Back with the program....pretty much.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, I'm shifting back to a more, how to say it, orthodox/traditional/typical Ashtanga practice. Hmmm, none of those seem to work so well. Orthodoxy often has negative connotations, can suggest dogma. Traditional is problematic given the little changes in the practice over the years. Typical, well is there such a thing as a typical practice?

But you now what I mean right?

Six days Full Intermediate with Primary on Friday and Saturday off.

Well not quite. All went well until Friday when my beloved Primary sucked a little. It was OK but didn't feel as smooth as it used to, I wasn't able to bind at the wrist in Mari D. for instance. I decided on four days Intermediate, two days Primary. It seemed to make sense to do the extra Primary on Saturday and take Sunday as my rest day.

I used to use Sunday and my day off (Tuesdays) as my big experimental days. Most of the videos you see on the blog were shot on either a Tuesday or a Sunday. With Sunday free from practice I figure I'll do some extra, extended, Pranayama and Chanting.

Full Intermediate.

Well pretty much. I could go with how 2S is being currently practiced in Mysore. Kino's DVD is probably quite an up to date representation of that. However, I'd started with Swenson's book and DVD am happy with that. This means I keep Chakorasana after Eka pada Sirasana and Vrishchikasana.

I also decided to keep the Natarajasana A and B that I'd been working on in 3S, they are good standing poses and great for working some more on balance. I fit them in after Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana in standing. I'm also continuing to work on Hanumanasana. I've heard there are quite a few Shala's that include that after the Prasarita series so I'm not being TOO unorthodox. I'm practicing mine after Natarajarasa but with Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana in between. I find EPRK is a wonderful prep pose for Hanuman plus it follows Natarajasana nicely.

So not totally orthodox, completely traditional or typically...well, typical, but close enough for Jazz.

Apart from that I'm, back with the program.

The beginning of the week was a surprise. Remember, I'd been doing pretty much all of Primary, Intermediate and part of 3S, six days a week, for the last Month or so. Long practices. So why was it that I was totally wiped out after just practicing Intermediate. Nice practices though, had to take a breather a couple of times, probably partly to do with having moved upstairs to the warmer room, finally getting a sweaty practice again. I managed to keep focused on the breath and bandha pretty much throughout though. The end of the week was better except for the lame Friday Primary, which I made up for yesterday.

Intermediate seems to have grown on me. I felt I needed another Primary but was thinking Ireally want to do 2S, interesting. Intermediate feels like quite the journey now. Where I used to consider it disjointed I now think of it more as a Symphony.

And backbends are coming on. I've had an on/off relationship with the backbends. It was fun learning to drop back and come up but I tend to feel they are over emphasized. Once I learned to do them I rarely bothered. Occasionally I would start doing them again but it was inconsistent. Over Christmas I shifted them to after Standing and leading into the 2nd series backbends. I got into the habit of doing three drop backs and raises as well as walking in towards my heels in UD. I've managed to keep that up now, though in it's 'proper' place, at the end of the sequence. I've made it non negotiable, three dropbacks, no excuses. It's coming on too, I'm going to give it a month or two and then finally look seriously at tic tocks, now that I have the extra space.

I made a pact with myself to stick with 2S for a year at least without thinking about it too much. Just Shut up and do the practice : ) see how things stand a year from now.

So that was my week, how was yours? good I hope.