Our very last class of the intensive was taught by Sunitaji and we covered a lot of ground! We started with Pranayama, then after a break moved rapidly through a creative and playful standing and seated pose sequence. When we came to Urdhva Dhanurasana, she reminded me of Geetaji, as somehow from 80 feet away in a room of 250, with eagle-eyed precision she spotted someone in the back corner, behind a pillar doing an Urdhva Danurasana / Ustrasana hybrid in order to avoid taking weight on an injured shoulder, Suddenly it looked as though we were heading for a robust telling off, but she calmed down as quickly as she flared up and was soon engaged in helping the student into an excellent supported Urdhva Dhanurasana, true to the original form and no strain on the shoulder. Poses should take their classical form, even when done with support - the cellular body has to ‘catch’ the pose. 'Every asana is like a jewel'.
There was some really demanding work pausing on the crown of the head (placed on a brick) as if going up into Urdhva Dhanurasana, rolling from the crown of the head to the forehead repeatedly, walking the palms back closer to the feet and then lifting partially up and down in this very awkward arm / head position. But of course this meant, when we returned to a simple Ustrasana, it was sublime, easy, fluid, open.
She closed the event with a series of beautiful sanskrit chants, inviting us to join in with any that we knew and I was happy that my teacher Lynda had taught us so many of these over the years. A fitting end to the formal classes. The intensive may be over, but I will be staying on for regular classes at RIMYI until the end of the month and will continue to blog.
The teabag saga continues - Dheeraj very kindly went to talk to the Post Master for me and was told that I could not refuse the delivery of the package and it would be mandatory for me to pay the 9600 rupees 'customs charge' for the jiffy bag of teabags worth less than 600 rupees! If I refuse, they will be returned to sender who could be charged at least double this, plus face other consequences. If any of my Indian readers have a solution for this, I'm all ears!
In the evening there was a celebration at RIMYI starting with a performance by the children and then moving onto a talk by Prashant where he shared some interesting facts about the history of RIMYI.
January 18th 2025 – Day 12 – Session 1 – 50th Birthday Celebrations – Sunitaji
Swastikasana for the invocation to Patanjali and Guru – From your sacrum and tailbone you have to rise upwards. Spine has an inner surface and an outer surface. The outer surface should not be higher, so lengthen up the inner spine. Do not push your lumbar forwards, the back wall of the abdominal body has to move towards the skin (of the back body). Dorsal towards the inner surface of the sternum bone. Shoulders widening, armpit coiling and shoulder blades and trapezius downwards. Don’t push the back of the neck inwards, you have to learn to spread there.
Supported Savasana – 2 long foams staggered and blanket for head and neck. Buttock touching the front edge of the support. It’s a simple process – head is higher than the chest, chest is higher than the abdomen and abdomen is higher than the thighs. Let the feet release to the sides. If you are caught in a thought process, the tongue moves back and that is why we give the instruction to let it rest in the lower palate.
Once I had made the adjustments she suggested (in particular the tongue) I switched the memorising part of the brain off and other than the single sentence below, I have no idea what was said. I take this as a sign that I was doing the pranayama properly!
Take a slow soft inhalation and where the breath naturally slows down, let there be a pause there.
Seated position for Pranayama. Mouth soft and soft. Eyeballs should not be close to the door of the eyelids. Take the head down to Jalandhara Bandha. Ujayii 5 normal breathing observation. In Jalandhara Bandha the eyeballs should not lift towards the eyebrows, release them downward towards the chest.
Here she gave instruction in the Pranayama Mudra (hand position) for Digital Pranayama. First she showed the folding of the fingers (see pics). Then starting from the top we slid the fingers down the septum bone until we reached ‘that depth’ (the fleshy part where there is some ’give’ for the tips of the fingers to press) and there you keep the tips of the fingers.
Exhale and then place hand. Close BOTH nostrils completely and then partially open both, slightly raising the skin towards the septum for the freedom of the breath to inhale. Release the hand down before exhaling.
Once we had learned the method we did Pratiloma inhalations 3 cycles of each:
1) Both partially open for inhalation, take the hand down, exhale.
2) Close left, taking care not to disturb the septum (tendency would be for the fingertips to push bone to the right when closing the left) inhale through right partially closed, place hand down and then exhale.
3) Close right, inhale through left partially closed nostril. Hand down and then exhale.
Each time we changed the nostril, we began by closing BOTH nostrils and then partially releasing the one/s that was to be inhaled through.
Flat Savasana – watch your breath leave until it has gone beyond your field of vision, like a guest where you want to prolong the parting. Welcoming the inhalation and watching the exhalation the whole way and beyond the field of vision.
15-minute break
Asana section
Uttanasana – AMSvanasana – Prasarita Padottanasana take the legs a little wider, the buttocks have to spread away from each other.
*I am not certain at all on the order of these or the following seated / supine / abdominal so please let me know if you were present and know it was different or I’ve missed poses.
The following standing poses were all done on the right side, then all done on the left side : Trikonasana- Parsvakonasana - Ardha Chandrasana -Virabhadrasana 1 – Virabhadrasana 3 – Virabhadrasana 2 – Parivrtta Parsvakonasana – Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana – Parsvottanasana – Prasarita Padottanasana.
Padangusthasana – Pada Hastasana – AMSvanasana
Janu Sirsasana – Trianga Mukha Eka Pada Paschimottanasana – ABPadma Pasch – Marichyasana 1 – Parivrtta Janu – Parivrrta Paschimottanasana
Ubhaya Padangustasana – Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana 2 – Paschimottanasana – Trianga Mukha Eka Pada Pasch – Krounchasana – Padmasana – Matsyasana.
Navasana – Ardha Navasana – Urdhva Prasarita Padasana – Hold right big toe, take left leg down Supta Padangusthasana 1 – UPP – Hold left big toe, take right leg down Supta Padangusthasana 1 – UPP.
Purvottanasana several attempts:
· 1) Legs bent
· 2) Legs bent, then extend right leg without dropping the chest or buttocks, legs bent, extend left leg, extend both legs.
· 3) Turn palms outward and repeat (better?).
· 4) Turn palms backward and repeat (better still?).
· 5) Classical pose straight legs – Roll the upper arms out to lift.
· 6) Repeat straight legs with palms turned out.
· 7) Repeat straight legs with palms turned back.
Demonstration of supported pose with 2 chairs, a single bolster and a blanket for the head. Given for heart problems and breathing problems in therapy class. If the helper presses the shin bones, breathing eases and chest further opens.
Sirsasana – Shoulder blades have to lift up, nowhere should it drop! Mid shoulder blade take it in. Bring the outer ankles closer, so the inner leg lifts. Tuck the buttock like you did in Purvottanasana. From the clavicle at the front and the shoulder blade at the back, the whole body has to LIFT!
Urdhva Dhanurasana
Demo with the chair, centre shoulder blade at the edge
2nd chair demo, moving further into the chair, so that when she lifted into Urdhva Dhanurasana, her pelvis lifted the chair bar clean off the floor. Guruji used to lift the trestle!
3rd chair demo, sat on floor in front of chair and grasped side bar to left (helper stabilised chair since it wasn’t against a wall).
4th chair demo, chair seat close to stage, hands on stage to lift up – chair was lifted very high off the floor.
3 x Urdhva Dhanurasana
Then lifting up to crown of head, walking palms closer in towards feet and lifting up and down 3 times (not to fully arms straight) for ‘tapas’.
Here she spotted someone with a shoulder problem doing a kind of Urdhva Dhanurasana / Ustrasana hybrid in a chair and she was not happy. She brought her to the front to show how to help with a tall stool, 2 bolsters (bottom horizontal, top vertical along spine) and a Viparita Karani box for the feet. She asked her to bring her hands to Namaskarasana at the chest, then the nose, then the forehead, then fingers interlocked over the head like baddangullyasana and finally arms extended if she could manage (she could). So no weight on the arms, but a much better extension.
Urdhva Dhanurasana should not be mixed up with another pose – the cellular body has to ‘catch’ the pose. Every asana is like a jewel. The soul is connected.
3 X Urdhva Dhanurasana fast attempts (because we had been sitting observing for so long).
Lift up onto crown of head, walk back with the palm (towards the feet) roll from the crown of the head onto the forehead several times, then take elbows down and lift head up, so that you are aiming for forehead to be in line with tailbone. Like the Chakrabandhasana forehead to tailbone connection.
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana 1) Urdhva Dhanurasana 2) Come onto crown of head and interlock the fingers 3) Straighten legs – see that you maintain shoulder closer to the shoulder blade and shoulder blade closer to the waistline. 4) Bend the legs 5) Lift up to Urdhva Dhanurasana.
Ustrasana – Hands on the waist, first release trapezius and shoulder blades downwards, coil spine, chest opens like a blossom from back to front, from the back you have to see the front (NOT with the eyes) – shoulders to the shoulder blades, shoulder blades to the kidneys, kidneys to the buttocks and buttocks to the pubis.
Repeat Ustrasana. ‘Are you able to go everywhere? That is the exact meaning of from the core to the periphery’.
Bharadvajasana 1
Karnapidasana (or halasana or setubandha for menstruation).
We finished with chanting, joining in for the chants we knew.
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