Day 20 : Virabhadrasana (warrior) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

This is the similar to the final vinyasas of the virabhadrasana subroutine from the triangle sequnece

TIPS/HINTS/ SUGGESTIONS

We aim to stay in each position for three long steady breaths.

Ramaswami has us bend our knees slightly and lower the trunk, then from the bent leg position we raise the leg

As with parsva konasana the raising of the leg comes from the hip

Keep the standing leg bent as you stretch out the leg and arms

Visualise a rope on you wrist and on your raised ankle stretching you.

Now straighten the leg on the inhalation 

Focus on bandhas to help keep your steady and fix your gaze on a point on the mat.

Again, to raise the leg higher for the final position, raise from the hip.

Cautions

As with Day 12, Utthita parsva konasana, we need to protect our knee as we straighten and bend the leg

Use the back of a chair in the beginning  if necessary,

Don't go down too low at first.

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.

Day 19 : Utthita Padangushtasana (stretched leg-arm) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

My own Bête Noire of a subroutine, pure tapas.

Some discrepancies between the book and video. There are two main approaches to uttita padangustasana, one is to bring the knee to the chest and then straighten the leg out in front of you as I do in the video. The other approach and the one, the one I use now is the same as in Ramaswamis book, raise the leg straight up in front of you and then take hold of the big toe.

I noticed Ramaswami has us raise the leg on the exhalation, I've always done it on the inhalation, I tried it his way this morning and I think I like it, it feels more controlled, focused.

In every stage we should aim to stay for three long, smooth breathes.

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS

Ground your standing foot, from the big toe to the heel.

Ramaswami recommends engaging the bandhas, see guidelines Day One, basically, draw up the anus and suck in and raise the belly at the end of the exhalations and hold. 

Uddiyana bandha seems particularly effective for keeping the leg raised, really suck the belly in and up into the ribcage as much as possible while holding the leg out straight.

Sucking the belly in will also give you more room for folding over your leg.

When folding forward to bring your forehead to the knee, push the hip/buttock back, remember your uttanasana.

Lift up the buttock of the raised leg, I visualise that it's supported on some kind of Subway standing lean/seat

Don't drop the pelvis when swinging the leg around to the side

The squat is on the long slow exhalation, strong ujjayi will give more control

I find the squat here the easiest of the one legged squats, the outstretched leg with the foot held seems to give you more control as you lower. 

Folding over your leg in the squat imagine a rope attached to you foot and another to your hips and that your being stretched outward, your still wanting to be pushing your backside out in this forward bend.

To come up engage the bandhas strongly, press through the mat, raise up slowly with the inhalation. 

Coming up from these one legged squats is where you'll start to think there may be something to bandha work after all.

Caution

This is an intense hamstring stretch and forward bend so make sure you are nicely warmed up. The utkatasana and uttanasana half and full subroutines from the On your feet sequence would be one way to go or perhaps the Utthita parsvottanasana. The latter is an intense hamstring stretch itself but it's possible to work into the stretch in that subroutine.

Work up to the squat, lowering a little way and then coming back up perhaps on the breath. if your wobbling and swaying too much don't try to lower all the way or you risk spraining an ankle.

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.

Day 18 : Standing Marchi subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS

As with yesterday, Day17, slow steady breathing, downward gaze fixed on a single point and the engaging of the bandhas can help here.

Ramaswami suggests leaning forward slightly when we try to reach around the leg.

When bound, as we bend forward, we aim to ultimately bring the forehead below the knee but in the beginning can settle for first the forehead and then the nose.

We might entering the posture on the exhalation and then come straight out on the following inhalation. then as we become more confident stay for one breath and progress from there, the die is to work on remaining steady and comfortable.

the gaze will move of course as we bend but try to keep it in a single line, tracking from the mat to our foot and up our leg.

Ramaswami asks us to squeeze the knee tight against our chest on each exhalation 'squeezing as much air out of our lungs as possible'.

Caution
As we bend deeper into the bound pose we give quite a stretch to the gluteus maximus (buttock) so want to make sure we're sufficiently warmed up. The forward bends, uttanasana and ardho uttanasana subroutines in the On your feet sequence are a suggestion.

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.

Day 17 : Vrikrmasana ( tree pose ) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS


Ramaswami refers to the On one leg series as tapas (heat) or austerity postures.

My favourite austerity story is the tragic tale of Amba from the Mahabharata. Rejected by the great warrior Bhishma, the man she loves, Amba practices austerities, standing on one toe for twelve years in the snow. Siva grants her the boon (gift) of telling her that in he next life she will kill Bhishma.

Caution
One legged postures build strength in the legs, protecting the knees by strengthening the muscles above and below. However, while building up those muscles the knee is at risk in the one legged squats, especially coming back up so caution is advised. I've had operations on my knees in my youth so, while happy to squat down into these postures I still tend to come back up but putting down my hands and returning via uttanasana (forward bend) just to be on the safe side, especially in the colder weather, see video link.

Quietening the mind
No other postures seem to quieten the mind as much as balancing postures, if your having a sever attack of monkey mind one morning a One leg subroutine might be just the thing.

Balance
Balance can be improved by fixing the gaze on one point. In most postures in the On one leg sequence the chin is down as is the gaze.

Slowing and regulating the breath can help with balance as well, make your ujjayi a little stronger a little more forceful by tightening the throat, the glottis a little more.

Engaging the bandhas (see practice guidelines  DAY 1), drawing up the anus and sucking in and up the belly but not too strongly which might send you off balance.

Half lotus
Many find this challenging, don't worry, we get to work on half and full lotus in many of the Vinyasa Krama sequences, taking different approaches. In the Asymmetric sequence we have a long build up to half and full lotus while seated. In Supine we approach the postures laying down and upside down as well as in the Inverted sequence. In the Lotus sequence several of the Asymmetric subroutines reappear as preparation for full lotus.

I was thinking this morning that standing on one leg is actually a good first approach to half lotus. The danger of lotus is thinking it's all about the knees, bending and twisting and pretzeling them into position.  Lotus is actually all about the hip.

Look at the first picture, Bhagiratasana, we place the foot against the inner thigh. To do so we bend the knee, lifting the foot, then take the knee outwards bringing the foot to the inside of the thigh. The hip is a ball and socket joint, we've already begun to rotate the ball in the socket. To go deeper and into half lotus and Vrikmasana (tree pose), rotate the ball a little further in the socket, taking the knee a little further out and down which automatically brings the foot up towards the groin. Here's the bit I like best about approaching it standing, to go a little deeper still and bring the foot up a little higher into the groin we allow the knee to drop a little further. There's been no wrenching and pulling up to get the foot into position it's done almost of it's own accord and is worth remembering when we approach half lotus seated.

Of course depending on our flexibility we might knot get the foot as high up into the groin as we might wish, we may have to make do with half way up the thigh so we can support the foot with our hand. As we start to squat the bend in the knee will give us some support allowing us to let go and take the hand position, whether out in front or above the head.

Squatting
Gazing down, engaging bandhas, focusing the breath all help. At first go just as far down as feels comfortable then come back up.

We lower on the exhale, come back up on the inhalation.

Ideally we will lower all the way and stay for a number of breaths, 3-6 but on first encountering squats it might be a good idea to go down as far as is comfortable on the exhale and then come straight back up on the inhale a few times, then if we feel confident go down a little way stay for a breath, perhaps two and then come back up. We might also try it holding onto the back of a chair.

Binding
As with the Lotus we will come across the arm behind the back while holding onto the toe bind in several of the sequences, seated, reclining and inverted approaches.

While working on the bind we might hold the raised right foot with our left hand and then reach around with our right and hold the inside of the left elbow.

To get in a little deeper we can walk our fingers down our forearm towards our foot, a little further each day.

Another approach is to stretch up out of the pelvis, twist to the right and take our shoulder over and back as if we were putting our hand through a sleeve. When we have gripped as far down our arm as we're able or perhaps our hip bone we then take a firm hold and then straighten back up and realign ourselves as best we can.

Yet another approach is to put our right arm behind our back, the back of our hand just above our hip and then turn and then twist to the right sliding our hand over our hip towards our foot.

It took me quite a while to get this bind, I seem to remember wrapping a belt around my foot and holding the ends, working a little further down the belt each day, each week.

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.

Day 16 : Practicing Triangle subroutines inc. breakdown sheet

VIDEO LINK

Day 10 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes : Uttita Trikonasana subroutine Triangle sequence

Day 11 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes : Parivritta trikonasana (twisting )subroutine Triangle sequence

Day 12 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes : Uttita parsva konasana ( side stretch ) subroutine Triangle sequence

Day 13 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes : Parsva konasana ( side stretch ) subroutine Triangle sequence

Day 14 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes : Viabhadrasana ( Warrior ) subroutine Triangle sequence

Day 15 Vinyasa Krama subroutine practice notes :Parasarita padottanasana subroutine Triangle sequence

I first began practicing yoga in the ashtanga style of Patthabi Jois and a number of triangle postures, even a subroutine (prasarita), begin that style of practice. Ashtanga starts with a number of Suryanamaskaras (sun salutations), the second type of which includes a nod to virabhadrasana, after a forward bend, the next nine postures are triangle asana. 

Ashtanga can be quite an extreme practice and I tend to credit the fact that I didn't receive an injuries with the practice of the standing sequence, considering it to be warm up and preparation, "triangle keeps your safe". This is a blessing but also a bit of a curse. I find it hard to consider a practice without including some triangle asana but I've also tended to think of the triangle postures as merely warm up, preparation for the more challenging postures to come.

So when practicing Vinyasa Krama I include a number of Triangle postures directly after the tadasana sequence, sometimes with a couple of suryanamaskara sandwiched in between. As a rule I'll follow the order of triangle postures I'm familiar with from ashtanga, utthita trikonasana including the reverse twist but at utthita parsvakonasana i'll include the vinyasa Krama subroutine ( day 12) with the palms coming together and the one leg squat. I'll do the prasaritta subroutine next and then throw in the parsva konasana posture before moving on to some On one leg postures.

One thing to come out of this review of trikonasana subroutines is that I'll be spending more time in my practice on the parsva konasana subroutine (day 13) rather than just the key posture.

Another problem with seeing the triangle postures as merely warm up/preparation postures is that we can forget what an intense hamstring stretch is involved. In Ashtanga we would have practiced eight to ten sun salutations before moving onto trikonasana, the body and legs in particular are warm and well stretched out. In Vinyasa Krama we tend not to include as many Sun salutations and for this reason need to approach the triangle postures with caution. 

The utkatasana and ardho utkatasana subroutines from the On your feet sequence can be good preparation for the one leg squats in triangle and the Uttanasana, forward bend, On your feet subroutine can warm up the hamstrings for the intense stretch they'll receive in Utthita parsvakonasana.

Vinyasa krama subroutines often tend to include a gentle approach to the postures, we might enter and exit on the breath a few times, going a little deeper into the posture each time before settling into the full expression of the pose. We should think carefully before dropping that gentle introduction.

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.