Vinyasa

Moon Day! No Astanga today, but I did do a sweet vinyasa practice in the spirit of my ‘Month of Tapas’ (and also to keep my ‘Yoga Streak’ going).

I’ve already done the ‘Yin’ portions of Sarah Powers’ ‘Insight Yoga’ DVD several times, but the ‘Yang’ sequences remain unexplored. So that’s what I did this morning! There are two Yang sequences: a 40-minute sun salutation practice and a 55 minute Vinyasa sequence. I practised the latter.

Sarah Powers’ voice is soothing and well-suited to the Yin practice. She brings this same calm and mindful pacing to the Yang sequences. I found it slllllloooooowwww. Compared to, say, Sharath’s led Primary Series *ahem*, the sun salutations move along at a CRAWL.

But I was kind of digging it! It felt good to savour each part of the vinyasa and I had time to really squeeze all the juiciness from my Chaturangas. I even came back to Chaturanga Dandasana after Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, pressing up to high plank before moving onto Adho Mukha Svanasana. The reduced pace put an emphasis on quality, no quantity, so each Chaturanga was deeply and mindfully felt.

My favourite part was a Virabhadrasana I based vinyasa sequence done with one hand placed on the sacrum and the other reaching upward. This vinyasa included Virabhadrasana I, a lunge, Parsvottanasana, Parivritta Trikonasana, and a strength variation with the extending arm reaching forward, torso hovering over the front (bent) knee. Then, in standing, the upward arm was reached back and forward in a big circle, gently exploring the rotation of the shoulder.

I liked the sequence because it worked the core in a very subtle way and it made me EXTREMELY aware of the alignment of my pelvis in those poses.

There’s also an incremented Shalabasana sequene that’s nicely presented. Great preparation for me in my practice of Shalabasana in my Intermediate poses.

After it was finished, I did Sarah’s 10 minute Savasana. She includes some light pranayama in the opening minutes and I’ve been struck by how effective it is, even though she only leads three rounds.

It was enough that I took the Richard Rosen Pranayama book off the shelf and started to re-read it (In searching out the Amazon link, I discovered that he has a follow-up volume). I bought this book about 9 years ago, when Teacher K got me turned on to Pranayama. Alas, I promptly lost interest! I think my interest may have just re-ignited. Perhaps this is another growth project for me!

And even better, there’s an ap for that! (Thanks, Grim!)

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For my 70s yoga offering this week, here’s another image from the Joan Gould book. If you recall, the last time we visited the ladies, they were doing breath retention.

In today’s photo, they’re practising their routine for the Rockettes (‘Yogettes?’)

Love the mats! And the tights! Point those toes, ladies!