It struck me that one of the things that helps you get on the mat in the morning, is working on or towards a new pose. Through most of Primary I was obsessed with jumping back and through and couldn't wait to get on the mat. Of course we're always working on our poses, tweaking them, developing them but there's nothing like a new pose to get you out of bed. I want to keep my Ashtanga simple, as stripped down as possible but perhaps just one new pose, but which, only just had stitches out of my head so can't work on flipping out of Viparita Dandasana.I was given this old copy of Iyengar's light on yoga last week, it has the best cover photo.
Kandasana, now there's a pose, one of those classic yoga postures like Natajarasana, Eka pada Kaja Kapotasana, Purna matsyendrasana, something beautiful about it. Here's Sharath on the left and below on the KPJAYI logo, I don't think I ever noticed there was a logo let alone that it had Kandasana on it. Thanks, R, for pointing it out.
Best of all it's a development of Baddha Konasana so slips right into Primary without disrupting things too much. Oh and there's a way of working towards it from Yoga Nidrasana so I can slip it into 2nd series as well, something to look forward to around the middle of both practices and a reason to get up when it's cold and dark.
A nice byproduct of practicing Ashtanga in the morning is that I'm covering the key Vinyasa Krama postures there, the long paschi, long shoulderstand and headstand as well as a tadasana sequence before my Surys. It frees me to explore mini Vinyasa Krama sequences and subroutines in the evening as prep for pranayama and meditation. I'm thinking a Standing triangle sequence pose then perhaps Maha Mudra, Paschimattanasana, Upavista Konasana (Seated angle pose), Baddha Konasana and Kandasana followed by Padmasana ready for pranayama.
Still a way to go of course, but then that's the point. I tried it after Yoga Nidrasana this morning while laying on my back, it felt close, I could feel my legs coming around and my feet coming into my chest, just a bit more leg strength needed.
I'll try and video the Yoga Nidrasana approach later but for now a very much work in progress seated attempt. This was taken after practice as I don't want to interrupt the flow of my practice at the moment.
Probably best not to try this one unless you have a really, nice knees- flat-on-the-ground Baddha Konasana.
UPDATE 27/02/12
Started working on Kandasana again with some improvement. The knees came more around today and down, a case now of bringing the knees closer together now to take the feet higher and deeper so i can let go, fascinating posture
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13 comments:
My ankles are screaming just thinking about it. How do you safely stretch the ankles without risking sprains? I sprained my ankle several months ago, and I think it had something to do with all the lotus work. Now I'm reluctant to do anything that stretches the outer ankle. So long lotus... :(
Sorry about your lotus, your ankle, hope it recovers quickly.
I don't know, these 'extreme' poses, perhaps not as extreme as they seem. Kapo looks extreme but the bend starts in the toes and ends in the fingertips, same with dropback, complicated and subtle rather than extreme, no? This looks all ankles and knees but it's hips and quads and god knows what else going on. My ankles feel OK , knees too, of course I might have flexible ankles I've always tended to do my Baddha konasana with soles facing up. Anyway still not there yet, it's something to do with the legs bringing the knees over and down.
Thanks Grimmly I needed this post. My morning practice this month has been a little come and go. Occasionally I can do those long VK practices but it has been hard to motivate myself with the weather getting colder, even with a space heater. I think I have found my motivation---work on a pose that I 'cannot do' in the morning. For some reason I never thought of this. Now, I need to find out which pose I want to work on. Any ideas?
Dear Grimmly
If you started yoga past your 30s and did this pose, then you must have broken the truth about the statement said by an uber-yogi who said that those starting yoga past their 30s should forget about doing anything past 3rd series, since their bodies would not be flexible enough. The pose you attempted is from from advanced series (A or B, whatever the are called now) past 3rd, so you are an exception. It's good to know that you can dispel statements and limitations made by teachers.
cheers,
Arturo
i was just discussing this posture with my students in all of my classes today. thanks a lot!
hi Chris, trouble with you is it would only take you a couple of days to work out a pose but perhaps you might find something here
http://www.absolutelyashtanga.com/yoga_5.html
Mathew Sweeney has a book you might like called Vinyasa Krama http://www.theyogashop.co.uk/
it has a few long sequences in the back one of which is supposed to be Ashtanga fifth. I think you might like it for the Asana pictionary in the back, hundreds of postures all grouped into type.
Curious Arturo, perhaps the uber-yogi was just trying to curb asana madness and thinking more in the sense of series. A lot of forth and even fifth series asana are quite straight forward particularly if you can do third,.trouble is the straight forward ones often follow something insane, Akarna Dhanurasana, say, following kapilasana in Advanced B.
In Vinyasa krama the postures of the same type build on each other, just taking something a little further step by step, following that approach I doubt there is an age issue.
Your welcome Bindi, I'm curious in what context though, did someone have the same Light on yoga edition?
Oh, so you didn't get the kandasana idea from the new kpjayi logo?
http://kpjayi.org/
I never picked up on that Roselil, how long has that been the logo I wonder. I did see a picture of Sharath doing it yesterday when I was searching for pictures. I didn't use it because it was from the side and a little dark but he does have full janandhara lock on in the picture, found it on google image search.
Thanks Grimmly,
I think I will just work on pincha mayurasana and mayurasana.
Dear Grimmly
I just had another thought about what you wrote. Would the converse be also true? The reason that you might stay away from going to practice (in a structured shala setting) would be because there is no additional pose to work on, because none is expected to be given? Gee, that sounds negative, now that I've written it. But isn't the converse also a possibility? In the case where you're the teacher of yourself and you're going to give yourself a new pose, then it's different; the anxious expectaction is high.
Cheers,
Arturo
Hi Arturo, The main reason I don't go to a shala for Ashtanga is that there isn't one nearby. I live outside London, I could only go on a Sunday every other week or so. Would I go if a good one opened locally or if I moved to London? I can't honestly say, I'd probably give it a go for a while, tidy up a few things but I doubt I'd stick with it,I think I just prefer practicing alone.
I'm keeping it pretty much straight Ashtanga in the mornings for now just because I'm rebuilding the discipline but as soon as I'm back in the routine I'll adapt the practice with Vinyasa Krama as before.
The new pose here is just to motivate me on to the mat through these first couple of weeks, something to look forward to in the middle of the practice. I've lost a lot of the Asana madness I used to have, don't have enough time to practice the asanas I have let alone look for new ones. Unless something special comes along, of course, like this one on the cover of the book I was given, It's beautiful, cries out to be tried.
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