you tend to hold an Asana for five breaths, in Vinyasa Krama it tends to be three. But those three are performed more slowly and with the option of holding the breath for a count of three or five at the end of the inhale and exhale. Plus you often tend to repeat an Asana three to six times. There are Jump backs and Jump throughs in Vinyasa Krama, though slightly different in style and nowhere near as many as as in Ashtanga. They tend to come at the beginning and end of a sequence, although it's possible to add them at the end of each sub routine.
I feel I'm getting a much better understanding of the breath and engaging with it more fully. As a result my practice is calmer more peaceful. Bandhas are making more sense too, Ramaswami tells you too engage Mula bandha and then Uddiyana at the end of the exhale especially while holding the breath for a couple of seconds. There's more focus too on Jalandhara bandha (chin lock) which finally made sense in the rolling back Chakrosana (post to come), engage Jalandhara fully and back and over you go, very smooth.
And yet there's that concern that while your body is becoming better prepared within a routine for the the more challenging Asana, not doing the same Asana everyday makes you perhaps less prepared overall. That said within each routine there seems to be Asanas that would count as good preparation for the big poses. I'm talking here about Backbends, Leg behind head Karandavasana, Marichiyasana D. Backbends are OK because you can always add them on in the finishing sequence plus Dropbacks and a Karandavasana can be done anytime, anyplace anywhere but what about Kapo? It popped up (kinda) in yesterdays Supine Sequence and I did my best since coming back to Backbends a couple of weeks ago, after a six week lay off, came back up for the first time since then too. Bow sequence is great prep for Kapo too, I added one on at the end.
I feel I'm getting a much better understanding of the breath and engaging with it more fully. As a result my practice is calmer more peaceful. Bandhas are making more sense too, Ramaswami tells you too engage Mula bandha and then Uddiyana at the end of the exhale especially while holding the breath for a couple of seconds. There's more focus too on Jalandhara bandha (chin lock) which finally made sense in the rolling back Chakrosana (post to come), engage Jalandhara fully and back and over you go, very smooth.
And yet there's that concern that while your body is becoming better prepared within a routine for the the more challenging Asana, not doing the same Asana everyday makes you perhaps less prepared overall. That said within each routine there seems to be Asanas that would count as good preparation for the big poses. I'm talking here about Backbends, Leg behind head Karandavasana, Marichiyasana D. Backbends are OK because you can always add them on in the finishing sequence plus Dropbacks and a Karandavasana can be done anytime, anyplace anywhere but what about Kapo? It popped up (kinda) in yesterdays Supine Sequence and I did my best since coming back to Backbends a couple of weeks ago, after a six week lay off, came back up for the first time since then too. Bow sequence is great prep for Kapo too, I added one on at the end.
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/search/label/Kapotasana%20progress%20videos%20Dec%2008%20to%20Present
So I want to explore this further, perhaps spend a month or two working through the sequences and then see where I am but don't want to totally give up my primary and Intermediate. so here's the plan from this coming Sunday.
Thursday : On one leg and Supine Sequences Meditative Sequences
Friday : Primary Ashtanga Series
Before the Vinyasa Krama sequences I'll be doing Sun salutation (Ramaswami has the mantra version in his book too) and end with the usual Ashtanga finishing sequence and Dropbacks plus Ramaswami's Winding down procedure, basically Pranayama.
So I want to explore this further, perhaps spend a month or two working through the sequences and then see where I am but don't want to totally give up my primary and Intermediate. so here's the plan from this coming Sunday.
Saturday : On your feet and Seated
Sunday : Intermediate Ashtanga seriesMonday : Bow and lotus Sequence
Tuesday : Triangle and Inverted Sequences
Wednesday : Asymmetrical sequenceThursday : On one leg and Supine Sequences Meditative Sequences
Friday : Primary Ashtanga Series
Before the Vinyasa Krama sequences I'll be doing Sun salutation (Ramaswami has the mantra version in his book too) and end with the usual Ashtanga finishing sequence and Dropbacks plus Ramaswami's Winding down procedure, basically Pranayama.
What's interesting me about Ramaswami's book is the, if you like, pre sequencing. You just have all the one legged asanas one after another in order of difficulty, each sub routine preparing you for the next. then you have all the Supine poses say, or the lotus poses, half and full.
I'm considering the pros and con's of looking at my practice daily or weekly. In a daily Ashtanga practice you have a sequence of different kinds of asana and if you look at Vinyasa Krama that way then it suffers from being only one group/kind. But if you look at it weekly then Vinyasa Krama is covering all types of asana more fully. And each asana/variation, it's argued, treats the body in subtly different way. Over a week you might do the same Ashtanga practice, the same asanas every day, day in day out. Unless of course you are very advanced in which case you might do a different Ashtanga series each day, thus covering a similar range of asanas to Vinyasa Krama. In the long run perhaps they come to the same point.
9 comments:
Leg behind head Karandavasana??
I didn't understand at first that you were just missing a comma. Sounded like a VERY frightening pose.
No, no comma. It's like an inverted forearm stand dwi pada. Try it : )
I'm gonna go look it up! What madness is this??
Now we should just start making things up. Pincha mayurasana nakrasana. Just what it sounds like. Hop forward five steps and back five steps in pincha mayurasana. LOL!
Was kidding, but kind of want to try it. Pinch nakrasana! Must try that too .
Karen, I caught that too... and though I knew it had to be mistake, we ARE talking about Grimmly here! If anyone is going to try a leg behind the head Karandavasana, it would be him!
Definitely try Pincha Nakrasana.
hi Grimmly
i hope you feel better. i don't know if i can answer to your ruminations with gravity. i like your thoughts about that practice. but when i look at my daily practice in the last few weeks, it's not that different than you describe. i do a running sequence of asanas in between starting and closing asanas. that running sequence is different each day. so over the course of a week i have tried a lot of different asanas. doesn't that kind of sound like what you're describing? i do want to buy the book for a self gift for Xmas. i should start first with the MS book i bought, though. i must have missed the dwi pada karandavasana in your writing. (there's no going back to check or i lose what i wrote...)
cheers,
Arturo
Hi Arturo. It is interesting to think of your practice weekly rather than daily, though I wonder about the effectiveness. Does it make a difference if you work on backbends daily, weekly or say three times a week. What would be the optimum for developing the facility for deep backbends say? Any sports scientists floating around. I suspect that daily isn't necessary but that once a week might not be enough. Luckily backbends come into several of the Vinyasa Krama sequences as does hip opening etc.
Yesterday I did the seated Sequence and the inversion sequence. Must have been in headstand for twenty minutes or so, felt great afterwards, lighter than air going to work. In seated i spent a long long time in Paschimatanasana which again felt great.
After i've explored all this i'll probably go back to just practicing Ashtanga but I don't think it will ever be the same. I'll modify it a lot. Slow down some sections to focus on the breath more, longer Paschi sequence in primary. Add a couple more prep pose for LBH in 2nd, possibly sacrifice a few jump backs here and there. Lot more time in headstand and while my Savasana will remain only a couple of minutes I'll probably spend fifteen to twenty on Pranayama. Perhaps I'll start on 3rd sooner rather than later, maybe in a month or two, not, so much out of ambition but rather for the sake of a more rounded weekly practice.
Wondering where I can pick up a video or audio of Vinyása Krama. Would be much abliged. Send info to senin@inbox.com.
Even if it is your interpretation.
Sorry Sennin, as far as I know there aren't any Videos or dvd's as yet. My own video's tend to be of individual asanas rather than sequences and I don't really know of anything on Youtube.
I'm doing a lot of posts at the moment on the individual sequences and in the label section on the right of my blog there are a couple of posts on Vinyasa Krama practice routines that I came up with and found useful.
I tend to do a a kind of Ashtanga Standing and finishing with a Vinyasa Krama sequence in between. I've started to play with that format more and more but it's a good starting point.
There are some key asanas that Ramaswami mentions.
Sun salutations of course
Utassana (standing forward bend)
Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend)
Maha Mudra (bit like Janu C without the bend to the knee)
Sarvangasana (shoulderstand)
Sirsasana (headstand)
He recommends long stays in those asanas
You can use those five poses as a frame and add suitable poses around them. For example find Paschimottanasana in the book and look at the poses before and after in the sequence (seated).
At the moment I'm working through all the sequences. I do one every day for a week and then switch on to a new one. This way towards the end of the week the sequence becomes familiar and I'm checking the book less and less, seems to be working.
In a couple of weeks I'll start doing a different sequence every day and approach it that way.
Vinyasa Krama takes a little getting used to but I'm finding it rewarding.
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