Medicinal Advanced A

I'd planned on practicing Intermediate this morning but after last nights Martini and Sake, something a little more sweaty was called for. Gives an idea how cold it's getting, heating on full plus a space heater and even 2nd isn't raising much of a sweat, having to resort to 3rd for some serious detox.

This was my first time practicing 3rd in, what, eighteen months? I've practiced many of the postures of course in Vinyasa Krama but not as a series..... big difference. Last summer I decided 3rd wasn't for me, the arm balances were bulking me up and, at the time, I felt they were less interesting than the twists and binds that I was finding more challenging. And of course I was getting into Vinyasa Krama in a big way exploring a bunch of the postures from the second half of 3rd.

Come to think of it, it's not the first time in eighteen months, I seem to remember practicing it once, a few months back, with the Jois Advanced A videos on YouTube.

I came up with the idea of practicing it once a week on my day off, a detox practice, besides there are some nice Krama's in it, the LBH series for example. I figured Primary on Friday, Intermediate on Sunday and Advanced A on Tuesday with Vinyasa Krama the other four days of the week. Practicing 3rd only once a week shouldn't bulk me up too much but I wonder how smooth I'll be able to make it, those transitions may always be clunky.

I decided to video it to give me a point of reference and something to look at critically, see what needs most work. First thing I need to do is practice along with Swenson's Advanced A a few times, I got lost, forgot how some of the exits went, very very rusty. There were a couple of times where I had to stop and pull out my Itouch to check what came next and how.

I was pleasently suprised by the first couple of postures Vasisthasana and Viswamitrana, I remember being dreadful at these, still pretty rough but a little less embarassing than they used to be. Durvasana was the big disappointment, I've practiced it on and off in VK, it's been coming along but for some reason I couldn't manage it here and even abandoned the second side, perhaps something to do with practicing it as part of a series. The arm balances are rough but I was delighted at being able to get back up to headstand from Koundinyasana to Asavakrasana, was never able to do that before, used to jump back to plank.

The camera started beeping away through the second side of Purna Matsyendrasana so had to stop recording there, bit of a shame as I was pleased with my hanumanasana and especially Eka Pada raja Kapotasana, deeper than usual, got the back of my head right into my instep. I usually practice them in Vinyasa krama in a backbend sequence, I wonder if all the stretching out of the legs in the arm balances and Eka pada Viparita dandasana somehow helped. I'll record the second half next week.

As I said this is really rough and there are mistakes everywhere so I recommend the Swenson 2nd and 3rd series DVD to talk you through it. I have a play list of the Jois led Advanced A on YouTube, you can find it here.

Was warming up so decided to change after the above clip before it was too late.

Must get a new camera, one I can record for two hours in one go. I like the idea of recording a whole series or VK sequence every few months and having something to refer back to. Be nice to have something to look at when coming across some great tips/suggestions on other blogs etc. see the difference between what I'm doing and what's being suggested.