My two ideal Vinyasa Krama practices

Below are my two, personal, model practices, one with a forward bending and leg behind head focus the other focusing on back bending. Since the June/July VK course I've pretty much been alternating between variations of these, three days on one, three days on the other plus a rest day. My Friday Primary fits into the forward bending/LBH focus, as I include a Dwi Pada Sirsasana entry into Supta kurmasana, it's close enough.

I tend to vary some of the subroutines and vinyasas in the different sequences to cover a wide range of postures throughout the week while retaining the main focus of the practice.

One of the benefits of coming to Vinyasa Krama from Ashtanga has been the awareness of how important it is to work on the same challenging asanas, if not daily then, every other day. While there's a lot to be gained from working through the different postures and vinyasa, I don't believe your going to get far with your Kapo or Leg behind head poses if you only practice them once a week. It takes time gaining the confidence to enter the more difficult asana and even longer becoming comfortable in them such that you can slow and control the breath. The approach below seems to balance exploring and rotating the range of postures and Vinyasas while keeping a regular focus on the more challenging poses.

It could be argued that while not practicing Kapo say, you can still work on deep backbends from the different sequences. One day you might practice Viparita Salabhasana, another day the dropback in tadasana, perhaps Natajarasana on still another. That's true, but however deep your backbend nothing quite prepares you for Kapo like, well, Kapo. I find the same goes for Natajarasana, I need to work on it pretty much everyday.

Something I've struggled with recently is the balance between pranyama/meditation and asana. I'm sold on Pranayama, I love it, in my evening practice I do just fifteen minutes of asana and seventy-five of pranayama/meditation, the asana is preparation for the pranayama, how it should be. I'm tempted to do something similar in the morning, perhaps an hour of asana and ninety of pranayama/meditation. An hour would only cover the essentials, however, Tadasana and the long stays in Paschimottanasana, shoulderstand and headstand, I might have lost some of the asana madness but asanas still have their allure. I'm less acquisitive of postures perhaps but I still enjoy exploring them. I've become a bit of a girls blouse about it too (as my father would say), more interested in the classical standing postures than arm balances and I can't seem to resist the leg raises, I used to be the same about redheads.

Guess I'm just not ready to let go of it yet. A bit of Abhinivasah in this perhaps. Doesn't help that I seem to be in such a good place at the moment with regards my practice. Postures seem to be coming along nicely and almost anything seems approachable, mentally I feel relaxed and comfortable with where I am and what I'm doing.

So why the backbending and Leg behind head focus? The more challenging asana often seem to fall into these two camps, think Kapo, Natajarasana, Chakra bandhasana, Ganda B in backbending and Durvasna, Dwi pada sirsasana, Omkarasana etc. in LBH. Some of those other nasty postures like Yoga dandasana will benefit from the work done in LBH too. I came to VK from Ashtanga and had a pretty deep Kapo and Dwi pada, for me it's a case of keeping them up and perhaps extending their expressions a little more. By creating a focus on these kind of poses in my practice I'm able to choose postures in the earlier stages that prepare me nicely, the gentle backbends in 'Tadasana' say or half lotus tree pose in the 'On one leg' sequence.

Of course you could develop a practice with a different focus but this seems to be working for me at the moment.

Sunday 8th Aug AM 6:30 start Backbending focus

Tadasana p.1

Usual key vinyasas but extra attention on backbend variations

*Dropbacks x 5 including Eka & Dwi pada chakra bandhasana.

Triangle Element p.147

Parivritta Trikonasana, Uttita Parsva konasana and Prasarita Padottanasana

On one leg element p87

Standing marichi, Ardha-Badha-padmasana in Vrikshasana (half locked lotus in tree pose inc toe balance) *Natajarasana

*I should really be doing my Paschimottanasana here before Bow rather than after but I want to take a long 10 min paschi as a counterpose to all the backbends coming up.

Bow Sequence p.137

inc *Viparita salabhasana, *Bherundasana.

Meditative pose Sequence p.176

Ustrasana (camel) subroutine, includes *Kapotasana and *Eka Pada kapotasana

Paschimottanasana p.71 10 min.

as counter to all the backbending

Shoulderstand prep p.122

Apanasana (pelvic lift)

U- formation (arms and legs raised while supine)

Dwipadpitam (Desk pose)

Shoulderstand 5mins p.123

Dropping back into uttana mayurasana as a counterpose

Headstand 10 mins p.161

inc. some lotus variations

Shoulderstand 5 mins p.123

inc. some leg to floor in frount and behind vinyasas.

feet together UD as counterpose

Lotus element p.189

Bhandrasana (peaceful pose), Yoga mudra and it's vinyasas etc

Kapalabhati 108

Pranayama

Nadi Shodhana 30 minutes

Pratyahara 3min

Mantra meditation 30 min

Came out at about 2 1/2 hours

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Monday 9th AM 5:30 start Forward bend and leg behind head focus

Tadasana p.1
Usual key vinyasas

Dropbacks x 3

Triangle Element p.147

Usual key vinyasas I tend to do Uttita trikonasana, Parivritta Trikonasana, Uttita Parsva konasana and Prasarita Padottanasana daily occasionally adding something different

On one leg element p87

Uttita Padangustasana subroutine, Half lotus routine, *Natajarasana

Asymmetric Element p.35

This morning it was *Hanumanasana, *Eka pada raja kapotasana. Mahamudra, Ardha padmasana subroutine (half lotus), Akarna Danurasana (archer) , Kraunchasana (heron),*Eka pada sirsasana subroutine (leg behind head).

Seated element p.71

10 min Paschimottanasana, Upavishta konasana subroutine, Kukkutasana, *Dwi pada sirsasana, Supta Kurmasana, *Yoga nidra

Shoulderstand prep p.122

Apanasana (pelvic lift)

U- formation (arms and legs raised while supine)

Dwipadpitam (Desk pose)

Shoulderstand 5mins p.123

Dropping back into uttana mayurasana as a counterpose

Headstand 10 minsp.161

inc. some lotus variations

Shoulderstand 5 mins p.123

inc. some leg to floor in frount and behind vinyasas.

feet together UD as counterpose

Lotus element p.189

Bhandrasana (peaceful pose), Yoga mudra and it's vinyasas etc

Kapalabhati 108

Pranayama

Nadi Shodhana 30 minutes

Pratyahara 3min

Mantra meditation 30 min

Again, came out at about 2 1/2 hours

* I've put a star against some of the more challenging postures, if they are a bit much you could leave them out or slip in something else, possibly a couple of the postures in the book leading up to them.