Full Vinyasa Primary

Really nice practice this morning. I woke up earlier than usual at 5am, I know, big deal says the 4am crowd, made an under appreciated Brie and Fig sandwich (which seemed like a good idea at the time) and set up for practice.

Seeing as I was up earlier than usual I thought I'd have another go at Lino's Full Vinyasa Primary but without the video, that way I could take it at my own slower pace, take some extra breaths and dump the Full Vinyasa through Finishing.

Now the morning's are darker I thought I'd chuck down some candles I'd found lying around and make a feature of the whole dark mornings thing, try to overcome the feeling that I should be back in bed. Worked too, nice to practice in candle light, seem to notice the light change in the room more as morning comes on and you find half way through your practice that you can blow out the candles. Arturo, I remember you saying that you had the Swenson book open so it felt like you weren't practicing alone, well give candles a try, one either side of the mat, the shadows will make you feel your in a full shala.

Full Vinyasa is growing on me, I said yesterday that I found it comforting and I'll stick with that, great to set up fresh for every asana. Also, it feels good to stretch your limbs out after an asana and it's no wonder those old guys had/have such great floats up to standing when you think they were doing 40 of them every morning. I'm getting quite proud of mine actually, hips up higher and a nice gentle feet to mat.

I added in my Hanumanasana subroutine, changed Janu A into Maha Mudra with ten breaths each side but otherwise it was all primary. I slowed the breathing down and took five to eight breaths depending on the asana. I took a few liberties with Lino's full Vinyasa from yesterday too, I didn't split the Paschimottanasana's or Garbha Pindasana and Kuktasana, otherwise it was Full V.

Finishing was a surprise, I complained about Lino taking a full Vinyasa throughout Finishing yesterday and was grumbling as I followed the DVD, this morning however, it seemed to make sense. I feel it in the back a little after a 25 count Sarvangasana so it's great to come back up to standing before going into Halasana, likewise after Sirasana. It was good to take the full Vinyasa between Yoga Mudra and Pindasana as well.

The only draw back was that it was a long practice, two and a quarter hours from stepping on the mat to laying down in Savasana which only left me fifteen minutes for PMC. I felt pretty good afterwards, no more tired than usual though it was a little more sweaty but still nothing like it used to be when I was racing through my practice in an hour. Curious to do a week or two of full Vinyasa and see how it feels. I'm very tempted to get Lino's Intermediate DVD and try a full Vinyasa 2ND.