Washing Day!
As I sit here and catch up with today’s blog I am feeling a deeply pleasant sort of sleepiness – the kind where you could just curl up and fall into a delicious, deep and restful sleep. We’ve just come from Raya’s Intermediate level 2 class.
This was by far the hardest class I have done since arriving – I was internally begging for mercy by half way through the first pose – an impossibly long and demanding prasarita paddottonasana. When finally we were allowed to come up, outer lower legs burning, it was immediately followed up with a lengthy prasarita paddottonasana 2, hands in paschima namaskarasana, even more demanding of the legs. We continued through a standing pose sequence; urdhva prasarita eka padasana, virabhadrasana 3, parivrtta ardha chandrasana, parsvottonasana, Virabhadrasana 1, malasana and uttanasana all the poses with a far, far longer stay than I am used to.
Despite the endurance required to hold these poses he instructed us not to develop hardness and aggression in them. In Vira 3 the rib cage had to be less like a cage and more like a hammock – not to push the spine so much in that the organs of the body are pushed hard into the ribs, but they should be gently suspended as in a hammock. In the final sublime uttanasana with nose buried between shins and abdomen plastered to thighs, we were told not to be like the old married couple who like to have space but the torso had to be joined to the legs like a newly married couple who cannot bear to be apart.
We ended with a simple setu bandha sarvangasana over a single bolster where he implored us not to be in a ‘strong’ pose, he spoke of his sadness of the reputation that Iyengar yoga has for producing ‘strong practitioners’ – he said Guruji was not a ‘strong’ practitioner – his asana was beautiful, poetic, philosophical.
As we strolled home through the park, I felt incredibly grounded. There was a tangible change in energetic state and definitely an increase in the apana vayu. Speaking of which, the grapefruit seed extract worked wonders and tummy upset gone in less than 24 hours, so tomorrow I can get back to active asana in my own practice – I’m currently preparing for my Senior 1 assessment and really need this time to move up a gear or three. Spent a long time on Facetime with the family this evening, missing them all but know the time will pass quickly too. I counted my tea bags today and discovered I have the exact quantity needed for one cup of morning tea each day – I am a mere 25 cups of rooibos away from my flight home! Hopefully Pranayama with Geeta tomorrow evening.
The Iyengar’s home right next to the institute.
Today’s practice, working on reclaiming my sirsasana.
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