A fabulous day today with Abhi forever embedding and imprinting external hip rotations on our bodies and consciouness (we've all got the belt marks to prove it!) in the morning and Raya taking a more restorative session this evening. I was sat with entirely different neighbours today and the comradery and cooperation between particpants remains positive. I think the altogether more friendly environment provided by the RIMYI team is rubbing off on everyone as the culture of fear recedes into a distant memory and since the participants are not stressed, they can afford to be generous and convivial with each other. If you look around the room, there are smiles all around, making this a true celebration of RIMYI's 50th Birthday. I noticed today how the RIMYI teacher volunteers who are roaming the room to give assistance are also noticeably less brusque and less stressed than years gone by.
Abhi continues to make visiting Pune a more family-friendly experience and some participants have (impeccably well-behaved) children who at times are sitting quietly and observing the classes. Today's session was a blend of standing, seated and inverted asanas with a little therapy work built in to build teachers' understanding of how to help students with a back problem. We assisted eaach other in prone Savasana and prone Akunchanasana with Abhi explaining that where there is back pain, the muscles tend to tense up and become stiff and tight – so a more restful prone Savasana and Akunchanasana with the adjustments we looked at (see notes below) should be given to first relax the muscles and then follow with Supta Padangusthasana, Pavanmuktasana etc (N.B Unless the problem is such where there is sacrum pain and lying prone makes that area ‘poke out’ in this case it is opposite where the supine poses first may be more helpful).
Highlights of the classes for me were the Parsva Eka Pada Sirsasana with the belt securely fastened in such a way as to externally rotate each hip and looped around the top foot. This gave a dynamic, expansive pose where I felt safe enough to take the parsva leg more fully back than I usally can and in Raya's class, I found the 'Kapotasana-ised Supta Virasana' blissful as the breath explored the entire field of the abdomen from the pelvic abdomen to the clavicles. This is a version I have often practiced as part of BKS Iyengar's Emotional Stability Sequence
Attending the intensive takes a lot more time and input than just being here for the month and taking classes at the institute (the clue is in the name!) and my world is shrinking into sleeping, eating, travelling, attending classes and writing up notes. But the rewards are greater too and my body is already feeling the benefits of being so thoroughly bathed in yoga morning and night. I'm lucky enough that Dheeraj's mum is cooking for me, leaving me free to put in the time to write up the classes and share them with everyone.
My class notes are below, as always the inaccuracies are all mine and I welcome input from other attendees to flesh out the details I forgot or correct the bits where I got muddled. Lets collaborate!
January 7th – Day 2 – Session 1 – 50th Birthday Intensive – Abhijata
AMVirasana
AMSvanasana
Tadasana – Parvatasana
Trikonasana
Sun Salutations 4 rounds – Tadasana -Urdhva Hastasana – Uttanasana – AMSvanasana – Urdhva Mukha Svanasana – Chaturanga Dandasana – AMSvanasana – Uttanasana – Urdhva Hastasana – Tadasana.
Parsvakonasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Vira 2 – “1!! 2!! 3!!” On each count, deepening the descent of the buttock bone.
Uttanasana – Elbows folded
Sit on the thin end of a rolled blanket for Baddha Konasana. In this variation the root of the outer thighs is not held up by the supports so that it is free to descend downward. If the knees were up, a support was put UNDER the rolled blanket so that the knees came to the level of the hips but the work could still be done to descend the root of the thigh lower. A demo was given on the stage to show the external rotation of the hips and we looked at the back view so that we could observe how if you continue rotating from front to back, both sides meet at the back.
Baddha Konasana -brick between the feet. Press the hands down to raise the seat up and strongly externally rotating the outer thigh, descend the knees further down.
1 leg Mula Bandhasana, 1 leg Upavistha Konasana – strong work on the hip rotation and we looked at Guruji’s back view in LOY in Mula Bandhasana to see just how actively lifted it was. We took this back action into
Supta Baddha Konasana – ACTIVE not resting pose. Mental component has to be there. Mulabhandasana back and and several counts of external rotation / descend thighs closer to the floor 1!! 2!! 3!! 4!! 5!!
Supta Padangusthasana 4 – Not pulling the foot forcefully forwards but allowing the action to come from the deep rotation in the hip socket.
Akarna Dhanurasana preparatory stage only – Before we started she gave a talk on how if you hold the foot in a rigid state everything is tight and injury is more likely to occur (not just here, but particularly relevant for padmasana etc) They key point is the movement should not be forced from the knee or foot but from the rotation inside the hip socket and the foot itself should be kept soft and relaxed.
Soft feet Baddha Konasana / Padmasana
Akarna Dhanurasana preparatory stage – Holding the foot and drawing the leg back (with rotation in the socket) multiple times each side.
Yoga Dandasana – Only for those who had some mobility in the hip for the knee to descend (otherwise repeat Akarna Dhanuarasana prep). Left leg to virasana, right leg to padmasana like Bharadvajasana 2. Pick the padmasana foot up (not forgetting about the softness, no forcing) and adjust the padmasana leg so that instead of resting on the buttock you shift the weight onto the lateral hip.
Repeat Baddha Konasana – What is the ease?
Parsvakonasana – Trikonasana – Ardha Chandrasana – Vira 2 – Strong focus on employing the same hip rotation.
2 belts tied with the buckle on the outer hip socket (one was a double-buckled belt, one an ordinary belt) in such a way that if you pull the tails of each belt, it increases the external rotation of the hip. Here she showed us the correct way to tighten the belt buckles – on ourselves, but more importantly on our students when we are assisting in a therapy situation. She demonstrated on Raya in Sirsasana how if you just pull the tail of the belt you are going to pull your student off centre. She reminded us we always stand behind the person in Sirsasana to make adjustments. One hand has to grasp the body of the belt close to the buckle to stabilise it and prevent it from slipping, while the other hands holds close to the buckle on the tail side and firmly tightens it. You can increase the tightening by doing it with bent knees (in Tadasana) which cinches things in a bit, so that when you straighten the legs and everything tries to bulge again, the belt cinches you even more tightly in.
Repeat Parsvakonasana – Trikonasana – Vira 2 firstly using our own hands to cross the belts behind and pulling tightly on the belts, increase the external rotation (anyone who needed to could release the bottom hand to stabilise once the action was established). And secondly with our partner standing behind, partner criss-crossing the belts holding close to the body and pulling firmly, in such a way that the top hip thigh rolled back and the bottom thigh externally rotated deeply, meeting at the back.
Ardha Chandrasana – helper standing behind, allowing the student to get up into the pose, stabilise and reach back with their top hand to hold around the helper's waist. The helper criss-crossing belts lifting the bottom belt slightly upwards and drawing the top belt slightly downwards to support and rotate both hips strongly. She reminded us that if as teachers we adjust our students in a state of stress, this will transmit to the student. Both teacher and student should be in a state of ‘Prayatna Shaithilya’ (Effortless effort or ease).
Here we tied the tails of the 2 belts together using the 2nd buckle on the double-buckle belt in such a way as to make a firm loop to put around the arch of the back foot. We repeated (on our own) using the loop for the back foot Trikonasana – Ardha Chandrasa (tightening enough to give ourselves some traction, it would be completely ineffective if the belt loop was too loose). In Ardha Chandrasana straighten the up leg by pushing into the loop with the top heel and lengthening the BACK of the leg.
Here there was a conversation and demonstration about how if the knees work as a solo endeavour rather than in partnership with the hips and thighs, then over time they will wear out – Raya showing on stage, just slamming the knees back in Tadasana. Where there is knee pain particularly, the knees have to learn how to work with the involvement of the thighs and hips. Here we bent the knees in Tadasana and straightened 1) Just slamming them back 2) LIFT the thighs! LIFT the thighs! LIFT the thighs to straighten the knees 3) Criss-cross belt action on the hip socket AND the lift of the thighs to straighten the knees. Better?
Demonstration of Parsva Sirsasana, the parsva leg heel pushing into the loop of the belt like a stirrup. Helper standing behind if assistance was needed to loop the belt around the foot.
Remove the belts. What did they bring in the Parsva Sirsasana? Lightness / Stability.
Repeat standing poses once more fully embedding these actions as if the belts were still there.
Uttanasana
AMVirasana
Paschimottanasana
Janu Sirsasana – If energy is still available, take the Janu leg slightly further back and continue to work strongly on that external rotation, fixing from there and then reaching forward with the side trunk to extend over the straight leg.
Sarvangasana and variations in your own time. The Halasana variations can also be done as although they don’t involve the same hip rotation, the lift and firmness of the hip joints we have been working on is still highly relevant.
Prone Savasana in pairs – 1) Partner slightly lifting each leg and lengthening it from the root 2) Using fists to draw the flesh of the upper buttock away from the back of the waist and then pressing directly downwards on the sacrum 30 secs 3) One hand pressing sacrum down and moving it towards the heels and the other hand pressing mid back spine towards the head to lengthen the gap between the two. 30 secs.
Akunchanasana in pairs – Lying prone right leg bent at a right angle, knee in line with hip. Helper 1) Lifts bent leg and lengthens the inner knee away from the inner groin so the inner thigh is lengthened 2) Helper stands at head side and uses 2 hands and body weight to assist rolling the outer hip away from the side waist OR in the case where the groins / hips are very stiff creating a mountain there, just (sensitively) pressing that mountain area down. We did both and found in our case the rotation was more helpful, but we placed a slightly rolled blanket to fill the gap under the inner thigh / groin and a softer surface for the knee to rest on. When the right leg is in Akunchansana, the body should not roll to the right side, so one of the assistants had us lift up (a bit like Chaturanga Dandasana) and roll the abdomen from the right to the left side so that chest and navel squarely faced the floor and were not pulled with the right leg.
Abhi explained that when students come in with a bad back, this leads to the muscles tensing up and becoming stiff and tight – so a more restful prone Savasana and Akunchanasana with these adjustments should be given to first relax the muscles and then follow with Supta Padangusthasana, Pavanmuktasana etc (N.B Unless the problem is such where there is sacrum pain and lying prone makes that area ‘poke out’ in this case it is opposite where the supine poses first are more helpful).
January 7th – Day 2 – Session 2 – 50th Birthday Celebrations – Raya Restorative
Comparing 2 versions of flat Supta Baddha Konasana
1) Just a single belt around the sacrum and hips – the more commonly taught use of the belt that we most often do in class. Observe the breath and the texture of the abdomen (and its relationship with the shape of the lower back).
2) 2 belts around the outer hip sockets, buckle between the calf and the inner thigh, tail of the belt pulling towards the abdomen in such a way as to draw the shin towards the thigh. Here Raya showed how when we sit on the floor to tie the belts the sacrum / lumbar bulges backwards and this is why Geetaji always taught us to sit on the end of the bolster to tie the belts and then slide onto the floor. For this reason he had us sitting up on some height to tie the belts, even though we slid it out of the way to lie flat.
In both versions the pelvis to the clavicles is like a (football) field with the diaphragm like the centre line. He used the term ‘diaphragm field’ because we are not 2d structures and the diaphragm has an entire 3-dimensional circumference. We observed the texture of the abdomen and Raya mentioned the difference between how many ripples are created when you drop a flower into a still pool, compared to dropping a stone. The second version with the 2 belts was more like a flower and the texture of the abdomen was much softer where the lower back was able to release more towards the ground. Not that the first version did not have its own advantages / uses. But just to observe the difference, so that with that discernment you are better able to judge when to opt for each method depending on the outcome you are looking to achieve.
Comparing 2 versions of Supta Virasana
1) ‘Kapotasanised Supta Virasana’ (as shown by Guruji in the Emotional Stability Sequence). Suggested props were the 2 long foams with the 2 blankets folded on top. Performing Supta Virasana with the sacrum UP on the end of the supports and the knees stretching down to the floor and the head gently rolling off the other end towards the floor, elbows folded over the head.
2) ‘Normal Supta Virasana’ with the buttocks down on the floor and the torso supported on the height of the long foam / foams with a blanket for the head in such a way that the abdomen is down and the chest is raised up.
How does the breath play in each field and what is the texture of the abdomen? I found the first version blissful! The breath played in the entire field from pelvis to clavicles, but it was more dynamic / lengthening. In the second more commonly taught supported Supta Virasana the abdomen was lower and very soft, which meant that the breath as more concentrated in the chest cavity and the abdomen extremely relaxed and soft. Which version might you give for digestive problems?
Here we stood in Tadasana to observe how all the different possible arm positions affected the shoulder blades and back body.
Urdhva Hastasana with the upper arms turning in so that the palms turned back, like both arms doing the work of the top arm in Gomukhasana. Observe the width of the upper back. Arms behind the line of the ears.
Prasarita Padottanasana learning all the different variations of Sirsasana arm variations 1) Classical arm position, palms spread on the floor fingers pointing same direction as toes. Press the palms and lift the inner legs higher and higher. 2) Turn palms to face back and then join the inner arms and elbows together. 3) Mukta Hasta stretching the arms back with the back of the hand / wrist pressing into the floor to lift the shoulders. 4) Baddha Hasta elbows folded 5) Sirsasana hands interlocked around the base of the skull.
Here we stood in Tadasana while Raya demonstrated all the misunderstandings about how the hands should be interlocked for Sirsasana. The back of the skull absolutely encased in the palms of the hands – no gap there. Do not overly cross the thumbs to the roots – the tip of the thumbs one above the other is enough. He emphasised how we must prepare beginners for Sirsasana with lots of Gomukhasana and pascima Namaskarasana so that Sirsasana is available to them.
Garudasana arms, press them into each other – How is the back chest? Can you breathe easily into the front chest? (No) What about if you soften the front chest? Can the breathing come a little more easily?
Arms stretched out to the side, lengthening the right chest / right shoulder to the right and left chest/ left shoulder to the left turn the palms to face the ceiling and raise the arms to Urdhva Namaskarasana squeezing the sides of the head with the inner upper arms.
Sirsasana – When you first go up the breath is a little faster due to the exertion of going up, but observe as the breath starts to soften and become a little slower.
Baddha Konasana in Sirsasana – Bring feet a little forward in line with the perineum. Separate the toes away from each other, then the big toe mounds. Roll the knees forwards so they come into Virasana and lengthen the knees up to the ceiling. Then press the knees together and take the feet apart like seated Virasana. Stretch back up to straight Sirsasana. Imagine all the arm variations and how they would feel if we did each now. When you are inverted, the gravitational release of the diaphragm is with the exhalation (the diaphragm is releasing towards the floor along with the natural movement of the diaphragm in exhalation when it moves upwards towards the lungs to push out the breath).
When we came down he talked about how he viewed inversions as being ‘calibrators’ if we are overstimulated or the functions of the body are too ‘high’ they bring them down. If they are underdoing, the inversions will bring them up. Helping us find our level ground. Guruji sowed the seeds for the tree of inversions to grow and we as a community have to see that it is properly nurtured and watered (and not just eat the fruits ourselves but continue to sow and nurture those seeds).
Sarvangasana – This pose has been described as meditative. What makes it so? See that the legs are properly aligned where the front of the leg faces the front, the sides of the legs face the sides and the back of the legs face the back. Now join the inner ankles and LIFT the whole inner leg UP with the inner ankles. Inner groin to inner knee, inner knee to inner ankle (and inner ankle to the ceiling). 15 counts (or whatever your countage is) pin them together and LIFT!
5 mins quiet breathing. Seated on the edge of the shoulder stand supports in Swastikasana, belt tied around the arms just above the elbow, arms behind the line of the hips with fingers pointing forwards so the palms were in a Purvottonasana position. Eyes closed, side trunk lifted, shoulders rolling back and down, head / neck in proper position in line with the spine. Just allow the breathing to flow naturally. Notice that now we are seated, the natural gravitational release of the diaphragm is with the inhalation (as the diaphragm release down towards the floor to accommodate the expanding lungs).
For the breath to lengthen, the lungs have to free to expand so the outer body has to lose its rigidity and be able to soften. This is why we cannot prematurely give Pranayama in a seated position. Better to begin with the supine positions to avoid causing breathlessness. With exhalation, the upper abdomen easily deflates but experience of many different poses is needed to learn the deeper / lower levels of exhalation / deflation. Without this experiential learning the instructions are empty words.
3 types of Savasana
1) 2 long foams atop each other with a rolled blanket for the neck. Like a very shallow Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana with the legs bent, but this is not DPVD, it is a Savasana. Tuck the shoulder blades under and then slightly scrub over the top edge of the foams so that the skin of the upper back / shoulder blades is drawn away from the neck and ‘caught’ on the edge of the foams and then the chest rolls over the top towards the neck. You know how an animal slightly lifts its nose to scent the air? In this way the head / neck very slightly rolls back over the blanket so the nose is slightly lifted and observe the natural change this brings about in the nasal apertures and where the breath flows on the inhalation and exhalation in the nasal passages. I felt it flowed along the roof of the nasal passage along inner septum bone on inhalation and the outer, upper nasal passage on the exhalation.
2) Tightly rolled blanket for the neck and base of the skull, starting with bent legs. Opposite position of head and neck compared to previous pose. This time the natural flow of the forehead towards the chin, the chin towards the chest. Shoulder blades adjusted like Sarvangasana. Carefully releasing the legs to extend straight without allowing them to pull the chest down.
3) Flat Savasana, rolled blanket on thighs, eyes covered.
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