Snack?
It’s getting hot in here. Very, very hot. Even at the start of Raya’s class, before a single word had been spoken, I was drenched with sweat. Trying to keep the fluid level up to cope with the fluid loss is a challenge. Backbend week – I made it! I seem to have spent an enormous chunk of my yoga life sat on the sidelines, missing out on the main action – whether through pregnancy, menstruation, illness or injury. It’s part of our yogic journey – we learn how to adapt the practice to nourish and nurture ourselves whatever our state and this in turn makes us better teachers BUT sometimes it’s just one time too many that you’ve had to sit it out. Timing wise I knew it was unlikely I’d get any backbend classes, but just this once I seem to have been granted a reprieve.Raya didn’t pull any punches, first pose padmasana, followed by baddha konasana – teaching us to keep the width of the body in the backbends whereas we tend to become long and thin and get a kind of elongation. He said in Guruji’s practice the abdomen wasn’t taut and overstretched but absolutely soft. We continued with Adho Mukha Svanasana swinging forward to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Bhujangasana, AMVrksasana, Pinca Mayurasana balancing, no brick or belt allowed and Sirsasana dropping back to Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, placing the hands lifting up in Urdhva Dhanurasana and then pressing strongly into the legs and feet to stand up in tadasana – as he demonstrated this, the class looked at each other with raised eyebrows, for most of us this was only going to happen in our dreams. But still it was good, as every single person in the room had a challenge to work on.Once again he remonstrated with ‘the beautiful people’ he has witnessed in the practice hall doing their full arm balance in the centre of the room, up and down many times – all using the hard, tense strength of the abdomen. To come down from AMVrksasana (balancing or not) you should neither place strain on the lumbar by letting the buttocks drop back or harden the abdomen, he showed you have to roll the pelvis forward to come down gracefully with the abdomen soft. He likened this natural action to the way a tree sways in the breeze and the hard abdomen method reminds him of a creaky door on rusty hinges moving jerkily and harshly. In his words he finds these displays tremendously ugly and nothing to do with yoga asana.
Even though I have dropped back from Sirsasana many times, I got “the fear” on me and was shaking like a jelly on a plate. Afterwards at the coconut stall I chatted to Bobby C and Lynn Holt (lovely Australian lady who lives in Pune permanently) and they told me about a class they had attended with Geetaji (and also Guruji’s teaching on this) where she addressed this fear. She taught that we hold the fear in the junction between the hamstrings and the buttock so, as you arch back you flex the toes toward you several times to feed the back thigh into the buttock and this makes the legs strong and confident. With the feet in this position you land on the balls of your feet which are strong, not on pointed toes which clearly are not. I went home and tried this method and found it helpful – partly I needed to reassure myself that I could still do it after the jelly wobble experience (please note, Abhi taught drop backs the following day and insisted I did point my toes, otherwise my body was resisting the movement).
Beautiful Batik Products from Dimpex
This afternoon we went over to Dimpex to pick up our order of pune pants, t shirts, aprons and cosmetic purses all done in hand painted batik. The finished products are absolutely lovely and they package them in recycled newspaper carrier bags made by a
rural charity and sold for profit. Perfect. They also offer a parcel service where they’ll package your order up for you and send it to your home country – even you can order from home and pay with an ordinary English cheque or bank transfer. They are able to make T Shirts with your studio name on to order, as well as belts, bolsters and blankets for excellent prices see dimpexbatik.in. They are a very pleasant company to deal with and highly recommended. Of course many people in the UK already know about them – they make the convention T Shirts for example. March, April and May tend to be their quietest months, so it’s a really good time to order.Bed now, hoping I can sleep as we approach the full moon the local dogs seem to be building up for an all night howl-athon. This combined with the oppressive heat makes sleeping a challenge!
Local dogs building up some strength for a long night’s howling!
18th February – Raya
Padmasana (or if not possible virasana) baddangullyasana – the arrangement of the legs creates a different set of circumstances for the body which creates a different mind. Feel how the pinning down of the thighs in padmasana creates a strong uplift on the spine.
Baddha Konasana – take the whole sole of foot apart, just heels together. Don’t let sacrum drop back, roll forward there. This method of taking the soles further apart and only the heels together is to lengthen the back thigh.
AMS into UMS – Coming a long way forward through the arms. Dig bottom buttock in to lift pubic plate up. Here he gave a talk about how we tend to become long and thin in the backward extensions and we have to learn to also maintain the width.
Bhujangasana – hands a little forward. First lifting the eyes, then chest and ribs – top thigh has to remain pinned down. Prepared by placing hands on the floor and hooking chest forward and lifting each leg and extending from the root of the leg away. Then we had to press hard the front ankle into the mat to lift up. Dig bottom buttock in and lift whole of front pelvic up, sides of the navel long. Lift the gaze of the eyes and let the chest follow that lift.
AMVrksasana 1) Middle finger touching the wall and climb the buttocks, heels, ribs upward
2) Take further distance, bend one of the legs to the wall and see that you are not hardening the abdomen when you come down. You should neither place strain on the lumbar by letting the buttocks drop back or on the abdomen, he showed you have to roll the pelvis forward to come down gracefully with the abdomen soft. He likened this natural action to the way a tree sways in the breeze and the hard abdomen method reminds him of a creaky door on rusty hinges moving jerkily and harshly.
Waiting group : Pinca Mayurasana prep in centre of room. No brick or belt, raising one leg at a time without hardening the toes and seeing that the extension of the leg comes from the lengthening in the abdomen.
Pinca Mayurasana – 1) No belt or brick. Placing the hands close to the wall, even you could turn the fingers out to the side to get in closer. Lumbar back, buttocks up, chest forward. Demonstrated incorrect action of hanging forward in the pose.
2) Coming further away from the wall (hands where the elbows were previously) Kick up, bend one or both legs, feet to the wall, suck buttocks in and up, then balance. Given option of balancing in centre of room if you wished. Here he talked about the mechanics of the pose – like a deck of cards that you create a pyramid with, the dynamics have to be such that the base is neither too loose and wide, or the cards too close together so they won’t stay. Stack the body up correctly and minimal physical effort is required to balance.
He also talked about how the speed of the second leg coming up has to be twice as fast as it has twice the distance to cover.
Dropping back from sirsasana to dwi pada viparita dandasana , placing hands and lifting up into urdhva dhanurasana, pressing the legs and feet firmly into the ground and standing up in tadasana. He demonstrated a rocking action – how we have to have the control, getting more and more curve into dorsal, lengthen the shins down to drop back.
Chatushpadasana into setu bandha hands in back chest, legs bent.
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