Day 43 : Seated Subroutines breakdown

VIDEO LINK

Day 36 : Paschimottanasana (posterior stretch) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 37 : Kurmasana (turtle pose) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 38 : Purva tanasana (anterior stretch) and Vashitasana (after the sage) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 39 : SEATED : Chatushpadapeetam ( table pose) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 40 : navasana ( boat ) and urdhwa paschimpotasana (up looking posterior stretch ) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 41 : SEATED : Upavishta konasana ( seated angle stretch)subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

Day 42 : SEATED : Badha konasana subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

I find the Vinyasa Krama Seated sequence to be short enough to practice in its entirety, along with some standing postures and inversions, unlike the Asymmetric sequence, say, which is perhaps prohibitively long for a single practice.

If you have a shorter time to practice you can of course do fewer of the vinyasas from the different subroutines, the side twists from upavishta konasana but not from paschimottanasana for example or some of the hand/arm variations in paschinmottanasana, the others in konasana. Not all of the extra seated postures need to be practiced each time.

I like to do a mixture of Asymmetric and Seated subroutines, some of the Asymmetric hip openers, janu sirsasana,  maha mudra as prep along with upavishta konasana for badha konasana and padmasana, I might save the long paschimottanasana for after back bending postures as a counter pose.

Ashtangis might like to look at this Seated sequence subroutine  breakdown along with the one for the Asymmetric subroutines and see how Vinyasa Krama many subroutines they can spot in the Ashtanga Primary series.

In a sense Ashtanga Primary is a collection of subroutines, it gives some hints into how a Vinyasa Krama practice might be built up at the subroutine level. In Vinyasa krama we wouldn't have a jump back and through after every posture but perhaps after every subroutine or group of postures, a lead in and out of the Asymmetric postures within your practice perhaps, as well as of any from Seated or Bow...

In Ashtanga paschimottanasana is entered a number of times and there are several vinyasas of janu sirsasana and Marichi and some of the later shoulder stand postures have longer stays than the earlier postures. We might do the same in our Vinyasa Krama practice but where the Ashtanga Series remains fixed each day. In Vinyasa Krama we're free to change in which postures we stay for an extended period and which will will focus on employing extra vinyasas.

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 downloaded HERE. 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 42 : SEATED : subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

I mentioned in the previous post that credited working on Upavishta konasana (Day 41) with a much improved badha konasana allowing me to bring me feet closer to the perineum and the knees to the mat. As it's a favourite posture I sometimes like to include some of the hand/arm variations we find in the tadasana sequence as well as Day 41's Upavishta konasana.

HINTS/TIPS/SUGGESTIONS
To get deeper into badha konasana prepare with extended stays in paschimottanasana and upavishtas konasana.

Sit up tall lifting up out of the pelvis

sit as far forward as possible on the sit bones

As you bring your feet closer towards the perineum, keep a little space between your feet to allow the turn outwards as if opening a book, turning your soles up to face you.

To allow this to happen there is a rotation in the hip joint, this should not be forced but something that will come over time as you work with hip opening postures like those in the Seated and Asymmetric particularly the janu sirsasanas.

Mula bhandasana
In this version you lift up and sit on the heels holding onto the feet (there is another advanced posture where you roll your feet over so that your heels face forwards and your toes point backwards before sitting on your heels), engage Mula, Uddiyana and Jalandhara bandha

Padmasana will be looked at in more detail in Lotus subroutines

Gomukhasana has too different versions, one where you sit on the heel and the one shown here practiced in Vinyasa krama where you sit between the heels.

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 downloaded HERE. 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 41 : SEATED : Upavishta konasana ( seated angle stretch) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

Upavishta konasana is one of those seemingly straight forward postures that we take for granted. I must have practiced it everyday for a couple of years before I gave it a second thought.

Vinyasa Krama often helps you to see some of the seemingly straight forward postures as if for the first time. It's the Vinyasas entering and exiting the posture on the breath, going in a little deeper each time. It's the long stays, elongating the exhalations and engaging the bandhas and it's the subtle variations on the key pose, the different hand variations, the twists, lifts and counters.

Try building a practice around this one routine, give yourself a lot of time, a LOT of time.

I credit this subroutine with improving my lotus, making it more comfortable and allowing me to stay longer, I credit it with helping me to get my knees to the mat in badha konasana and for getting my leg down below my neck and onto my shoulders in kapilasana  a deep leg behind head posture.

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS

The usual tips apply for this as for all the forward bends. Lift up high out of the pelvis, shift your backside back, remember to fold from the hip rather than form the back and work your way into the pose, you have time here, nine variations, there's no rush.

On the side bend, leaning over to the right for example, I like to take my right hand and hold on to my left hip and twist in a little. Now reach over your head with your left arm and fold inside your hip. laying along the thigh to grab your right foot with your left arm. NOW bring the right arm around parallel to the mat and take the inside of the right foot and finally twist in and up between your arms.

Use one of the hip raises like table pose as a counterpose.

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 downloaded HERE. 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.

The grip in Padangustha Dhanurasana, Natajarasana and Eka pada raja kapotasana

Backbending is a bit rusty at the moment. With the colder mornings I'm leaning towards a light VK asana practice, including the subroutine I'm writing on for the Practice book, followed longer pranayama and meditation sessions. I'm never quite sure if back bending affects my sleep pattern so tend to avoid them and mostly stick to primary with a couple of light drop backs. That leaves Saturday ( finish work early) and my day off. So kapo for now seems to be just my toes and there's not much of a backbend in these but I still seem to have the grip and the shoulder rotation and that's what I wanted to feature

The padangustasana Dhanurasana is from last night, the rest from earlier in the year (as it happens I slept wonderfully and felt a lot less stiff than most mornings this winter).

Sweaty hands and feet by this stage of the practice are the biggest problem.



The same tricky grip as from Eka pada raja kapotasana and Natajarasana

1. Lift your leg up behind you bending the knee and bringing your heel towards your buttock but turn the foot outwards. Rest the back of your hand against the outside of your ankle.

2. Turn your hand palm outwards and take hold of the top of your foot.

3. Rotate your elbow outwards and your bring the foot up. At this point you'll need to begin the backbend to make the space for the elbow to come out and the shoulder rotate. 

4. Stretch up out of your hips, tilt the pelvis down and begin to arch the back as if you were preparing to drop back into urdhva danhurasana, continue to bring the elbow out and over to end up above your shoulder.

5. Natajarasana

Eka pada raja kapotasana

Here's the grip in slowmo in Natarajasana and Eka pada raja kapotasana

In the Vinyasa Krama context I tend to do these as part of a backbend focused practice. I'll emphasise the backbend hand variations in Tadasana, do most if not all of the Bow sequence which includes all the salabhasanas. Then I'll switch over to the Meditative sequence for for vajrasana to loosen the quads and do the kapo's before coming back to the dhanurasanas from Bow, including padangustasana dhanurasana above. I'll finish off with Natajarasana, drop backs and then a long long paschimotanasana and inversions.

Day 40 : SEATED : navasana ( boat ) and urdhwa paschimpotasana (up looking posterior stretch ) subroutine practice notes from Vinyasa Krama On one leg sequence

VIDEO LINK

Nice example of the taking rest principle in Vinyasa Krama. Navasana is a challenging posture that can get the breath and heart rate going, if it does Ramaswami encourages us to take a short rest.

The first posture (pic 2) is salambasana navasana, supported boat pose. If you find full Navasana challenging then you might want to stick with the supported version or do a mixture of the two, a few breaths in Salambasana navasana then an attempt at navasana before returning to a few more breaths in the supported version.

TIPS/HINTS/SUGGESTIONS
In Navasana let physics do some of the work.  Raise your legs but then pivot backwards on your backside as a counterweight to your legs which will bring your legs a little higher.

Stretch through the legs does a better job of straightening the legs than trying to lift from the feet.

The same goes for the back stretch through the back as in so many other postures in Vinyasa Krama, stretching/lifting out of the pelvis, try to flatten the small of the back as in yesterdays table pose.

If like me you have a pronounced coccyx then navasana is particularly challenging, try to avoid settling on the tip of the coccyx. I have to be a little above mine which means I need to place greater emphasis on straightening my back.

For the final posture  Urdhwa pachimottanasana you might find it easier to begin with gripping the ankles and finding your balance then as you fold closer to your legs shuffle your hands up you your heels.

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 downloaded HERE. 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.