[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]day 1 – the indents in the buttocks
December 08, 2015
(considering that jāty-antara-pariṇāmaḥ prakṛty-āpūrāt
“the abundant flow of Nature’s energy brings about a transformation in one’s birth, aiding the process of evolution.”)
– from light on yoga sutras of patanjali, sutra 4.2, p 233.
simple, practical implication: we hear and understand what we are ready to hear and understand.
and another: nature has infinite potential, only some are desirable.
both geetaji in the morning session and abhijata in the afternoon programme brought up this sutra.)
technical learnings of the day
1. THE INDENTS IN THE BUTTOCK – explored in all the standing asana’s. if not sure what the indents are, touch outer buttocks and feel the two dimples – those are the indents. in some actions (like uttansana) the indents spread out. but, in most of the standing asanas we do, they have to be moved towards each other strongly – this turned out to be an almost magical plane of reference.
we followed the indents-moving-towards-each-other action all the way from trikonasana, through parsvakonanasa and virabhadrasana 1.
on the front leg side this involved: rolling the inner knee to the outer knee (in virbhadrasana 1, even moving the bent leg knee out slightly) and then connecting the outer knee to the indent on that side.
on the back leg side ( assuming the indent of the front-leg side has been fixed) this involved:
in trikonansa – keeping the front-leg side hand at the correct height. go down too low with the hand and indent will fill up and roll to the front
in parsvakonasana – lifting the inner thigh up and lifting all the 4 corners of the knee up
in virabhdrasana 1 – lifting the front surface of the back leg up – at the heaviest point – the shins, the knee and the frontal thigh (may of us have experienced this action of an assistant trying to lift the frontal thigh of the back leg up, pulling strongly with a rope or a belt. geetaji, spoke about how identifying and sensitising the correct muscle with a light touch can be enough. a heavy touch and strong action may indicate one is pulling on the wrong muscles. and that guruji’s fierce expression belied a quick, light touch)
once identified and fixed, the indents of the two buttocks have to be moved towards each other strongly. this has the effect of compacting the entire band of the lower back, keeping the pelvis open, and stabilising all of the standing asanas.
2. WHY URDHVAHASTASANA IS DONE TWO DIFFERENT WAYS – taking the arms forward and then up vs extending the arms out sideways and then taking them up (do it a few times by yourself before reading further. That’s what we did today):
when the arms are extended to the front and then taken up, there is good opportunity to extend all the way from the outer edges of the back ribs (the thin band of muscle there) through the upper arms, and to challenge the trapezius muscles to move them down strongly).
however, when done without attentions, this method will puff the frontal thighs
when arms are extended sideways and then taken up, there is good opportunity to compact the outer edges of the shoulder blades (in the previous position, these are naturally fixed in place and therefore do not offer such a challenge)
however, when done without attention, all is well till the palms of the sideways extended arms are held in pronation. as soon as palms are turned up to face the ceiling (supination) lumbar spine goes in and the tailbone tends to lift up behind.
other learnings in urdhvahastasana – while the upper arms have to go behind the ears, the thumb, since it is the strongest of the fingers, can drag the forearm too far back. the little finger should be activated and slightly pulled to the front side of the body to make sure that the fore-arms remains in line.
really, really, really (can’t think of a better way to transcribe geetaji’s piercing insistence) plugging and tightening the elbow joint at the little finger side will make a palpable difference to how the fore-arm is extended (this simple action really did bring to life that blank and thick space in the fore-arm for me.)
3. in tadasana when the feet are joined, if the big toes are not joining and are in fact moving away towards the little toes, this is a sign of ageing. as is the outer edges of the feet losing contact with the floor and almost ‘peeling away’ from the floor. both need to be corrected
4. carrying forward the leg actions of upavistakonasana to all the standing asanas: opening the backs of the thighs, extending from the inner groin to the inner heel and from the outer heel to the outer buttock
5.the top extended the arm in standing asanas – like trikonansana – the upper arm should move towards the head-side and not get pulled towards the trunk side. for this, the arm-pit area has to open well
6. the head in standing asanas – like trikonansana, parsvakonasna and ardhachandrasana – the head should not ‘fall on the bottom arm’ – and that is why we turn the head to look up.
7. in virabhadrasana 1- the frontal body should not project on top of the bent leg. this we corrected by moving the false ribs slightly back ( taking care not to drop the chest)
the sequence we did:
tadasana
urdhvahsatasana – arms forward and then up; arms sideways and then up
utthita hasta padasana
parva hasta padasana
trikonasana
upavistakonasana
parsvakonasana
virabhadrasana 2
virabhadrasana 1
chatuspadasana
greater learning of the day:
the difference between ego (ahamkara) and i-consciousness (asmita): we do not do the practice of yoga in a state of nothingness ( shoonya) while the ego needs to be dissolved, it has to be replaced with i-consciousness – being conscious of existing. existing where? existing everywhere.
session 2
an hour long session that i am not attempting to analyse.
geetaji’s earlier pranayama workshop, the pranayama series from a few years ago are available as DVD recordings. to be experienced in her own voice.
afternoon session
a very engaging session by abhijata on props – complete with many props on stage, some acting, stories form guruji’s life. sharing this particularly endearing one:
85 year old principal of fergusson college comes to 19 year old sundar raja – newly arrived from mysore to pune – asking for relief. the principal can’t walk. sudar raja decides the principal needs to do standing asanas – lying down. even getting the old principal down on the floor is a challenge. when sundar raja tries to separate his legs (as we still do after asking people with lower back pain to lie in a prone position), the legs fall back together. even this simple action is not possible. but sundar raja has made two vows – he will not let the name of his guru be tarnished, and he will do everything in his power to make the benefits of yoga available to all.
so sundar raja take a piece of stick, and fixes it between the old principal’s calves, to hold them apart. thus starts the story of props. moral of the story: guruji did something exceptional when he placed the stick between the old principal’s calves, and he continued to make these innovate every time he designed a new prop or taught us a new action. let us not forget that spirit as we pick up our brick almost as an automatic reflex.
yoganusasanam2015 – day 2 – taking off in vimanasana/ the mind in the buttocks
December 09, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
Taking-off in vimanasana 2
lifting the buttock flesh in forward bends
correcting the placement of the elbows
—————
unlike last year, we dived into deeper actions in asanas, and to inversions, much faster this year in yoganusasanam.
it was a joyful and inspiring to see our beloved teacher zubin z on the stage – the perfect complement to geetaji’s voice.
technical learnings:
1. trikonasana going to ardhachandrasana – continuing from yesterday’s theme, only when the top leg is lifted high enough does the indent in the lifted leg-side buttock appear. we were asked to lift our legs till we feel the indent in the top buttock (the toes which have a pre-dominance of the air element lift much after than the heels that have a predominance of the earth element). once the indents on both the buttocks are found and fixed – bring them towards each other.
sign of advancement in this action – maintaining the indent of the top buttock and bringing the leg down a bit so it becomes parallel to the floor.
caveat – it is possible in youth and through flexibility to lift the leg high without indenting the top buttock.
2. MAGIC OF THE DAY- virabhadrasana 3/ vimanasana 2- we tried the classical virabharasana 3 to experience what we often experience in this asana – that the effort tends to feels like strain. we then went into the virabhadrasana 3 leg position with vimanasana arms ( vimanasana 2). the instructions were to keep opening the sternum to the front and to not be afraid of moving forward – with the trunk and with the head. geetaji likened this to a pilot taking off in an aeroplane. as a beginner pilot might not have too much control while landing, she encouraged us to move forward even if that meant that we went a little too ahead and lost balance. the effects were visible clearly on the student called up on the stage to demonstrate – when she stopped holding her head rigidly and allowed it to move forward, the back leg that she was not able to lift up, went up considerably. further supporting her under the armpits, opened up the asana completely. if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, we are fortunate that we get to eat twice – once by seeing on another, and a second time by experiencing on ourselves. virabhadrasana 3 done this way felt like flying like a bird – or piloting an aeroplane. light in the head, exhilarating and open.
3. the seated and forward bends series – focus on adjusting the base in the forward bends – the buttocks, and the legs.
in upavistakonasana – the paradigm of extending the groin to inner heel and extending the outer heel to the buttock indent was re-iterated. enough time was spent in adjusting the calf – first vertically extending the calf muscle away from the knee and then horizontally spreading from the middle of the calf to the two sides.
in virasana – more important than joining the inner knees is to:
(i) find the median line of the frontal thighs and make the two median lines parallel to each other
(ii) position the feet, ankles and heels correctly. holding the feet in each hand, rolling the inner heels out, elongating the arches and then slightly rolling the outer calf muscles close to the ankles, down towards the floor. this last action further adjusts the thighs.
the buttocks in virasana were sequentially adjusted – first out to the sides and then towards the back.
this buttock adjustment was carried forward in malasana – of which we did multiple variations – feet separate, feet together, extending arms forward and holding the heels.
to start: from standing, slightly bending the knees and leaning forward (as if going into utkatasana), hooking the fingers on the buttock-flesh just under the buttock bones, and then lifting them up strongly descend down to malasana. we need that rolled mat for the heels not only when ankle flexibility is lacking, but also when that buttock flesh, inspite of being held up by the hands, starts to drop towards the floor.
janu sirsasana – enough time was given to turn the thigh out; turn the calf out, and also turn the foot on the bent leg side – this is preparatory work for kandasana, mulabandhasana.
in trianga mukha eka pada paschimottanasa – emphasis on maintaining the trunck on the bent leg side, and then extending forward, even without the buttock support we usually take. the previous actions of adjusting the thighs, calves and feet made this possible. long stay in both forward extensions.
‘the mind exists in the buttocks’ – one of guruji’s deep insights in a lighter vein. clearing the flesh off that buttock area – the muladhara chakra is at the root of the spine
short break
it is humbling and educative to realise that just because one does long years of practice, is no guarantee that imbalances and distortions won’t set in. they can indeed go unrecognised for long periods and their effects can accumulate and cascade. while we continue going to more difficult/ advanced actions, these basic mistakes do not get automatically corrected.
4. this is what geetaji dealt with today – the distortion at the elbow. more common in women than in men she said. but i found a male model at home.
the actual demonstrator who was called up on stage has been practising for many years and does advanced asanas like inversions quite comfortably. but geetaji spoke of how this distortion at the elbow, even though it does not pain, and, on the face of it, does not interfere with her asana practice, effects her upper arms, her shoulder, and her back. this manifests as drop of the shoulders in sirsansa (even though se can comfortable stay in the asana)
it is worth buying the dvd set to observe the adjustments that were shown for making corrections. very crudely put – this involved pressing the head of her forearms – close to the elbow joint – down towards the floor in supine urdhva hastasana, and in sirsansa, one helper on each side, lifting the two shoulders up with the help of belts, while pressing the forearm down with their foot.
5. ardha sirsasana, urdhva dandasana, sirsansa/ geetaji spoke of how we ignore our fingers and as a result have very little sensitivity to them – something that becomes apparent in digital pranayama. the education starts in the interlocking of the fingers – and that is why we are always asked to change the interlock of the fingers.
this we did in sirsasana, in addition to spending time on the correct placement of the palms, forearms and the elbows for sirsasana – placing the ulna down sharply on its edge, placing the radius right on top of the ulna, seeing that the crease of the elbow joint faces the front, interlocking the thumbs as well as the other fingers, making sure that the palms do not start opening up when the head goes down, at the same time the palms are not being used to excessively support the skull, extending from the wrist-side to the inner elbow side.
we stayed in ardha sirsana trying to maintain the arms in the correct place, while keeping the shoulders lifted up and the dorsal thoracic back in the body.
it mostly went well while going from eka-pada -sirsansa to sirsana on either side.
lifting off with both legs into urdhva dandasana, sirsansa, coming back to urdhva dandasana and then ardha- sirsansa didnt go too well. firstly, it was not so easy lifting off with both legs without making those convenient distortions with the arms and the back. and then, while coming down from sirsansa, the legs are supposed to be extended from the buttocks towards the heel till the urdhva dandasana position, when the direction of extension is supposed to change from heel towards the buttocks.
had to make do with watching zubin’s beautiful demonstration.
chatuspadasana (we have been doing a lot of this), sarvangasana, dropping down to setubandha sarvangasana (we have been doing a lot of this as well)
that is guruji on the screen as a dvd recording of his class from his 75th birthday was played in the afternoon session. geetaji gamely explained some of the teachings form the recording.
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yoganusasanam2015 day 3 – the UT-tana (intense stretch) in forward bends. dealing with the exarch of the shins. bhramari
December 10, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
broader leanings – the surrendering action of forward bends. surrender the crown of the head towards the floor when standing, surrender the heart towards the legs when seated.
—————————————
1. the opening sequence of forward bends – we started aiming for deeper forward extensions right from the word go. in adho mukhs virasana, the extended hands were placed on a 4 inch height, so that the armpits went below the level of the wrists. the instructions form the previous day’s adhomukhasvanasana was recalled – ‘hammering’ each vertebrae into the floor, and extending the arms not just format he middle of the armpits, but from the back of the armpits (this was the action we also did in urdhva hasta tadasana on the first day. we did both the knees separate and the knees together version of adhomukhasvanasana.
we went up to uttanasana with the feet wide apart and extending the sides of the torso down, and the crown of the head facing the floor.
as after in geetaji’s classes at RIMYI, the opening sequence was done not in a hurried manner just as a warm up, but given enough time, to commence the broadening and opening of the body.
also right at the outset, geetaji spent time to emphasis on one of the fundamental principles of purva pratana kriya (forward extending action) – that the action has to originate from the sides of the trunk, and not straight away from the spine. we have heard the banana leaf analogy earlier – the veins that spread out from the centre to form the broad expanse of the leaf. geetaji gave this other interesting analogy – the spreading of butter on bread. as we lovingly spread the butter evenly all the way to the very corners of the bread, similarly, the muscle fibres at the back body should spread out to the periphery of the body. this becomes specially important in specific conditions like arthritis, where sufficient height should be given for the head and the arms so that sides of the body get the opportunity to extend.
2. the standing forward bends – in parsvottanansa, for people with arthritis, ankylosing spondylosis of the lumbar back, it is important to keep the arms sufficiently high (the back of the chair) in order to extend the sides of the body.
while variations were recommended for students who need them, any illusion that it is alright for everyone to do forward extensions in a lazy. lackadaisical manner was swiftly dispelled. geetaji emphasised the ‘UT’ of all the uttana -actions – UTtanasana, parsva-UTtansana, prasarita pada – UTtanasana, paschima-UTtanasana. and then proceeded to lead us through some very strong forward extension actions.
adjusting the exarch of the shins was introduced before going into the forward extensions. the exarch looksroughly like the attached image.
– the head of the shin curving outwards. it is possible to have it in different degrees and originating and effecting different expanses of the leg. on stage, we saw a couple of students with differing degrees of the condition, and the adjustments to correct this. the corrections involved not just moving the shinbones in the effected region, but also a corresponding region in the upper leg (tying belts around the legs at the appropriate places. on stage a helper isolated the effected part of the shin, gripped it, and then rolled it towards the back of the leg where it is supposed to stay – but it was possible to also do it on oneself (the shin exarch is a sign of ageing and since we are all ageing, this is a fairly common condition) once the flesh had been sensitised through the touch, it was also possible to position it without touching it manually. how quickly the body learns!. we worked with this adjustment in parsvotanansa and in prasaritapadottanansa.
also in prasaritapadottanasana the rolling of the root of the front thigh from the inside to the outside was emphasised – belts at the root of the thigh, the belts are not just pulled back, but also criss-crossed at the back. this prevents the top of the frontal thighs from ‘falling’ to the front, and results in a lifted asana rather than a collapsed one (and also makes extending forward in prasarita padottanasana more challenging.
in parsvottanasana, theparivrtta action was clearly dealt with – when the right leg is forward, the navel has to rotate from the left to the right. hand variations – concave back, keeping the hands on 4 inch height and extending forward, paschima namaskara.
3. the seated forward bends – paschimottanasana and janu sirsasana – we held on to broad planks that were placed against the sole-side of the feet. a strong and prolonged action of broadening and lifting the elbows up while taking the dorsal thoracic spine and the head down and forward and forward and down …there was nothing lazy or lackadaisical about these forward bends. the earthworm action in forward extensions, that i remember hearing in getaji’s cologne dvd, is particularly effective – and also particularly exhausting!
4. inversions – headstand and variations.
5. inversions – halasana and variations – parsva, karnapida, suptakona
6. inversions – sarvangasana and variations – eka pada, pasava eka pada
7. around this time either geetaji’s voice grew faint or got a bit disoriented – we did many transitions from sarvangasana to setubandha sarvangasana – with one leg at a time and then both legs, and then going form setubandha to halasana.
SHORT BREAK
pranayama
bhramari seated in swastikasana and virasana, with and without jalandhara bandha, seated and lying down (with spinal support)
1500 humming bees
geetaji released the first copy of thelong awaited book yoga and sports that sounds super exciting!
yoganusasanam2015 day 4 – broadening to arch back, chhedana kriya in viloma pranayama
December 12, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
…. of course middle buttocks in
1. opening arm actions: gomukhasana, paschima baddha hastasana, paschima namaskar – having always had enough shoulder mobility, i have never given too much thought to these basic arm actions. geetaji’s recurring theme in this year’s yoganusasanam has been that once the beginner stage of just ticking off on an asana and then moving on to the next new asana to be learned is done with, one has to really ‘look’ at each asana. we might have helped people with stiff or frozen shoulder following the principles of these arm actions (we had a demonstrator on stage who was taken through thesestrong shoulder/ upper arm adjustments) , but often neglect doing them completely ourselves. geetaji put it aptly when she said that through our efforts, we reach an intermediate state of ‘sthirata’, and since we are satisfied to stop there, the state of ‘sukhata’ that we experience is also intermediate (and this is what guruji said on he subject – form abhijata’s lecture on first afternoon – “your efforts are petty. and therefore the results are also petty. and then you say yoga is infinite.”)
e.g. in gomukhasana, the armpit opening and extension and rolling of the upper arm of the lifted-arm , the extension and rolling of the upper arm of the bottom-arm, the coming together of theouter edges of the shoulder blades- do we do this with as much intensity as, say we roll the upper arms of a person with a stiff shoulder?
the back arching preparation started right here as we turned our heads to look up at the ceiling (trapezius drawn down, outer edges of the shoulder blade fixed in, floating ribs moved slightly back so that the lumbar is extended, middle buttocks in and moving forwards towards the pubis, tailbone pointing down toward the floor, abdomen soft with the sides of the navel broadening out to the sides, feeling the vast expanse between the pelvis and the floating ribs, bottom of the sternum lifted to the top of the sternum – for all subsequent back arches)
while we continued the head-up action, geetaji also touched upon why some people might feel dizzy in this position (shoulders/ trapezius lifting up) and what to do (neck is to be lengthened – uttanasana, ardha uttanansa with head resting, adhomukhavirasana with head resting on height – depending on the condition of the student)
2. preparatory standing asanas for back arches
parsvottanansa with paschima namaskara – not extending forward or going down, but arching to look up towards the ceiling – as if the eyes can look at the folded palms behind. the front leg in parsvottansana gives the height so becoming taller with the front leg; the back leg in parsvottansana gives strength and stability – moving that leg back.
prasarita padottanasana. concave back.
3. Back extensions
the previous actions, done without the props we usually use when preparing for back arches, were a great preparation for the back arches
backs-arches basic principle: BROADENING AT THE FRONT. BROADENING AT THE BACK
first it is important to broaden. in the yoga sutra, hardening and compacting comes only in the third chapter:
rūpa-lāvaṇya-bala-vajra-saṁhananatvāni kāyasaṁpat
“perfection of the body consists of beauty of form, grace, strength, compactness and the hardness and brilliance of a diamond.” yoga sutra of patanjali, 111.47
the result of maintaining this focus on the broadening action in back arches – as experienced also in yoganusasanam 2014 is not only that one does not feel the physical strain on the spine, but, more magically, there is not the light headed, manic feeling in the head. the head stays calm – effortlessness in effort – witnessed in action.
lying down prone. extended arms forward. having the arms on the floor gave a good opportunity to extend that arm pit area that connect to the side ribs, and also to work on the corners of the elbow on the little finger side ( dealt with in the previous day’s class) and extend the forearms forward. but that was yesterday’s work – this is what we added today:
salabhasana – lifted the legs including the pelvis to access the little depression at the junction of the thigh and the pelvis – one leg at a time arms to the sidesand then centralised the fronts of the legs – as we have been doing in savasana on the first day and virasana frontal thighs on the 2nd day. salabhasana was done first just one leg at a time, then arms extended forward and then the classical asana with the arms at the sides of the body.
dhanurasana – arm as have to feel as if they are holding ropes and being extended back
bhujangasana – in addition to the classical asana, we also walked the hands lower down towards the lower ribs, and then straightened the arms, thereby, taking the arching lower down the back.
and then we transitioned into supta natarajasana – on the right side – right hand holding the right foot like in padangustha dhanurasana. left leg on the floor and bracing with the left hand in the floor to lift the trunk up. and then lifting the left hand off the floor so both hands were used to hold the right foot – rather a belt was being used to hold the foot.
ustrasana – with the feet separate. (trapezius drawn down, outer edges of the shoulder blade fixed in, floating ribs moved slightly back so that the lumbar is extended, middle buttocks in and moving forwards towards the pubis, tailbone pointing down toward the floor, abdomen soft with the sides of the navel broadening out to the sides, feeling the vast expanse between the pelvis and the floating ribs, bottom of the sternum lifted to the top of the sternum) not only going into the asana with the broadening action, but also coming out of the asana from the sides of the body rather than the centre)
4. Inversions
sirsasana – parsva and parivrtta pasrsvaika pada variations. inversions felt light after all the previous work
5. urdhva dahnurasana – started with the spine lifted on a 4- 6 inch stack of blankets/ blocks and then rather than walking in with the hands or the feet, we worked on back arches basic instructions listed earlier
short break
pranayama
geetaji described the 4 kinds of actions in pranayama and we started with the first – vicchedah (interruption) kriya – in vilioma pranayama
missed the music concert in the afternoon
yoganusasanam2015 day 3 – the UT-tana (intense stretch) in forward bends. dealing with the exarch of the shins. bhramari
December 10, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
broader leanings – the surrendering action of forward bends. surrender the crown of the head towards the floor when standing, surrender the heart towards the legs when seated.
—————————————
1. the opening sequence of forward bends – we started aiming for deeper forward extensions right from the word go. in adho mukhs virasana, the extended hands were placed on a 4 inch height, so that the armpits went below the level of the wrists. the instructions form the previous day’s adhomukhasvanasana was recalled – ‘hammering’ each vertebrae into the floor, and extending the arms not just format he middle of the armpits, but from the back of the armpits (this was the action we also did in urdhva hasta tadasana on the first day. we did both the knees separate and the knees together version of adhomukhasvanasana.
we went up to uttanasana with the feet wide apart and extending the sides of the torso down, and the crown of the head facing the floor.
as after in geetaji’s classes at RIMYI, the opening sequence was done not in a hurried manner just as a warm up, but given enough time, to commence the broadening and opening of the body.
also right at the outset, geetaji spent time to emphasis on one of the fundamental principles of purva pratana kriya (forward extending action) – that the action has to originate from the sides of the trunk, and not straight away from the spine. we have heard the banana leaf analogy earlier – the veins that spread out from the centre to form the broad expanse of the leaf. geetaji gave this other interesting analogy – the spreading of butter on bread. as we lovingly spread the butter evenly all the way to the very corners of the bread, similarly, the muscle fibres at the back body should spread out to the periphery of the body. this becomes specially important in specific conditions like arthritis, where sufficient height should be given for the head and the arms so that sides of the body get the opportunity to extend.
2. the standing forward bends – in parsvottanansa, for people with arthritis, ankylosing spondylosis of the lumbar back, it is important to keep the arms sufficiently high (the back of the chair) in order to extend the sides of the body.
while variations were recommended for students who need them, any illusion that it is alright for everyone to do forward extensions in a lazy. lackadaisical manner was swiftly dispelled. geetaji emphasised the ‘UT’ of all the uttana -actions – UTtanasana, parsva-UTtansana, prasarita pada – UTtanasana, paschima-UTtanasana. and then proceeded to lead us through some very strong forward extension actions.
adjusting the exarch of the shins was introduced before going into the forward extensions. the exarch looksroughly like the attached image.
– the head of the shin curving outwards. it is possible to have it in different degrees and originating and effecting different expanses of the leg. on stage, we saw a couple of students with differing degrees of the condition, and the adjustments to correct this. the corrections involved not just moving the shinbones in the effected region, but also a corresponding region in the upper leg (tying belts around the legs at the appropriate places. on stage a helper isolated the effected part of the shin, gripped it, and then rolled it towards the back of the leg where it is supposed to stay – but it was possible to also do it on oneself (the shin exarch is a sign of ageing and since we are all ageing, this is a fairly common condition) once the flesh had been sensitised through the touch, it was also possible to position it without touching it manually. how quickly the body learns!. we worked with this adjustment in parsvotanansa and in prasaritapadottanansa.
also in prasaritapadottanasana the rolling of the root of the front thigh from the inside to the outside was emphasised – belts at the root of the thigh, the belts are not just pulled back, but also criss-crossed at the back. this prevents the top of the frontal thighs from ‘falling’ to the front, and results in a lifted asana rather than a collapsed one (and also makes extending forward in prasarita padottanasana more challenging.
in parsvottanasana, theparivrtta action was clearly dealt with – when the right leg is forward, the navel has to rotate from the left to the right. hand variations – concave back, keeping the hands on 4 inch height and extending forward, paschima namaskara.
3. the seated forward bends – paschimottanasana and janu sirsasana – we held on to broad planks that were placed against the sole-side of the feet. a strong and prolonged action of broadening and lifting the elbows up while taking the dorsal thoracic spine and the head down and forward and forward and down …there was nothing lazy or lackadaisical about these forward bends. the earthworm action in forward extensions, that i remember hearing in getaji’s cologne dvd, is particularly effective – and also particularly exhausting!
4. inversions – headstand and variations.
5. inversions – halasana and variations – parsva, karnapida, suptakona
6. inversions – sarvangasana and variations – eka pada, pasava eka pada
7. around this time either geetaji’s voice grew faint or got a bit disoriented – we did many transitions from sarvangasana to setubandha sarvangasana – with one leg at a time and then both legs, and then going form setubandha to halasana.
SHORT BREAK
pranayama
bhramari seated in swastikasana and virasana, with and without jalandhara bandha, seated and lying down (with spinal support)
1500 humming bees
geetaji released the first copy of thelong awaited book yoga and sports that sounds super exciting!
yoganusasanam2015 day 4 – broadening to arch back, chhedana kriya in viloma pranayama
December 12, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
…. of course middle buttocks in
1. opening arm actions: gomukhasana, paschima baddha hastasana, paschima namaskar – having always had enough shoulder mobility, i have never given too much thought to these basic arm actions. geetaji’s recurring theme in this year’s yoganusasanam has been that once the beginner stage of just ticking off on an asana and then moving on to the next new asana to be learned is done with, one has to really ‘look’ at each asana. we might have helped people with stiff or frozen shoulder following the principles of these arm actions (we had a demonstrator on stage who was taken through thesestrong shoulder/ upper arm adjustments) , but often neglect doing them completely ourselves. geetaji put it aptly when she said that through our efforts, we reach an intermediate state of ‘sthirata’, and since we are satisfied to stop there, the state of ‘sukhata’ that we experience is also intermediate (and this is what guruji said on he subject – form abhijata’s lecture on first afternoon – “your efforts are petty. and therefore the results are also petty. and then you say yoga is infinite.”)
e.g. in gomukhasana, the armpit opening and extension and rolling of the upper arm of the lifted-arm , the extension and rolling of the upper arm of the bottom-arm, the coming together of theouter edges of the shoulder blades- do we do this with as much intensity as, say we roll the upper arms of a person with a stiff shoulder?
the back arching preparation started right here as we turned our heads to look up at the ceiling (trapezius drawn down, outer edges of the shoulder blade fixed in, floating ribs moved slightly back so that the lumbar is extended, middle buttocks in and moving forwards towards the pubis, tailbone pointing down toward the floor, abdomen soft with the sides of the navel broadening out to the sides, feeling the vast expanse between the pelvis and the floating ribs, bottom of the sternum lifted to the top of the sternum – for all subsequent back arches)
while we continued the head-up action, geetaji also touched upon why some people might feel dizzy in this position (shoulders/ trapezius lifting up) and what to do (neck is to be lengthened – uttanasana, ardha uttanansa with head resting, adhomukhavirasana with head resting on height – depending on the condition of the student)
2. preparatory standing asanas for back arches
parsvottanansa with paschima namaskara -not extendingforward or going down, but arching to look up towards the ceiling – as if the eyes can look at the folded palms behind.the front leg in parsvottansana gives the height so becoming taller with the front leg; the back leg in parsvottansana gives strength and stability – moving that leg back.
prasarita padottanasana. concave back.
3. Back extensions
the previous actions, done without the props we usually use when preparing for back arches, were a great preparation for the back arches
backs-arches basic principle: BROADENING AT THE FRONT. BROADENING AT THE BACK
first it is important to broaden. in the yoga sutra, hardening and compacting comes only in the third chapter:
rūpa-lāvaṇya-bala-vajra-saṁhananatvāni kāyasaṁpat
“perfection of the body consists of beauty of form, grace, strength, compactness and the hardness and brilliance of a diamond.” yoga sutra of patanjali, 111.47
the result of maintaining this focus on the broadening action in back arches – as experienced also in yoganusasanam 2014 is not only that one does not feel the physical strain on the spine, but, more magically, there is not the light headed, manic feeling in the head. the head stays calm – effortlessness in effort – witnessed in action.
lying down prone. extended arms forward. having the arms on the floor gave a good opportunity to extend that arm pit area that connect to the side ribs, and also to work on the corners of the elbow on the little finger side ( dealt with in the previous day’s class) and extend the forearms forward. but that was yesterday’s work – this is what we added today:
salabhasana – lifted the legs including the pelvis to access the little depression at the junction of the thigh and the pelvis – one leg at a time arms to the sidesand then centralised the fronts of the legs – as we have been doing in savasana on the first day and virasana frontal thighs on the 2nd day. salabhasana was done first just one leg at a time, then arms extended forward and then the classical asana with the arms at the sides of the body.
dhanurasana – arm as have to feel as if they are holding ropes and being extended back
bhujangasana – in addition to the classical asana, we also walked the hands lower down towards the lower ribs, and then straightened the arms, thereby, taking the arching lower down the back.
and then we transitioned into supta natarajasana – on the right side – right hand holding the right foot like in padangustha dhanurasana. left leg on the floor and bracing with the left hand in the floor to lift the trunk up. and then lifting the left hand off the floor so both hands were used to hold the right foot – rather a belt was being used to hold the foot.
ustrasana – with the feet separate. (trapezius drawn down, outer edges of the shoulder blade fixed in, floating ribs moved slightly back so that the lumbar is extended, middle buttocks in and moving forwards towards the pubis, tailbone pointing down toward the floor, abdomen soft with the sides of the navel broadening out to the sides, feeling the vast expanse between the pelvis and the floating ribs, bottom of the sternum lifted to the top of the sternum) not only going into the asana with the broadening action, but also coming out of the asana from the sides of the body rather than the centre)
4. Inversions
sirsasana – parsva and parivrtta pasrsvaika pada variations. inversions felt light after all the previous work
5. urdhva dahnurasana – started with the spine lifted on a 4- 6 inch stack of blankets/ blocks and then rather than walking in with the hands or the feet, we worked on back arches basic instructions listed earlier
short break
pranayama
geetaji described the 4 kinds of actions in pranayama and we started with the first – vicchedah (interruption) kriya – in vilioma pranayama
missed the music concert in the afternoon
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yoganusasanam2015 day 5 – Lengthening to Twist; bhastrika, chalana kriya of the surya nadi and the chandra nadi
December 13, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
green group in front of geetaji. feeling brave, we are right in front. my other half, from all accounts an inveterate back-bencher all his student-life, has suddenly taken to wanting to be as close to geetaji as possible.
1. preliminary actions – adhomukhasvanasana and uttanasana with feet wide
2. parsva uttana asana – parsva uttanansana is not a twisting action (if it was, it would be called parivrtta uttanasana) – while the literal meaning is easy to understand, the action itself requires some untangling – the trunk wants to twist as soon as its is moved sideways. when done over the right leg side, the left side of the trunk should extend sideways and downwards, over the right leg, the head aiming for the middle of the right shin,while the left leg should be held firmly in place. the arms are used to help in the movement and extension of the body. i am yet to find another asana that is seemingly so easy but so difficult to maintain becausedelusion creeps in so stealthily. we go in knowing that we should extend and not twist. but a little over-enthusiasm, a little laziness, a little over-confidence, and the right hip swings in a bit, the outer edge of the left thigh gives way and rolls in a little towards the right, the left side of the trunk, not getting enough resistance anymore, extends too far to the right, the head overshoots the mid line of the right leg, and the right side of the trunk starts to flip as if twisting. and the very ‘direction’ of the asana goes wrong. this instruction from geetaji helped greatly in parsva uttanansana in the parsva (sides) of the body – “if you had only one leg, how would you do uttanasana over that one leg?”
3. standing twists – from utthita hasta padasana, turn to the right only after lifting the right groin up and making sure it doesn’t drop with the turn (a couple of days ago, raya was demonstrating the parsva pada action – when turning the right leg out and left foot in, slapping the right outer buttock skin with his right hand with a front-to-back swinging action in order to encourage the inner groin to move to the outer groin on that (front) leg side. similarly, slapping the outer left buttock skin with his left hand with a back-to-front swinging action in order to encourage the buttock to roll to the front on that (back) leg side).
inparivrtta trikonasana (with right leg to the front) the muscle fibres on the left are to be dropped down towards the floor and the left upper arm extended down towards the floor, while the outer left thigh is held up. the navel is to be moved form left to right, the skin on the right side of the chest below the nipple area should move up towards the ceiling. the trapezius has to roll down the back and the head should not be taken forward. the trunk should not be shortened.
parivrtta parsva konasana – in no hurry to finish the asana, at every attempt on every side (thats only two sides – the right and the left) we spent most time in the proper ‘fixing’ of the opposite upper arm to the bent leg knee. we extended the left side of the trunk all the way forward over the right thigh in order to catch the left arm at its root. on this arm, we rolled the biceps inside out and triceps outside in with the other hand, we placed the back leg knee down on the floor in order to do the fixing properly, we extended the fixed arm as far ahead as possible, thereby extending the upper arm and deltoids on that arm. and then we went on to the rest of the asana – the navel moves towards the right leg side ( in fact, in this asana, the abdomen skin can get caught against the bent leg thigh, and we gripped and moved the abdominal flesh from the left to the right) the skin on the right side of the chest below the nipple area moves up towards the ceiling. the trapezius has to roll down the back and the head should not be taken forward. the trunk should not be shortened.
important teaching pointers – the hierarchy in teaching – to a relative beginner, geetaji, focussed on the stability of the legs: the ‘pincer action’ of the two outer buttocks moving towards each other in parivrtta trikonasana, rather than the twisting action.
in parivrtta parsva konasana, geetaji helped 4 volunteers – for once, all men – free up various places where they were getting stuck. the most interesting was when she held mohan’s head ( yes, his enthusiasm at being on the front row landed him on stage) which he was throwing forward, thereby straining unnecessarily in the asana. once the head was stabilised, she also asked him to slightly take the bent knee back, this not only further moved him towards the back leg side, but also moved the inner groin of that side towards the outer groin, and freed up his back body to move. so, it is possible to move too far forward and go too much towards the head side – after completely extending forward – moving from the foot towards the head, and lifting the back heel if required, one has to then move back towards the straight leg foot – from the head towards the foot. and in the final asana, the back for heel has to reach down to the floor.
4. seated twists – once agin, first efforts were put into extending forward
parivrtta janu sirsasana
parivrtta upavistakonasana
the final adjustment for all of us in the hall came from guruji – we invoked him to ‘kick our dorsal thoracic in’ – once, twice, three times.
marichyasana 3 – seated on higher than usual height andlifting off the buttocks to extend the arm forward
ardha matsyendrasana –
in the last two seated twists, we ‘opened’ the back of the knee by inserting our fingers behind the knee. so that the patella feels broad. thefinal action was to press down on the back hand on the floor to straighten up after extending forward, taking the dorsal thoracic back in and looking up. arm bindings were not done.
5. closing actions after the twists – supta padangusthasana 2 – never appreciated more the pelvis opening and widening action of this asana.
short break
pranayama
bhastrika
chālana (movement) kriya in digital pranayama – of the surya nādi (that ends at the right nostril) and the chandra nādi (ends at the left nostril)
when inhaling and exhaling through the right nostril, used the right hand
when inhaling and exhaling through the left nostril, used the left hand.
geetaji wanted us to be sensitive to the flow of the breath on the two sides, noticing the difference, we did a few cycles of single nostril bhastrika to clear the nostrils, and then went back to chālan kriya of the surya nādi and chālana kriya of the chandra nādi.
quote of the day from geetaji
(as we struggled with the twists) – “dont die and stay. there is no use staying there like dead bodies. (pause) instead, do and die.”
afternoon session of q and a with geetaji
people asked many questions about their specific problems. and if they thought they would sit back as geetaji answered the questions, they were in for a surprise. a great lesson in therapeutic yoga and in developing an ‘eye’ for looking at the body, as geetaji answered queries as what to do when unable to join the inner heels + big toes in tadasana/ dandasana/ why sarvangasana is uncomfortable/ what to do when arms and legs feel shorter compared to the torso. here’s a couple of pictures just to demonstrate the variety of adjustments we saw in that brief one hour.
oganusasanam2015 – day 6 and day 7 – pranayama and dhyana
December 16, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
it will be futile to attempt summarising these two sessions.
this is the asana sequence we did before pranayama on day 6(the session was 2 hours long)
1. supine asana – with height for the spine. with the two foes stacked up on top of each other and three more blankets on top of that, we got about 8 inches of height for the spine
supta swastikasana
suptabaddhakonasana (with two belts – one for each leg – holding together the lower shin close to the ankles to the root of the thigh
suptavirasana
careful adjustment of legs in padmasana – going from upavistakonasana
matsyasana
2. inversions – sirsasana – without any variations
halasana – going to eka pada sarvangasana with each leg in turn and then sarvangasana
took the hands way a from the back ( lift the spine as if there are no hands)
3. setubandhasarvangasana on the same height used in the earlier supine asanas
4. savasana
pranayama
focus on anuloma and pratiloma pranayama (chālana kriya) on day 6
nadi shodhana pranayama ( bhedana kriya – breaking the flow of the breath between the two nostrils) on day 7
mahamudra – was done only with jalandhara bandha
Dhyana on day 7
was like nothing i have experienced before and nothing i can describe.
it felt very short. and ggetaji left us with the tantalising promise that we will maybe explore it deeper another time.
afternoon sessions
prashantji’s talk on yoga and music (actually more like yoga and sound vibrations) read out by zubin – would be interesting to summarise this
talks by some senior teachers and guruji’s students. for all of us not born in an earliergeneration, we are fortunate to have such wise, compassionate men and women amongst us.
emotional ending to yoganusasanam2015. another book to look forward to – with a young and dashing guruji on the cover
yoganusasanam2015 – putting it together
December 16, 2015 / jaya chakravarty
some learnings that are still pulsating the strongest:
techinical learnings in asana practice
1. the dorsal thoracic – sometimes we were hammering it in, sometimes guruji himself was ‘kicking’ us in that region.
2. positioning of the torso – extending from the pubis towards the navel and towards the diaphragm, moving the floating ribs slightly back (towards the back of the body), one feels the expanse of the area between the pelvis and the diaphragm at the front, and it is possible elongate the lumbar area – extending the tailbone down towards the floor and keeping the lower back ribs lifted. Identifying and arresting the aggressive pushing forward of the lower ribs/ floating ribs/ diaphragm at the front also has a definite calming effect on the mind. If this pushing forward is an established habit pattern (guilty!!) , releasing the floating ribs and lumbar back in this way might drop the top sternum – this fault can be exaggerated in jalandhara bandha in pranayama as taking the head down on top of a dropped top sternum, drops it further. the same faulty action can make sarvangasana very uncomfortable. therefore the sternum then has to be re-raised from the bottom to the top – with special attention to the top. in the pranayama class we explored this both from the front and the back side of the body. at the front, geetaji place a rolled belt, and then her own palm, on the top sternum of a participant and asked her to breathe into the palm ( this participant came forward saying she was not able to do pranayama at all and geetaji noticed immediately a drop in her top sternum) – lifting her top sternum into geetaji’s palms. at the back body, two actions were shown – the more familiar one of placing a rolled bandage/ belt at the cervico-dorsal area to lift up the top sternum from behind; geetaji also, with her own hands, held back the participant’s skin on both sides at the base of the neck(almost like holding a puppy but he scruff of the neck) in order to ensure that the top sternum does not drop as the head is taken down in jalandhara bandha. in asana, the recommended adjustment was to take a three-fold blank just for that cervico-dorsal area (placed perpendicular on top of the regular stack of sarvangasana blankets)
3. Indents of the buttock – we didnt hear this so much after the first couple of days – but hte point was made powerfully enough
4. middle buttock area – we heard it so many times last year in yoganusasanam2014 – it came up quite frequently this year as well – especially in inversions and the back arches
5. bringing movement/ mobility – right from lifting the arms in urdhvahastasana on the first day, geetaji moved us beyond our natural range. “you stop at an intermediate state of sthirata. and that is why you experience an intermediate state of sukhata.” whether it was extending forward in forward extensions and twists, arching back in back extensions, she encouraged us to go towards the next stop of sthirata.
in pranayama
– force of will cannot be used to do pranayama. we can only go as far and as fast/ slow as the body, mind and breath are ready.
– importance of doing savasana before pranayama – before a morning attempt at pranayama, lying down in savasana might feel excessive as we have just woken up after a night’s sleep. however, geetaji said that this wakefulness is good enough for an ‘outer projection’ (good enough to go for an early morning picnic she said) but it need not mean that we are wakeful enough to look inside. only when our minds, in addition to our lungs and our body, have recovered, are we fit enough to start the pranayama practice. and in that early morning savasana if we go back to sleep, it means that sleep was required.
– importance of doing regular (for beginners) and ujjayi (for slightly advanced practitioners) breaths between cycles of pranayama – the mind and the breath needs to come back to neutrality before proceeding with the next cycle, in single nostril breathing, it is possible that the blocked nostril was not blocked properly and breath continued to leak in/ out through it – learning to loss in clarity about what is happening in the two nostrils. to neutralise any faulty actions during the pranayama, it is important to do as many regular/ ujjayi breaths as are required before proceeding with the next cycle.
– the only laryngeal pranayama is bhramari. ujjayi breath does not have to make sound.
– although geetaji taught us all the basic pranayama in this short period of time, she was clear that:
a. not all pranayamashould be done on the same day – only one or two
b. no one should feel that just because they have been taught these techniques, they are now ready to start teaching them
– the importance of asana practice to do pranayama – for the breath to be able to move inside, space is required. asana creates this space. not just physical space, but also emotional space. if one is under the influence of strong emotions – whether it be great sorrow or ecstasy, one is not fit to do pranayama.
larger learnings:
1. the importance of the practice of yama and niyama in one’s yoga practice
2. Witnessing vs intellectualising – things become simple when one sees them clearly – who better to say this than geetaji – whose clarity of observation and conviction in her ability to observe seem to drive so much of her teaching. geetaji said this about guruji as well – while we might be awe-struck at the sophistication of his adjustments, she put it thus(paraphrased) “ when he saw something not opening, he just found out how to open it, when he saw something not straightening, he just found a way to straighten it.”.
3. Witnessing in personal practice – as a beginner it might be alright to just do an asana and then go to the next new asana. however, at some point one has to stop going from asana to asana and observe which actions within the asanas are faulty. while some of these faulty actions can be present right from the beginning, some faults appear with the ageing process. it is possible to move on to advanced asanas and still not have identified and corrected basic fault, which then go on accumulating. even if they do not cause any pain for a long time, even if they do not hinder the performance of other asanas, they do restrict ‘opening’ of the body in some way or the other. the origin of avidya in the body is the inability to look at oneself objectively – where we do not see our own faults. and this is linked to the ego.
4. Witnessing as a teacher – to learn to observe the PERSON in the asana clearly. also being able to establish a hierarchy of teaching based on the current level of the student.
5. effort vs tapas – whereas there is an element of aggression in the former to gain something, the latter is done not to gain, but to burn away – impurities.
6. when do we emulate guruji and when should we not – most of us know him only from the outer manifestation of his asana. at times geetaji chided us for trying to do the pose like bks iyengar. at the same time, she told us enough stories about him and his attitude towards his practice that give vital clues on what we can emulate: the ability to do strong actions but with an attitude of surrender, not letting the practice get limited due to personal limitations, observation, conviction.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
