I consider Srivatsa Ramaswami my teacher and will be dedicating this evening Vinyasa Krama practice to him out of respect and appreciation.
Today is also, I believe, the last day of Ramaswami's six week Vinyasa Krama Teacher Training course at LMU in LA. It's a long course and I know how much Ramaswami gives of himself. I'm sure the current batch of trainees are as appreciative of his efforts and all he has shared as we were last year. I can't thank him enough for all he passed on to me in those few short weeks as well as the dignified manner in which he did so, which was an example in itself of how to conduct oneself as a teacher.
Though I still tend to practice the Mysore Ashtanga system in the morning, I do practice Ramaswami's Vinyasa Krama, as taught to him by his own teacher Krishnamacharya, in the evening and have managed to keep up the integrated asana, pranayama and meditation practice he taught to us on the VK TT course. However I could, of course, be more conscientious. I could spend more time on pranayama and meditation as well as on chanting and study of the sutras and other texts, this is where the re intensifying of my practice comes in
My morning Ashtanga too is strongly influenced by Ramaswami's Vinyasa Krama. This week I've returned to the Ashtanga 2nd series yet I include a large section of the Vinyasa Krama Bow sequence leading up to the 2nd series backbends. I also have some Vinyasa Krama Asymmetric poses as extra preparation for the leg behind head postures, I include maha mudra before badha konasana, have an extra long paschimottanasana after dropbacks and longer shoulderstands and headstands than the usual 25 breaths found in Ashtanga. I also tend to start my morning practice with a ten minute Vinyasa Krama tadasana sequence and may add a couple of extra postures to the Ashtanga standing section. The idea is to retain some degree of flexibility while retaining the integrity of the Ashtanga series. Too many adaptations in one practice and the serious doesn't feel right, it's a balancing act.
5 comments:
Grimmly, I have the sequences finished and I will send you a pdf as soon as possible, probably tomorrow.
Thanks Chris, will switch them when you send them through. They blow up quite nicely, was that photoshop, been trying to find the best way to do something like that myself, nice job.
Ashtanga rest day so some core Vinyasa krama and 80 rounds of pranayama, been looking forward to it, haven't had a full pranayama session in one sitting for quite a while.
Must be nice to have one teacher, i've had a few, but i always remember the lessons i learnt from them, even, perhaps most often the unintentional ones. Someone once told me we are surrounded by teachers, up to us whether or not we learn. Still, would like a guru to call my own ;-)
Hi エスタ, despite the title of the post I think I'm uncomfortable using the G word. I kind of know what it means from the texts of course and Ramaswami's excellent article in Namapura about his studies with his guru, Krishnamacharya, gives perhaps a better insight but it doesn't really translate cultures for me personally. I'm more comfortable with 'teacher', I was lucky in having Ramaswami as my first and as yet only Yoga teacher. I learned asana from books, and videos but feel I learned a little about yoga is from him.
Chris, I've shifted your sequences to a new post today, which includes Ramaswami's How to practice Vinyasa krama sep09 newsletter to add context and explanation.
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