After some reflection I've decided to bring back the Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama blog title. I intend to stick with the 'Intermediate for a year' pact, in the mornings but I've decided to continue exploring Vinyasa Krama in the evenings. VK just makes more sense to me, personally, as a practice. Physically and temperamentally, however I seem to be drawn to Ashtanga. Perhaps I just want to explore Yoga more and don't feel able to do that here under an straight Ashtanga umbrella.
In the evening I've been pretty much doing some Vinyasa Krama anyway. A couple of Sun Salutes, Uttanasana, Maha Mudra and then into Pranayama and Chanting before my usual Meditation. This week I wanted to add the multiple Drop backs, prepping it with some VK Tadasana poses and following it with the extended Paschimottanasana before my PCM. In the future I'll explore some other short subroutines again. Basically a light pre PCM VK evening practice.
And of course as has been pointed out I'd already added a couple of extra poses to Standing, it was always going to be Ashtanga +.
'Try it (Ashtanga) for ten years! '
I've seen this a few times now. I don't know, but 'try' and 'ten years' don't seem to collate. I think Mad Men missed a trick here. Why would you 'try' anything for ten years. You may commit yourself to ten years, that collates, but not try. I'm happy to commit myself to Yoga for ten years, to explore it, study it, interrogate it, engage with it but Ashtanga seems to want to resist that and I find that problematic for me personally. You can explore it and engage 'with' it but only it seems within certain parameters, heaven forbid you try to interrogate it. It often times gets presented as a regime to be followed not questioned, fair enough but was it always so I wonder?
This sounds like I'm being critical of the practice and perhaps even of those who chose to practice it. That's not my intention at all. I'm not suggesting anyone follows this blindly. I'm sure everyone thinks it through, sometime or other, and makes a decision to follow that method and stick with it. I can see the arguments for not wanting to worry about the In's and Out's and just get on with the practice and let the teacher deal with all the logistics, hell we have enough to worry about in our busy lives, perhaps it needs to be that way to be able to practice it every day.
So the Ashtanga I'll just get on with and shut up about, though perhaps some posts on how it's going. Other posts though, will no doubt be on different aspects of Yoga and of Vinyasa Krama. I might even take a couple of Iyengar classes and find out what's going on over there, perhaps the odd workshop.
I'm also considering a month long workshop with Ramaswami at Loyola University Nr. Venice beach, California, June-July this year. Been thinking about it off and on for quite a while. I thought I'd be able to get a cheap room at the University for the duration but they don't seem to do that. If anyone has any thoughts on accommodation in that area for a month or if anyone else is planning on doing the workshop and thinks we can reduce costs by sharing or something then please get in touch (email is on my profile under contact info).
7 comments:
Wow, that 200 hour Ramaswami thing looks really interesting! I'm reading Desikachar's book on his dad and about a half dozen patanjali sutras at the moment, and revisiting Yoga Mala, there are books everywhere, it's an obsession. But I'm totally interested in Krishnamacharya at the moment, how cool to go hang for 200 hours with this guy who knew him!!! Have you seen 'Yoga Unveiled'? I just watched. Has a long section on Krishnamacharya, old footage, etc. Iyengar, Desikachar, Jois, and Indra Devi got a fair amount of time as his main students, but poor Ramaswami doesn't get a mention. I wonder why he isn't included with the Big Three people always name (Devi is often left off the list, too, maybe because she went to South America, maybe because she's a woman...?) Anyway, good luck with the course, I hope you blog it!!!!! Please, pretty please...
Still a BIG IF, Maya. I booked the time off work ages ago, intending to do it but it's a lot of money. Then I have to add on flights to LA, then house and feed myself for a month.I don't know, we'll see. It's actually TT though I'm not so much interested in that aspect. Just looks such a great course. He was going to be teaching it in the UK but sadly it fell through.
Ramaswami was teaching quietly in India for a long time I think, Mohan too, which is probably why they don't have the coverage the other three have.
Now can you imagine me managing to keep quiet about it if i did do it : )
I like your approach! 2 practices a day, wow! How do you make the time and energy for that?! I'm curious what your daily schedule is like (and eating schedule!)
I don't really think of it as two practices a day, though I guess it is.
i get up at six and practice Ashtanga 6:30 -8:00 ( occasionally running over a little but i don't have to leave for work until 9 so that's Ok).
I get home just before 6pm (twenty minute cycle to and from work).
I was meditating in the evening for forty minutes anyway. When I got into Vinyasa Krama I started to add a couple of Sury's, Paschimottanasana, Maha Mudra then some Pranayama and chanting before going into a shorter meditation, Takes about an hour between 6 and 7 give or take.
Now I'm slipping a little drop back prep and the multiple dropbacks to the mix between the Sury's and Paschi.
So it's all quite light, meditative, really.
Diet, Hmmm
Breakfast
half a oink grapefruit and a slice of toast ( nuttela or peanut butter).
Lunch
usually muslea/granola with a banana on top
Dinner
Often a Caesar salad with loads of extras. Half an Avocado, special croutons, nuts seeds and goji berries, couple of chopped dates etc. that kind of thing (ate that every evening last week). but i might also have a little light pasta, jacket potato, I don't know, something light. Weekend will be Japanese and Korean food
Was just over your place Christina, nice blog.
Thank you for that! Your routine sounds GREAT and I like the sound of your meals (especially that salad). Very inspiring.
I might start trying a similar evening meditation practice...
Thanks again!
Christina
hi Grimmly
i like how you write about things i only think about, and maybe blab about when you do. i noticed today that i have about 567 entries in my blog titled yoga and 79 titled ashtanga. i changed to titling my writings yoga when i felt that my routine was not exactly the prescribed ashtanga one, even though that was when i was seeing a teacher daily. maybe i should update the title of my blog as well.
i find it interesting that you do a small practice in the evenings. if i wasn't working such long hours and studying up until the time of going to bed, i would do a few poses in the evening. actually the concept sounds good to me. maybe i should try it at least once. or at least i should break the sacred ashtangi no practice on Saturday to do some research poses. it's so convenient to use the no yoga on Saturday rule to really slide.
then recently in my practice there is so much experimentation going on that it doesn't resemble this or that. i'm still at the mat, though.
my other thought is that if i am asked to teach an informal class to some colleagues at work, once they complete the area of the office where the Chinese doctor will have his office, i may feel compelled to see the local teacher regularly. if one is going to teach, then one has to follow a prescribed method, so that what one imparts has the wisdom of a tried and true system in it.
but then it makes me wonder if the reason that Iyengar teachers change the classes each time you see them is because their teachers always encouraged experimentation. when i started ashtanga, i liked that the system was the same. in Yyengar classes, the teacher would announce, "today we're going to work on twists", or "backbends". we would work on whatever the teacher wanted to do that day.
are you or aren't you going to do intermediate for a year?
cheers,
Arturo
No Arturo, I like how your blog isn't just about yoga but how it's shown to be part of your busy life. I'm sure it must be inspiring to people that you manage to keep some kind of practice up despite the hotel rooms and the travels.
I also think you should teach the class. As you said it's an 'informal' class. it doesn't have to be pure Ashtanga. The Sury's, some standing, a few good seated postures and Finishing, job done. Some of those little sub routines from the Vinyasa Krama book might be good. It's Yoga, doesn't have to be a proscribed method, it's more common sense than rocket science. Think of all those assists you've had over the year, come to think of it hands on assists are a little unusual, no? Krishnamacharya supposedly didn't use them nor does Ramaswami and I seem to remember Iyengar didn't either unless you count a slap as an assist : )
Am I going to do intermediate for a year...... yeah sure, why not. I love Ashtanga and seem to need it, for now at least.
BUT...
Have you been following the Yoga'ish blog (it's listed on my blog list) on the Goa workshops. The current ones are about Nancy Gilgoff's workshop. She talks about the different approaches in the past the 5:1 ratio of intermediate to primary of course but also the Alternating between the two. She says you should choose one and then stick to it.
The alternating one always made more sense to me and I think I'll switch to that, especially with all the drop back work I'm doing at the moment. i want to follow an evening drop back practice with a morning Primary. So I think I'll be doing that. of course that means three of each, but i know the series now so it's plenty.
Besides Primary is very close to the VK Asymmetric and Seated sub-routines, you can practice it in a VK kind of a way which is very close to Yoga Mala. Intermediate too is a collection of Subroutines, though a little different and harder to square the two. Still I think they go together well if your mindful.
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