This was yesterdays practice. Today's was similar except I practiced most of the Bow sequence after Paschimottanasana followed by some dropbacks in place of the asymmetric and seated angle postures below.
Tadasana : 20 minutes of Key variations inc. hand variations, twists, squats, forward bends etc
Sun salutation x 3
Triangle element : some basic postures
On one leg element : Standing Marichi, Stretched leg-arm sequence, Natajarasana
Asymmetric element : Marichiyasana postures
Seated element :Paschimottanasana, Seated angle postures
Shoulderstand prep postures
Shoulderstand 5 minutes
Counterpose : Urdhva Dhanurasana
Headstand : 10 minutes (half and full lotus variations for second 5 minutes)
Shoulderstand : 5 minutes, Lotus variations, Halasana variations
Maha mudra
Badha Konasana
Padmasana (lotus) inc baddha padmasana (hands clasping toes from behind)
Kapalabhati
Pranayama (12 rounds nadi shodhana with pranayama mantra)
Mantra Meditation :15 minutes
Came to about two hours give or take.
7 comments:
Welcome back! :-)
Thank you Claudia, nice to be back.
Yes, welcome back indeed.
I hope you enjoyed the course and felt it was beneficial.
It would be such a shame if you never got back into the blogging habit. Despite reading a couple of very good books on Krishnamacharya, I had never happened across Ramaswami or the vinyasa krama book. It hasn't changed my ashtanga practice, but it's a great supplement and has changed many things that I apply to my practice everyday.
Out of interest, what stance does Ramaswami take with respect to doing a basic pranayama practice? i.e. what are the pre-requisites? I always felt a little perturbed that us 'Ashtangi's' are told not to go there until we've covered a significant chunk of the series. I'd be interested to hear anything you found out.
Hi Grimmly,
lovely to have you back! Have missed your blog. Hope you had an incredible time on the course. On the few occasions where I've been lucky enough to do these intensives John Scott (Kenya), David Swenson (teacher training in UK and practice in India)and of course Mysore (Guruji, Sharath, Sheshadri and Venkatesh - but not at the same time so no rules were broken - this disclaimer provided for the Mysore ashtanga police out there!) I feel they have set me up and reinvigorated my practice for ages.
Thanks also for drop back advice a while back - they're really coming on and I'm very pleased.
Probably slightly difficult to 're-entry' but wishing you a speedy and happy acclimatisation.
kind regards,
KateR
Glad to see you back in the mix. :)
Hi!
How was the feeling on the course?
Any insights that you will implement into your practice?
Greetings from Berlin
Thomas
Thanks Steve, sure i'll get back into the swing of things. Re Ramaswami's stance on Pranayama he seems to be very strongly of the opinion that you should start pranayama pretty much from the word go. The scare stories seem to come from extreme examples of pranayama where the breath is hold for absurd amounts of time. As with asana, approached with common sense and ideally with the guidance of a teacher there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Throughout the course, again and again he stressed the importance of a good pranayama practice
Thanks Kate, glad the dropbacks are coming along. Wow, you've been around a bit would be interested to hear how you felt your teachers differed, what their strengths were.
Realized I need to write a bit about the course and am working on a post now Thomas. Where before VK was having an influence on my Ashtanga practice I now seem to be settling into a VK practice that has a very loose ashtanga structure to it. Pranayama has become even more important to me and is as central to my practice as asana and I think I have a clearer idea of what I'm trying to do with my meditation.
Thanks Laruga, looking forward to catching up on what everyone one else has been up to.
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.