In the wake of yesterday's interview with Guy (for the May issue of Living Mysore Magazine, I am grasping for some firm ground. The conclusion?
No too tight, not too loose.
Obsess and don't obsess. Find the middle ground.
What keeps speaking to me is this question, "why are we doing this yoga?" The answer keeps coming as "to transform".
Example. My body is physically changing. It is adapting to the new challenges of my practice, it is getting stronger, lighter, and the shape is slowly shifting.
Example. My mind is changing. Thinking of the physical aspects of practice, there is no one day that I am performing. I am not practicing and practicing these postures so that one day I can show them off. I can't just fast so that the next day I "feel light" and then can do a certain posture. The choices I make for what I put into my body are long-term habit changes. Every day is the performance, everyday is the practice. Everything has to change.
Example. But why does it have to change? Am I obsessing over asana? Kind of, but not really. I am obsessing over cultivating mindfulness in my thoughts and actions. It is watching myself as I move through the world the entire 22 hours until the next asana session. The whole day is "doing yoga".
On this entire physical/mental shift fostered by the asana practice, it is interesting how one would think that "oh everything is perfect and now I will just work on this one thing", when actually this one thing effects everything else. I remember when I did this workshop with this Ayurvedic teacher that was all about Mind Body Centering and she was talking about how when you get an organ removed, that sickness and pain that was there is still there because the issue was never solved. How could it still linger even when the physical organ was gone? It is simple. Everything in the body is connected to everything else. When an organ is removed, the body doesn't think, "okay, the right kidney is gone, oh well." In this same way, getting a new posture changes your entire practice and then changes your entire life. Everything is different, everything is connected.
Excited about this Danny Paradise workshop coming up at Om Factory next week. It is always interesting to hear different points of view. Also hyped about Mysore, so I dug up this info to inspire!
Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore, India
General Mysore Info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_JswBti28
http://www.livingmysore.com/
Ajay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuquyM5VXg
http://www.sthalam8.com/index.php?sub_page=ajay
Sheshadari
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=574KxzmIH3E
http://mandala.ashtanga.org/index.php/sheshadri
BNS Iyengar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClWOwVHvLQU
http://ashtanga.org/lineage/bns_iyengar.shtml
Sharath/Guruji/Saraswati
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-8Te30H6k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQw0-IlJiY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3mzQ83Gk8A
http://www.ayri.org/
No too tight, not too loose.
Obsess and don't obsess. Find the middle ground.
What keeps speaking to me is this question, "why are we doing this yoga?" The answer keeps coming as "to transform".
Example. My body is physically changing. It is adapting to the new challenges of my practice, it is getting stronger, lighter, and the shape is slowly shifting.
Example. My mind is changing. Thinking of the physical aspects of practice, there is no one day that I am performing. I am not practicing and practicing these postures so that one day I can show them off. I can't just fast so that the next day I "feel light" and then can do a certain posture. The choices I make for what I put into my body are long-term habit changes. Every day is the performance, everyday is the practice. Everything has to change.
Example. But why does it have to change? Am I obsessing over asana? Kind of, but not really. I am obsessing over cultivating mindfulness in my thoughts and actions. It is watching myself as I move through the world the entire 22 hours until the next asana session. The whole day is "doing yoga".
On this entire physical/mental shift fostered by the asana practice, it is interesting how one would think that "oh everything is perfect and now I will just work on this one thing", when actually this one thing effects everything else. I remember when I did this workshop with this Ayurvedic teacher that was all about Mind Body Centering and she was talking about how when you get an organ removed, that sickness and pain that was there is still there because the issue was never solved. How could it still linger even when the physical organ was gone? It is simple. Everything in the body is connected to everything else. When an organ is removed, the body doesn't think, "okay, the right kidney is gone, oh well." In this same way, getting a new posture changes your entire practice and then changes your entire life. Everything is different, everything is connected.
Excited about this Danny Paradise workshop coming up at Om Factory next week. It is always interesting to hear different points of view. Also hyped about Mysore, so I dug up this info to inspire!
Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore, India
General Mysore Info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_JswBti28
http://www.livingmysore.com/
Ajay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuquyM5VXg
http://www.sthalam8.com/index.php?sub_page=ajay
Sheshadari
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=574KxzmIH3E
http://mandala.ashtanga.org/index.php/sheshadri
BNS Iyengar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClWOwVHvLQU
http://ashtanga.org/lineage/bns_iyengar.shtml
Sharath/Guruji/Saraswati
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-8Te30H6k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKQw0-IlJiY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3mzQ83Gk8A
http://www.ayri.org/
Another keyword search: which leg first in krounchasana?
That one is easy! Jump through from downdog with the right leg bent and left leg up like in triangmukha eka pada paschimottanasana. Then do a vinyasa and jump through with the left leg bent and right leg up. Pretty much its always right leg first. There are a few exceptions though. For instance, you twist to the left side first in pasasana. Why does it say to twist to the right first in David Swenson's book? *Shrug*
okay, that Sheshadari clip cracked me up. oh my god. If a teacher did that to me, I would freak out. But I enjoyed seeing someone else get the treatment! Thanks for the videos!
ReplyDeleteDavid Swenson was taught right side first for Pasasana. It's one of those things that changed with time. He says that he teaches the sequence as it was taught to him originally, even though he is aware that there have been changes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they made the change?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me there are always modifications to the practice, which is great because it evolves. It reinforces that the practice is the teacher, they teach us as to how they were taught. I kinda get upset when visiting teachers tell you that you are incorrect when you are practicing as your home-base teacher has taught you. I feel there is a kinder way of “correcting” a student because I will practice in accordance to what the visiting teacher wants…I suppose this is another post.
ReplyDeleteHappy Practicing
I agree. I think a more effective way of communicating this is to explain to the student why one would teach it in the different way. I usually just practice however the teacher I'm with tells me to (as long as their reasoning is sound). This is always a practice in humility :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really like about the practice is how systematic it works. For instance, there is a reason why its right leg first in padmasana. Nothing is arbitrary.
Thanks for sharing your input!
In his intermediate series video, Richard Freeman also does the right side first in Pasasana.
ReplyDeleteI had to rewind to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
Really? Interesting! In the yoga works video, Guruji teaches left side first...In the Lino Miele Astanga Yoga Book,it says, "jump to pasasana right side".
ReplyDeleteWhat is ineresting is that that is the only mention of which side to take first in regards to twisting in first or second series. Does he mean twist to the right, or take your hands back to the right? The picture shows Sharath doing the left side...
Oops - I watched the RF video again. He does take the left side first in Pasasana.
ReplyDeleteBut he does the left side first in Bharadvajasana, even though he does the right side first in Ardha Matsyendrasana.
I guess I was hallucinating.
thanks vanessa--that explains it. my teacher taught me right side first with pasasana too. i have just now gotten used to left side first.
ReplyDelete