Day 2 : Parsva-bhangis ( side movements) practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On your feet sequence

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After the backbends in Day 1's hasta subroutine I tend to do a variation of the fourth picture over on the left. I take my arms up twist to the left and then lean back, a kind of twisting variation of the hasta backbends. It was good then this morning to spend some time on the full twisting subroutine. Parsva bhanga itself, that leaning over to the side posture in the first two pictures, was something I neglected for a long time, I just plain forgot about it. Since rediscovering it a few months back I include it every morning, getting much deeper into the posture now than in the pictures on the left.

Balance is a problem in all of these, the trick I find is to really ground the opposite foot from the direction your twisting. So if your twisting to the right as in pictures 3, 5 and 7, press the LEFT foot down into your mat. However, as you come back to centre it's a good idea to relax the foot little by little as you turn back otherwise it sends you off balance.

Something I noticed this morning was the tendency to allow the opposite shoulder to the directing your twisting drift in a little. So again, if your twisting to the right you need to be mindful of your left shoulder, make sure you keep both shoulders back ( though allowing the shoulder blades to drop down the back, don't bunch), you should feel as if both your arms are being stretched outward as you turn on the big inhalation. Ramaswami talks of expansive movements.

My notes on these subroutine posts are just practice notes in the sense of my own experience of practicing the postures and sequences. They're no substitute for Ramaswami's more detailed instructions.

After this subroutine this morning I carried on through the rest of the on your feet sequence, then into some standing before moving on to the bow sequence, some drop backs and a little of meditative so as to include Kapo. After the backbends I used paschimottanasana as a counter pose and then carried on into the shoulder stand and it's prep, a long headstand and some baddha konasana and lotus work.

NB: These are practice notes that will be tidied up and put into the new edition of my Vinyasa Yoga Practice Book along with the current sequences and subroutines. The book can be freely downloadedHERE. There is a page on Facebook HERE with all the latest sheets and updates. This book is in no way a substitute for Ramaswami's Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga.