Full vinyasa sucks

As promised, I practiced full vinyasa, full primary today. I'm still trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic.

It was not fun. I didn't do full vinyasa for standing or finishing, just seated postures, and it was such a bummer! I don't know what happened, but slowly I became angry and agitated. Was it the variation of something so comfortable? Was it standing up when I'm used to be being so low down? I'd probably have to give it a few more goes to figure out. But for now, I've decided if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My friend told me that for her, it feels like coming up out of the pool. She feels refreshed, balanced, and bandha strong. For me, it felt more like coming out of a warm bath when I really don't want to. I did feel balanced and it was interesting to observe how each chaturanga was really something of its own, rather than a long slur of a vinyasa. My bandhas were stronger (somewhat) toward the end, but it all just felt unnecessary and morale was low. I thought I'd probably have a much more open back for back bending, but that wasn't so. I was, however, more lengthy than I can ever remember being in my hamstrings.

The verdict: I'll stick to my good old half vinyasa primary, thanks!

The Full Vinyasa

How do you pick your vinyasa?

For being known as such a specific practice, there are so many variations in ashtanga, and really many of them aren't completely illegal :). In particular, I'm thinking about the half vinyasa versus full vinyasa issue. But first, what is "vinyasa"?

1. In contemporaru yoga culture, Vinyasa is a style of yoga. It is characterized by having some sort of central theme (usually), some chanting, a lot of downward dogs, and flow. This is a derivative of ashtanga yoga.
2. Vinyasa is the linking of breath and movement.
3. Vinyasa is "intelligent sequencing", or something like that. The Jivamukti Yoga folks break the work into (I think) "vin" and "nyasa". But ask them.
4. Vinyasa is a specific movement with a specific breath as in ashtanga. For instance, Surya Namaskar A has 9 vinyasas.
5. To "take a vinyasa" from a seated posture means to move through the partial surya namaskar sequence of knees chest chin or chaturanga, upward dog or baby cobra, and downward dog, usually coming back through to sit once again.

Now in ashtanga between postures and even sides, you take half, full, or no vinyasa. This means that you just got to the other side, you do the partial surya namaskar sequence, or you come all the way to stand after each pose (not each side). The standard way people learn ashtanga primary, for instance, is in the half primary format. This is also how it is taught in Mysore. So then, where does the full vinyasa come from and why isn't it taught?

Lino Miele breaks this format down in his book, Astanga Yoga, and explains that this is how Guruji taught him the proper technique. But why aren't people really encouraged to do it? Perhaps it would take to long? I'm not sure.

The people that I know who have practiced full primary, full vinyasa really love it. They say it is actually more energizing than one might imagine. I 've never tried it myself, so couldn't say. A friend who has studied with Rolf in Goa for some time says that almost everyone does full vinyasa on Fridays. Perhaps next Friday I'll give it a try...

At his workshop, David Williams said that in the lifetime of your practice of yoga, you are always in one of two states: yoga therapy or cheap thrills. But I find the cheap thrills to be deeply therapeutic. Today's primary was lots of fun. I think that approaching practice with a positive attitude really opens up my body and mind to possibility. It is remarkable how different my body feels during primary series now after only practicing second series on most days. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it just feels different. Like I have a new body or something. And in many ways, I think I do have. Looking in the mirror, I've noticed some renovations. Bandhas? Second Series? *Shrug*