Curious how these things happen, a playful idea, a half thought.... and before you know it, before you've thought it through....
This is what happened last week, a half-thought, that I might actually like to share this practice, physically, after all. Perhaps something to do with going through Manju's adjustments on M., the weekend after we came home....
That led to seeing how many mats I could squeeze into the home shala.... just for fun, four as it happens but a bit of a squeeze.
I practiced, tried a Sury on each mat, full practice on the one at the end, you can practice there but not comfortably.
It was nice actually practicing with those other mats even though I was the only one in the room, felt a little like being back in Rethymno in a public shala. If you can't practice at your own shala for some reason and find yourself missing it, just throw some other mats and rugs down around your own.
M. came in one morning while I was practising Primary and did her short Vinyasa Krama routine, nice to catch it out of the corner of my eye as I got on with my own practice, what a graceful and elegant practice VK is.
Ashtanga and Vinyasa Krama in the same room, why not, for me they inform each other, reason enough to consider this alone.
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And this of course got me thinking... in fact, from the moment I got home from Crete I'd found myself walking around the house playfully wondering how many mats I could get in each room . What if I cleared the whole downstairs, how many mats, ten? And the bedroom, five comfortable, six? I even started considering the upstairs music room/school at work, two rooms, one that would take ten the other twenty+ ( perhaps one day).
In the end I settled on the bedroom and came home Saturday to switch it with the shala, crammed our big bed and a couple of chests into the small room you see above, was afraid M. would burst in to tears when she got home but as supportive and encouraging as ever. Thank you Honey.
It took all weekend but here it is, AVKYM: Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga Maidenhead....OPEN, sort of.
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Now what?
Seven mats at a pinch for a led class (terrifying thought) Led Vinyasa Krama? Led Ashtanga, one day (maybe)...
![]()
or five mats comfortable for morning Mysore...really, REALLY?
![]()
Love the moon, called Moon in your Room by Little Milton, it's available on Amazon, I bought it for M. a few birthdays back. The moon changes stages so you know when your full and new moon are coming (assuming you don't lose the clicker as we seem to have done) ....WHAT, I'm going to follow moon days too now? Well perhaps.
So why the change when I never really had any plans to 'teach'. I took Ramaswami's Teacher Training just to spend the five weeks with Ramaswami, same with Manju, the TT in Crete was an extra couple of days and I got to explore the idea of adjustments.
One of the things that had put me off teaching Ashtanga was that I tended to think, having always practiced at home, I had a slightly different take on the practice. It's one thing sharing that on a blog but I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of presenting that approach, didn't seem fair somehow, confusing perhaps. Manju's TT showed me that my idea of Ashtanga practice, a long slow breath, a flexible approach with the focus on Primary and Intermediate series, integrated with pranayama and meditation, with chanting, was in fact, 'traditional practice'. good, honest, common sense Ashtanga.
Common sense Ashtanga, I like that.
Not that Ashtanga generally isn't common sense but we can get carried away somewhat...
The other thing was adjustments. 'Never had em never missed em', have mentioned that here a few times... well now I have had em and I do kind of miss em. And Manju's adjustments are again common sense, supportive, guiding rather than cranking somebody into a posture (which is how I tended to think of them), the adjustments don't take away from the practice but are just..... just kindly. And I can do them, could do with more practice, a lot more practice but these aren't the kind of adjustments where your going to break anyone if you do them wrong, well most of them, the trickier ones can be put to one side for a while.
And I've always taught, taught Philosophy as a TA at Uni for a couple of years, in a prep school ( eight year olds : ), English in Japan, even ended up teacher training, teaching teachers to teach...
I can probably do this.
I haven't grown up ( as an Ashtangi) in a shala but then I taught myself, worked out, Primary to Advanced B here at home without mishap, perhaps there's a different perspective on the practice that might turn out to be interesting.
Still convincing myself here, can you tell.
So there's the shala, space for a handful of mats, perhaps I have a practice to share with this town.
Thankfully I've already been passed some advice on how to go about setting up and running a mysore room, some principles that made so much sense and calmed my racing mind somewhat, thank you M. (different M. ).
But now what.....
Advertising???? What if ten people turn up, twenty! Ideally I'd like one or two to come at first building up to three to five regulars for morning Mysore, M. alone was a handful the other weekend, don't want to rush this.... then perhaps something in the evening, Vinyasa Krama classes.
And what about insurance (where from, is it even necessary in UK, this isn't the US for heaven sake, do we sue people in the UK for tripping over a mat, falling out of headstand?) I should charge something I guess, how does that work drop in and month passes? And what about a website with an intro to practice, my own thoughts on house recommendations...., laminated practice cards..... Sooner or latter I'll have to think this through.
This feels like my first jump through attempt video, putting it up to look back on it latter as it all starts, perhaps, coming together.
What am I gong to do, switch the rooms back and tell M this evening that I was just kidding.
Here's a video of the place, see what it looks like a year from now.
Off upstairs now to practice with Manju's DVD, the led count with the class listening and repeating the names of the asanas, Vinyasa Count, drishti etc.... need to do this myself sometime (shaking head).
Ekam inhale....
Contact details should be on the About me page, it's a google.com account grimmly2007
And perhaps one day, one day, it'll grow into something approaching this.....
Now THIS is a shala, quite in awe of this place and spaces like it as well the teachers and and those who practice who create such a space... perhaps I'm beginning to catch on.
This is what happened last week, a half-thought, that I might actually like to share this practice, physically, after all. Perhaps something to do with going through Manju's adjustments on M., the weekend after we came home....
That led to seeing how many mats I could squeeze into the home shala.... just for fun, four as it happens but a bit of a squeeze.
I practiced, tried a Sury on each mat, full practice on the one at the end, you can practice there but not comfortably.
It was nice actually practicing with those other mats even though I was the only one in the room, felt a little like being back in Rethymno in a public shala. If you can't practice at your own shala for some reason and find yourself missing it, just throw some other mats and rugs down around your own.
M. came in one morning while I was practising Primary and did her short Vinyasa Krama routine, nice to catch it out of the corner of my eye as I got on with my own practice, what a graceful and elegant practice VK is.
Ashtanga and Vinyasa Krama in the same room, why not, for me they inform each other, reason enough to consider this alone.
And this of course got me thinking... in fact, from the moment I got home from Crete I'd found myself walking around the house playfully wondering how many mats I could get in each room . What if I cleared the whole downstairs, how many mats, ten? And the bedroom, five comfortable, six? I even started considering the upstairs music room/school at work, two rooms, one that would take ten the other twenty+ ( perhaps one day).
In the end I settled on the bedroom and came home Saturday to switch it with the shala, crammed our big bed and a couple of chests into the small room you see above, was afraid M. would burst in to tears when she got home but as supportive and encouraging as ever. Thank you Honey.
It took all weekend but here it is, AVKYM: Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga Maidenhead....OPEN, sort of.
 |
| M. Said Manju would refer to me as the 'White One' on the course. |
Seven mats at a pinch for a led class (terrifying thought) Led Vinyasa Krama? Led Ashtanga, one day (maybe)...
or five mats comfortable for morning Mysore...really, REALLY?
Love the moon, called Moon in your Room by Little Milton, it's available on Amazon, I bought it for M. a few birthdays back. The moon changes stages so you know when your full and new moon are coming (assuming you don't lose the clicker as we seem to have done) ....WHAT, I'm going to follow moon days too now? Well perhaps.
 |
| the flute represents Vayu ( in my head anyway) |
 |
| A small lending library perhaps for regulars? |
One of the things that had put me off teaching Ashtanga was that I tended to think, having always practiced at home, I had a slightly different take on the practice. It's one thing sharing that on a blog but I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of presenting that approach, didn't seem fair somehow, confusing perhaps. Manju's TT showed me that my idea of Ashtanga practice, a long slow breath, a flexible approach with the focus on Primary and Intermediate series, integrated with pranayama and meditation, with chanting, was in fact, 'traditional practice'. good, honest, common sense Ashtanga.
Common sense Ashtanga, I like that.
Not that Ashtanga generally isn't common sense but we can get carried away somewhat...
The other thing was adjustments. 'Never had em never missed em', have mentioned that here a few times... well now I have had em and I do kind of miss em. And Manju's adjustments are again common sense, supportive, guiding rather than cranking somebody into a posture (which is how I tended to think of them), the adjustments don't take away from the practice but are just..... just kindly. And I can do them, could do with more practice, a lot more practice but these aren't the kind of adjustments where your going to break anyone if you do them wrong, well most of them, the trickier ones can be put to one side for a while.
And I've always taught, taught Philosophy as a TA at Uni for a couple of years, in a prep school ( eight year olds : ), English in Japan, even ended up teacher training, teaching teachers to teach...
I can probably do this.
I haven't grown up ( as an Ashtangi) in a shala but then I taught myself, worked out, Primary to Advanced B here at home without mishap, perhaps there's a different perspective on the practice that might turn out to be interesting.
Still convincing myself here, can you tell.
So there's the shala, space for a handful of mats, perhaps I have a practice to share with this town.
Thankfully I've already been passed some advice on how to go about setting up and running a mysore room, some principles that made so much sense and calmed my racing mind somewhat, thank you M. (different M. ).
But now what.....
Advertising???? What if ten people turn up, twenty! Ideally I'd like one or two to come at first building up to three to five regulars for morning Mysore, M. alone was a handful the other weekend, don't want to rush this.... then perhaps something in the evening, Vinyasa Krama classes.
And what about insurance (where from, is it even necessary in UK, this isn't the US for heaven sake, do we sue people in the UK for tripping over a mat, falling out of headstand?) I should charge something I guess, how does that work drop in and month passes? And what about a website with an intro to practice, my own thoughts on house recommendations...., laminated practice cards..... Sooner or latter I'll have to think this through.
This feels like my first jump through attempt video, putting it up to look back on it latter as it all starts, perhaps, coming together.
What am I gong to do, switch the rooms back and tell M this evening that I was just kidding.
Here's a video of the place, see what it looks like a year from now.
Off upstairs now to practice with Manju's DVD, the led count with the class listening and repeating the names of the asanas, Vinyasa Count, drishti etc.... need to do this myself sometime (shaking head).
Ekam inhale....
Contact details should be on the About me page, it's a google.com account grimmly2007
And perhaps one day, one day, it'll grow into something approaching this.....
Now THIS is a shala, quite in awe of this place and spaces like it as well the teachers and and those who practice who create such a space... perhaps I'm beginning to catch on.