January 1st 2025 - Abhijata - Keep it simple stupid!

Day 1 of the 2025 blog and I'm starting with a disclaimer that I am unlikely to be able to publish full notes on the intensive which starts on 6th Jan - simply because there are 2 long sessions per day, so much more material to write up and much less time to do it. So we'll see how we go but don't hold your breath!

I left the comfortable bosom of a full on family Christmas to fly to a small island in the Indian Ocean named Thoddo - as always setting off with a bit of trepidation as I separate from the security that family life provides. I soon got into my stride though and the Maldives were well worth the effort to get there, even though I only ended up with 2 full days to enjoy, courtesy of an unexpected flight change (thanks Air India). As you can see from the video, though it is the busiest time of the year it was easy to find a quiet spot for a morning swim. The local islands in the Maldives were allowed to receive foreign tourists from 2009 and although there is a fair bit of development, it's still relatively speaking, unspoiled and I'm hoping the fact that alcohol is prohibited will protect it from the worst ravages of tourism. It's an inexpensive 3 hour flight back to Mumbai so it's a realistic alternative to my usual sojourn to Goa to get over my jet lag. My return journey started off with an exhilarating sunrise speed boat ride back to the airport in Male where I saw lots of flying fish leap away from the boat sailing through the air above the water for several metres before dropping back in and several pods of dolphins bathed in the pink glow of the rising sun. Heavenly.

My spirit comes alive when I'm set free like this to experience new places and I woke up this morning with a spring in my step, excited to be here for Abhi's Wednesday morning advanced class which I have been attending via the recording for many months. I walked to the institute through the park bumping into people along the way and getting reacquainted with Pune's peculiarities and challenges.

Abhi opted to teach a fast-paced class with little instruction beyond asking us to leave behind complicated techniques where we just stayed long enough to observe the primary action of the pose in all its simplicity. Details below (thanks to Carla for her notes on the sequence). As always, the notes are my interpretation of the class and undoubtedly contain many inaccuracies. Two people attending the same class will come away with very different perceptions of the main teaching points. But the conversation over dinner evidenced that everyone enjoyed the class and felt revitalised after their long journeys to get here. Writing out the sequence, I can't believe how many poses we covered in a 2 hour class!

January 1 2025 - Abhi – “Keep it simple, stupid!

• AMVirasana

• Tadasana

• Urdhva Hastasana

• Upavistha Konasana – Abhi told us we tend to take things too seriously and proposed working rapidly through a series of postures with 10 second holds so that memory did not have a chance to dictate the pose, where there is only time for the very first simple action that is needed to make the posture.  During the poses she asked us, ‘If there was a single (simple) thing you had to do to do this pose, what would it be?’

  Guruji used to say “Use memory as a springboard for practice” so that it is the starting point not the destination. Guruji was shaped by hard work and dedication to practice not pre-determined by the fate of samskaras – your own pursuit -abhyasa and vairagya (practice and determination)  is what shapes you, not pot luck.

  
  

• Uttanasana

• AMSvanasana

• Urdhva Hastasana

• Urdhva Namaskarasana

• Trikonasana

• Vrksasana

• Virabhadrasana 2

• Standing Ardha Padmasana -1 hand holding foot, the other in Urdhva Hastasana

• Parsvakonasana

• Paschima Namaskarasana

• Ardha Chandrasana

• Standing balance - Tadasana holding one leg in Marichyasana

• Virabhadrasana 1

• Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana 1 - freestanding holding the big toe from standing marichyasana bent leg to straight.

• Virabhadrasana 3

• UH Padang 2 - freestanding holding the big toe from bent leg to straight.

• Hands in namaskar  - Parsvottanasana

The next 3 poses # Chest!

• Parivrtta Trikonasana – Chest! 

• UH Padang 2 – Chest!

• Parivrtta Parsvakonasana – Chest! – Going in with vigour and sharp, audible exhalation – no time to go in softly and build up the components of the pose. This pose has to comprise of ‘densely packed material’ – the approach has to be different as it would be for a sprint rather than a marathon. 

• Standing Ardha Swastikasana

• Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana

• Prasarita Padottanasana 1) Concave Back, whole palm down, hands back in line with feet “Press the wrists!” 2) Head down 3) Repeat CCB

• Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana

• Padangusthasana – no time to go down piece by piece! Go down from the lower back and the rest will follow.

• Pada Hastasana

• Pada Gulphasana (holding the heels and drawing down)

• Uttanasana feet together hands back in line with feet

• Vatayanasna – Youngsters starting from standing and squatting down to kneel, oldsters from the floor kneeling.

• Standing eka bhekasana – foot outside hip, not to buttock

• Garudasana

Here we repeated some of the standing poses, but this time with the palm flat on the floor (or flat on a brick if not possible to go to floor). All on one side and then all on the other side.

•  Trikonasana, Parsvakonasana, Ardha Chandrasana, Parivrtta Trikonasana, Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana.

• Uttanasana

• Parighasana

• Repeat Parighasana as close to final pose as you can.

• AMVrksasana

• Pinca Mayurasana

• Upavistha Konasana – Keeping it simple better than bombarding with instructions – especially for beginners who cannot access small detailed points. We have to be able to put ourselves in the body of a raw beginner. The sutras mention this as a Siddhi – being able to put ourselves into the body of another and feel from their perspective what they are experiencing, but this is not some ethereal, unreachable power. When Abhi’s child is sick, she feels their pain as a mother. This is Maitri / Karuna – when we can feel in our own selves what a beginner or student in a therapy class feels, we can truly respond with compassion.

  As Abhi’s learning journey began, surrounded by her three Gurus, the sutra Abhi heard repeated most often was 1.33:

  
  

“Maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha dukha punya apunya visayanam bavanatah cittaprasadanam”

Guruji’s translation in LOY Sutras “Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favourably disposed, serene and benevolent”. 

• Urdhva Prasarita Padasana x 6 (legs up and down)

• Dandasana – Navasana – Ardha Navasana – Navasana – Ardha Navasana – Urdhva Prasarita Padasana – Vastisthasana (she left it up to us to interpret whether this meant full pose holding the big toe with 1 leg stretching up, some did, some didn’t) – AMSvanasana – Visvamitrasana – Bhakasana.

• What is the one thing you do in Bhakasana not to fall? You have to lift the feet! It is a common error for teachers to look for a ‘beautiful pose’ from their students from the outset. Let them be beginners!

• Paschimottanasana 1) CCB – hold the heels if you can and lift the sacrum 2) Head down

• Dandasana – Whole palm down – lift the buttocks off the floor to sharpen the arms so you are doing an arm balance. And then place the buttocks down and watch how the back responds.

• Janu Sirsasana – Parivrrta Janu Sirsasana - Janu Sirsasana

• Trianga Mukha Eka Pada Pachimottonasana 1) CCB 2) Head down – Krounchasana 1) Lift the trunk 2) Head to shin.

• Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottonasana (clasping from behind and forward)

• Marichyasana 1 (clasping from behind and forward)

• Paschimottanasana

• Upavistha Konasana – Parivrtta Upa Kon – Parsva Upa Kon – AM Upa Kon

• Paschimottanasana – Parivrrta Paschimottanasana

• Malasana

• Kurmasana – Take the hands back, bring the feet into baddha konasana, if you can cross the feet working towards supta kurmasana

• Marichyasana 3 clasping

• Ardha Matsyendrasana 1 clasping

• Pasasana clasping

• Paschimottanasana

• Baddha Konasana

• Full Bhekasana x 3 x 8 counts

• Akarna Dhanurasana preparation – drawing leg back repeatedly

• Mula Bandasana

• Baddha Konasana

• Yoga Dandasana – Don’t just pull the foot, feel the difference when the movement is generated by the rotation in the hip socket.

Yoga Dandasana

• Paryankasana – in 2 poses of choice – I did virasana and padmasana. What is the primary action? It’s chest up! You can’t take the dorsal in without first lifting the chest.

• Sirsasana – All the variations (Viparita Dandasana bench for menstruation)

• Saravangasana - All the variations if in the mode of continuing to explore the primary / first actions (or Setubandha on the bench / Viparita Karani if recovering from jet lag / illness)

Before we take pride in our achievements – I managed to get into this or that advanced pose – have the consideration that what you achieve only happens with the support of others who have made it possible for you to be here. What does your partner do that means you can be here? your family? or your work colleague?