Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga at Home

Pranayama, Pratayaha, Meditation : Updated with links

2012-03-07T09:12:00.002Z

Playing with the image layering effect I mentioned earlier HERE. Good excuse for a reminder of the pranayama section at the top of the blog (just under the picture).

Link to an earlier mantra Pranayama post

Link to my earlier Pratyahara post

Link to an article on Nada yoga (something I'm exploring at the moment in my pranayama practice, post to come soon.

Link to my post on Ramaswami's meditation newsletter

Link to my earlier mantra meditation post

124. Kapalabhati p248

The following Pranayamas are taken from Ramaswami's other book 'Yoga for the three stages of life'.

125 e Nadi shadana 1;1;1;1

125 f Nadi shadana 1;1;2;1

125 g Nadi Shodana 1;2;2;1

125 h Ujaii with mantra

125 j Nadi Shodana with mantra

125 k Viloma ujaii with mantra

126. The Locks ( Bandhas) p250

127. Pratyahara - Sealing the senses p253

Some alternate pranayama and meditation postures from Vinyasa Krama

Virasana

Vajrasana

Padmasana

Siddhasana

Gomukhasana

Back from the cave, what did I miss? RIGHT SPEECH

2012-03-06T09:15:00.002Z

John friend/Anusara scandal,

Broad's 'Yoga's about tantric sex' sales pitch

Confluence

Vanity fair Ashtanga article....

Confluence sounded interesting at least.

So I've taken a breather from the blog for a month, shared a couple of bits and pieces here and there but don't really feel I've blogged, haven't commented much either. Actually that's not true, I've started to write a few comments and even a couple of blog posts but then ended up asking myself if it was necessary, timely, true, kind.... mostly I didn't get past necessary so hit the delete button.
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Right Speech
samma vaca

The definition
"And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech."

— SN 45.8

Five keys to right speech
"Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?

"It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will."
from the access to insight website
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So it's March, five years since I started Yoga/Ashtanga, thought I should write a 'What have I learned from yoga over 5 years' post but can't bring myself to, perhaps I'm just out of the blogging groove, feels too contrived.

One thing though that did come up that I find a little interesting. On the back of the whole Mysore? debate, should I go next year ....ever? I started to question the relevance of Ashtanga to me personally and whether, for me at least, Ashtanga had jumped the shark (started a post on that....deleted it).

So I quit, completely... kind of, never done that before, always kept up my Friday Primary at least, even when I shifted the main focus of my practice to Vinyasa Krama.

It took about a week and a half before I realised that yes it was relevant, the practice at least and that whether I like or not my life seems to be grounded by the practice, my diet, my peace of mind. Not sure how healthy that is but I'll continue to run with it for now.

Coming back I fished out the Jois led Primary from Yoga works and have been practicing along with that for most of the last week ( a nod to the Confluence as four of the teachers are in the video). I absolutely love it, seems to strike the perfect pace for where I am now, more on that later.

I'm still practicing Vinyasa Krama, pranayama, pratyahara (more on that to come too, getting interesting), meditation etc. in the morning. God I even chanted Om for half an hour last week, building up from ten second OM's to Minute Om's, interesting, never thought I'd do that, .more on ....well, you get the idea.

And as for blogging, I can't be doing with all the nonsense surrounding the practice anymore but I do believe that Ashtanga, that Yoga, can be 'learned' and certainly developed at home ( I know many disagree no doubt we'll get into that) and that it is ultimately a solo practice, think some of us should be writing about that.

Besides, so many of us seem to stop blogging after a couple of years and yet thats when it gets interesting, I want to read blogs or at least writing from people who have been practicing five years, ten years and more particularly twenty and thirty years, how they've managed to keep the practice relevant, managed to sustain and deepen it.

Five years is just scratching the surface, or the surface of the surface so come back perhaps in another ten.

USA YOGA, Championship yoga, Olympic Yoga really?

2012-03-05T07:40:00.003Z

Thanks to dtw for blogging on this a little on his Eightlimbsyoga blog, he did a post on the US championship youth division here, more importantly he linked to the US Yoga website, now there's an eyeopener. I took a look at the Adult division and have pretty much recreated the page below including the videos on how the judges are instructed to deduct points etc.

What to make of this, the first reaction is to shout no, no. NO! To stomp around shouting, "That's not Yoga!" and so on.

But on the other hand I've always been uncomfortable with the yoga snobbery(?) concerning gymnastics. " If you don't practice ujayii then it's just gymnastics", since changed to "If you don't breath with sound its just gymnastics". Yoga is supposed to be about focus, concentration, as if Gymnastics isn't. OK...it's supposed to be about dedication, commitment.....

You see my problem.

How about the 'gymnastics is just about the postures' argument, yoga is about more than the pretty shapes, there's pranayama, pratyahara, meditation..... but of course few seem to include those aspects in their yoga practice.

"It's not about competition, it's about changing yourself, seeking enlightenment, liberation"...again problematic I'd argue that's not most yoga practitioner's concern, at least in the beginning. Perhaps the yoga we practice isn't as far from gymnastics as we like to think, perhaps we shouldn't protest too much. Kino said something funny once, the difference between Ashtanga and Gymnastics is that the gymnasts are a hell of a lot better at the postures than we are ( very very loosely quoted).

OK, but we all agree it's not about competition... or about getting the fit yoga body but perhaps the other limbs will come. If yoga is your sport your going to read about it right, your going to study everything there is to know about it's history, it's philosophy...ask a basketball player any question about basketball and they'll probably know the answer (the crowd too), some of it might stick.

But then what about Judo, wasn't the soul of Judo lost when it became an Olympic sport? Perhaps it would be the death knell of yoga.

On the other hand (must be running out of hands) what about the question of diversity, yoga as a sport might bring more people to Yoga who wouldn't normally consider it, see this article on yoga and diversity. But then again diversity seems to depend on the sport so perhaps it wouldn't make much difference.

My mind was going back and forth all day until I watched one of the videos below again, I can't help it, no, no NO!

But I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise.

HERE for example, addressed to 'Respected Western Minds', is an argument that yoga competitions are nothing new, a tradition even, in India. If you make it to the bottom of the article you'll even find this

'Mallakhamb is also a very nice Yoga Sport. You can see it at www.yogainair.com. Mallakhamb Yoga is Korunta Yoga, Yogacharya Iyengar works in Korunta. And Korunta Yoga and Mallakabhm came from Pune and Mombai. If you practice Korunta Yoga you work in Yoga Sport. Yogacharya Jois has worked in Athletic Yoga for many years. Yogacharya Krishnamacharya worked in Athletic Yoga for years'. Swami Shankarananda, sent to the International Yoga Federation

There's an IYF, who knew?

Be nice though...... with these links there are going to be kids visiting this post who practice the postures for hours in their bedrooms working on their sthira (steadiness) and sukha (comfort) with just as much commitment as we bring to our morning Ashtanga or Vinyasa Krama practice, perhaps more. We forget that sometimes when we give Bikram yoga a hard time or Anusura for that matter. Take a look at the Bikram and Anusara blogs, everyone is doing their practice with as much sincerity and enthusiasm as anyone else. Must be some USA yoga championship blogs out there, if anyone knows of a good one let me know.

Discussing this on FB yesterday J. asked the question 'To what purpose?' Something we should perhaps have written above the door of every Shala and yoga studio, framed in the home practice rooms and perhaps somewhere on that USAYOGA banner.

USA YOGA

Adult Postures

STANDING HEAD TO KNEE POSE – 4 parts
How to perform the posture:

Stand with feet together, shift body weight to standing leg (leg closest to the judges) and lock the knee (leg straight and thigh muscle contracted). Pick up the other foot, interlocked fingers, thumbs with the index finger, holding underneath the ball of the foot. Look forward.
Kick the heel of the raised foot forward until leg is straight and parallel to floor. Arms straight, eyes focused forward, body weight distributed evenly throughout standing foot. Lock both knees.
Wrists straight, bend the elbows down towards the floor. Keep the elbows touching against the calf muscle, and extend the elbows below the calf muscle. Both legs straight, both knees locked. Eyes still focused forward.
Tuck the chin to the chest and bring the head down, rounding spine, touch the forehead to the knee, both knees locked. Maintain balance for at least 5 counts.
To reverse – bring head up, look forward. Re-straighten arms, both legs locked, focus forward. Bend kicking leg and release foot to floor. Pause long enough to demonstrate control in each step as you exit the posture.

NOTE: The competitor chooses which leg to stand on, standing leg must be closest to the judges.