Another Great Class

We had another great class last night with Geeta. Anne and I were in the front row which is where she was teaching from and at a certain point I realized Iwasn't nervous. (Just thought I would report in on that as I have so frequently shared the opposite expereince.. I think I have settled in a bit..Maybe relaxation and alerness ar finding a better balance or someting.)

That being said, I am not feeling overwhelmingly inspired to write today and since several people have wanted to see the sequences from class, (this one is for you, Devon) I thought I would post last nights class. The emphasis was on observing oneself and studying oneself in the doing. (This is obviously a huge theme here at The Institute.) Also, in terms of biomechanics the salient features of the class involved stretching the sides of the torso and keeping the arms and legs in the sockets and the middle buttocks in. When the back bends come all of that has to happen without taking the spine in too much ("Do not hit the spine") and without tensing the throat. These actions will protect the nervous system. (Please, no feedback on Sanskrit misspellings. )

Enjoy. I had fun with this one.

• Adho Mukha virasana
• Adho Mukha Svanasana
• Uttanasana
• prasarita padottanasana
• parsvottanasa with hands outstretched way in front of front leg in order to lengthen the sides and then bringing them back toward the back leg maintaining the length
• classic parsvottanasana, stopping half way down to establish the length of the sides, the release of the trapezius, taking the head down finally without collapsing the sternum.
• prasarita padottanasana 2
• prasarita padottanasana, with hands clasped behind back and lifting arms up to ceiling as they move more and more to the head side
• Adho Mukha Svanasana
• Sirasana, parsva sirsasana. Then repeat changing the interlace of the hands. Watch what happens. She had instructed us to monitor the difference of the lift in the shoulder depending on which hand was on top in the clasp and how that affected the rooting of the forearm and the lift of the shoulder and so on.
• Adho Mukha Virasana, placing the outer hand on the floor and lifting the wrist up, charging the elbows and firming the arms
• Adho Mukha Vrksasana, changing legs to observe the stability or lack there of on the way up and down
• Adho Mukha Vrksasana, hands turned out, observe
• sirasana 2/tadasana-- several times. Going up bent legs, going up straight legs, going up right leg, going up left leg, going up right, coming down left, etc. observe, observe, observe and respond. After each headstand we came to a strong tadasana to release the neck by stretching the arms fully and rolling the shoulders down the back.
• trikonasana-3X working on length on the bottom side, taking the hand all the way to the floor , not the ankle
• parsvakonasana Geeta then did a whole big long thing on how eve though trikonasana is usually taught first in the course and usually comes first in sequences many beginners will have a hard time in the pose and will have more success learning parsvakonasana first. She suggested that in trikonasasna you can use gravity to help stretch out the side but this is hard whens omen is tight. Then she said in parsvakonasana it is easier for someone to learn to stretch the underside of the torso and so if the can learn that action first then they can bring that to the gravity opportunity of trikonasana. I think that is what she was saying- I understand every other word or so. So then we practiced:
• parsvakonasana to trikonasana- first getting the underside long and then keeping the length in trikonasana
• urdhva danurasana 4 X
• urdva danusrasana -4X from a bolster to keep the spinal muscle spreading and to not hit the spine.
• baradvajasana
• charush padasana- 3X
• sarvangasana, using parsva halanasana to lengthen the sides and then crawl the hands further toward the shoulders, sarvangasana 2 to really pull the arms (like we did in chatush padasana) and then to niralama sarvangasana and then to halasana keeping the back side of the body lifting (like we did in nirlamaba sarvangasana)
• savasana

okay kids, have at it. There are, of course, more details to but that was the gist. Class with Prashant tonight.

Oh and Liz, join the discussion! I would love your wisdom and perspectives. (How is the baby growing?) I miss you.

And, Dad- I liked your post. It made me think there are some things to share about self-effort and grace in how the yoga philosohies of different ptradions actiually describe that quite differently. The "working out of one's salvation" and how one acutally does that in the yoga traditions varies greatly. But today, I am not up to the task of that consideration. I will cogitate on it and save the musings for a future post.