The other practice

I've been writing a lot about Ashtanga recently but what about the other practice. Quite delightful actually, thank you for asking.

I seem to have reached a degree of peace over the whole Ashtanga Vs Vinyasa Krama dilemmas. Which to practice?  How to Practice them ? Do I practice VK in an Ashtanga way or Ashtanga with a strong VK influence.

The solution? I practice both, obviously.

I was practicing Ashtanga in the mornings, VK in the evening but then my lower back started playing up in the colder weather so I switched them around.

This week the back has been feeling better and I've practiced ashtanga in the mornings, first couple of Sury's a little stiff but then it's been fine.

I love my Ashtanga, I just do. It's familiar, I know where I am, I just flow through the practice constantly bringing the mind gently back to the breath.

Knowing I have my Ashtanga in the bag, as it were, I can take it easy with my Vinyasa Krama. There's always that tendency in VK to krama in too many postures. But with my ashtanga I know I'm covering a wide range of postures including a decent paschimottanasana, sarvangasana (shoulder stand) and sirsasana (headstand), key daily postures in Vinyasa krama.

It's liberating I can take my time with a little tadasana, pick a couple of extra standing vinyasas and then a subroutine, just as I'd was approaching it over the last three months writing up the VK Practice book. By having fewer postures to practice I can really milk them re the breath, working into the postures, staying longer, elongating the exhalation and inhalations, employing Kumbhaka (breath retention) and some serious bandha work, it's been a joy.

And of course because I'm able to keep the asana practice shorter by not trying to cram in too many postures I can have more time for pranayama and pratyhara (which I've always wanted focus on more, still see it as the cinderella limb) and for a decent sit.

And because I'm having a good Vinyasa Krama practice I don't feel the need to mess up the ashtanga too much, I can practice it pretty straight though perhaps a little slower than I used to, less flashy, conserving energy more.

Finally some balance between the two, taken a while.