Did a shortened practise today. Short in the sense that after the Sun Salutations I didn't come back to Samasthithii in the standing sequence and took vinyasas only after finishing both sides of each seated asana. Other than those modifications and without sacrificing the breath, I still did all the primary series poses plus more actually. I did some handstand preps against the wall and did more wall walks than usual. Still have a long way to go in deepening my backbends. But that's OK. I'm just curious to see how my body will adapt over time to Urdhva Dhanurasana, Supta Kurmasana and Marichy D. Hope all is coming indeed.
The intention was to get to my kids' pre-school before dismissal because the children were sent home earlier today. But I enjoyed focusing my energy on staying for up to 10 breaths in the poses, especially in the seated ones, and got carried away thinking that skipping the Samasthithiis and half the vinyasas really bought me much time. I was late for my kids. But in my humble opinion this "routine" was quite efficient and really "seamless" as my feet were naturally positioned wide apart for a succession of poses: Trikonasana, Reverse Triangle, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Parivritta Parsvakonasana, Prasaritas A-D and Parsvottanasana. I then came to Samasthithii for Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana, Warriors I & II and Utkatasana.
Had a chance to try Anusara Yoga with two friends who say the atmosphere at the shala is getting too "intense and competitive". Sure hope not. Loved Anusara but I'm sad they feel that way about yoga. Also confused by Grimmly who has inspired me to fast-track my personal practice of the primary series. Of late he seems to be practising less Ashtanga and more Vinyasa Krama in the tradition of Ramaswami and not Matthew Sweeney's. Om.
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4 comments:
Oops sorry if i've confused you. in what way though About practicing in general or about Sweeney and Ramaswami both calling their practice Vinyasa Krama?
Hello Grimmly, so nice to hear from you. I discovered your blog last year and admire how you are completely self-taught and how you innovate during practise, e.g. your 3 stages of dropping back and of course your studies in jumping through/back. So amused too at how you shun Asthanga meisters and their classes. That's why today (since more than a month ago) I now practise on my own, having been so inspired by your blog ;-)
And now I'm a little sad that you are now "torn between to lovers". Although I can understand your current passion for Vinyasa Krama, I'm fascinated myself after seeing some of the sequences online.
You are following Ramaswami and not Sweeney, correct?
Wow, you're a woodwind repairer! How interesting! Thanks for adding me to your blog list.
Yes Ramaswami, Sweeney's krama book is great too though I've never really looked at the sequences, I bought it for all the info at the beginning. There's a review of it at my place I think.
the good thing about practicing at home is that you can explore all this so much more easily. This morning i did primary but with more of a Vinyasa krama approach/focus and it seemed to work. I'm thinking a few days of that and the rest of the week my Vinyasa karama practice, getting more intimate with all these sequences and sub routines. I'm starting to envisage an ashtanga practice but with a VK focus and more flexibility. That way it's still Ashtanga, so you can play it straight if you want to and go to a Shala and yet if you feel you want to work some part of your body more then you can slip in a suitable subroutine.
I don't know, but it's interesting and I feel like I'm beginning to get a better understanding of this thing we do and it's possibilities.
That's true--about home practise--you do get to explore the poses more since you're not under any pressure to finish the series before the end of a class. I've learned to listen to my body more and tune in to how it responds to the poses, how it tightens up, recoils or unfolds. Although I still feel like consulting teachers from time to time and wonder whether I am being left out on some clever technique.
Guess what? I've ordered Ramaswami's book online. From an artistic point of view, I'm already loving the photos I saw on the net. The book I will study thoroughly when it arrives. In the meantime, I shall be reading up on VK from your site.
Hatha Yoga is the granddaddy of all yoga and so all these other yoga forms are really related. Even Bikram with all it's military-style backbending, I've seen can help assist Ashtanga practitioners in dropping back and standing up. So I am looking forward to including a "sub-routine" as you put it, into my primary practise too. I just wish I could spend at least 3 hours daily practising.
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