1. Baddha Konasana #proficientprimaryproject

1. Baddha Konasana 

If we can promote advanced asana through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and work on proficiency there. Ramaswami and his teacher Krishnamacharya suggest timing how long we stayed in a posture, then repeat it staying the same length of time but taking only half the number of breaths.

Here I'm working on 8-10 second inhalation, equal exhalation and a 2-5 second kumbhaka (breath retention, here retaining the breath out) at the end of the exhalation. Staying in that posture for five to ten minutes. Padmasana is a counter posture and feels much more comfortable following a longer baddha konasana. For this reason I tend to shift it to the end of my practice just before my Pranayama and Sit.

If you don't want to explore such long stays in regular practice this makes a nice pre-Sit evening practice. Five minutes each side in Maha mudra (janu sirsasana A without folding forward and long slow inhalations and exhalations perhaps with jalandhara banndha and kumbhaka 5-10 seconds after the inhalation), then baddha konasana, Siddhasana for some Nadi Shodhana pranayama perhaps and then padmasana (or other preferred meditation posture) for your Sit.

Appendix

See the proficient primary project page for more

About the Proficient Primary Project

Proficient Primary Project. #proficientprimaryproject

If advanced asana can be endlessly promoted through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and the proficiency we can explore there, in postures that most can approach. 

On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/grimmly2016/

In Krishnamacharya table of asana in Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941) he included three groups of asana, Primary, Middle and Proficient. Primary and Middle were turned into the Primary and Intermediate (2nd) series by Krishnamacharya's student Pattabhi Jois mostly following the order of the table. The proficient group with other asana Krishnamacharya was teaching at the time came to be taught by Pattabhi Jois as Advanced series A and B (later 3rd,4th, 5th and 6th series). I'm choosing in this project to think of proficiency as an approach to asana rather than a category of asana. Few will manage to practice all the asana Pattabhi Jois and Krishnamacharya presented, Krishnamacharya never thought it necessary that we should ( although perhaps a few of us). Krishnamacharya never it seems intended asana to be fixed in a series, most of us will never complete 2nd series, many will not complete Primary. However if we maintain our practice for a number of years, even if we practice only half the primary group or series of asana along with our pranayama we can still develop proficiency in our asana practice, explore the asana we have in ever more subtlety of breath and bandha and focus. Advanced practice can look like this.

It is not necessary to switch ones whole practice overnight ( if at all) to longer, slower breathing with longer stays and perhaps kumbhaka, resulting in less asana practiced. We might begin with just one asana, a different asana each practice. Regular Ashtanga of course already includes longer stays in finishing.

Sharath in baddha konasana

I had thought about making my earlier post on 9 years of home practice  my last (not for the first time) but perhaps this might make a nice direction for the blog, exploring Primary asana and perhaps some more basic Intermediate series/group asana with more proficiency. Not so much getting lost in technique and alignment, which can be yet more distraction but exploring the possibilities of the breath ( it may well be that the breath improves the alignment which in improves the breath).

And perhaps to look again at the so called Ashtanga Rishi approach project, less asana with longer stays but this time with longer, slower breathing and Kumbhaka just as Krishnamacharya presented in Mysore in the1930s when Pattabhi Jois was his student.

Advanced asana aren't intrinsically bad, it depends on our motives and intentions in practicing them, I had as much Asana madness as anyone.

from my previous post....

These (advanced ) asana were fun to explore over a period of three to four year but at some point it may feel time to put the toys away and look for something more. Some manage to do both of course, play/explore/research the more intricate and physically demanding asana ( and Krishnamacharya hoped a few would) and still go deeper into the practice. Personally I just wanted to breathe more slowly, which meant less asana and less asana and at my age meant less of the intermediate and advanced asana.

A hashtag?

#proficientprimaryproject

Update: In response to a question: Can I join the 'project' and use the hashtag? Yes of course , please do, add the hashtag to your own proficient primary photos/videos 

Uddiyana bandha

Most of the pictures I'll be posting in the Proficient Primary Project will show a deep uddiyana bandha, this is to draw attention to the focus on the breath (long and slow) and in particular the kumbhaka (retaining the breath in or out). Such a dramatic Uddiyana bandha as in the photos tends to be practiced on the hold at the end of the exhalation. 

Exhale fully and before inhaling draw the belly, below and above the navel, in and up. Mula bandha will follow. Hold for 2-5 seconds.