Ramaswami's in town : ( Home shala Workshop

Still, if I cant  attend his workshops this year I can at least have a Ramaswami fortnight here in the home shala and explore my Ramaswami resource page

Currently I'm practising Ashtanga Intermediate series in the morning and a shorter asana practice in the evening of a few, less often practiced, Vinyasa Krama subroutines followed by my main pranayama practice. Be nice to work through the full sequences Ramaswami presents in his book The complete book of Vinyasa Yoga again, always good to review those and put the asana in context. These sequences give you a vast tool box with which to work, for modifying or building towards more challenging asana as well as if/when faced with injury. They can be practiced as subroutines, full sequences or dipped into to add preparation or extension to the asana you already practice. There are also the most charming variations of asana that allow you to access all areas of your body, areas neglected perhaps in your regular practice.

I say I'm practicng Ashtanga 2nd in the mornings but the edges between Ashtanga, Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda and Vinyasa Krama seem to have blurred recently, it's all Ashtanga, all Vinyasa krama.

For example, I start my practice with a Yoga Makaranda version of Suryanamaskara ( it really isn't a sun salutation practiced this way), stopping at each stage for a number of breaths including the appropriate kumbhaka, before moving on to some regular ashtanga sury's and the standard Ashtanga standing sequence. The only difference is that it's taken much slower, 8 seconds inhalation and 8 seconds exhalation with mantra/prayer on both. I aim to maintain that breath rate throughout my asana practice.

I tend to work my way into the Ashtanga krouchasana via the krouchasana VK subroutine. I used to practice the VK Bow and Meditative sequences in the morning but I've pretty much switched to the standard Ashtanga backbend sequence except I enter Ustrasana via the VK approach to vajrasana. Vajrasana is such a wonderful asana that it seems a shame not to savour it.

Coming up to the leg behind head asanas I throw in Janu sirsasana as well as the akrarnadhanurasana (archer) and Kraunchasana (heron) postures, nice bit of extra prep. I can get my leg behind my head without them but this way I can get a little deeper and settle more comfortably.

Because my breath is so slow time becomes an issue so I'm tending to go with the standard Ashtanga sequence after Yoga nidrasana.

I sandwich my morning practice with a little pranayama following Krishnamacharya's Son's Sri T.K. Sribhashyam model in Emergence du yoga. He starts with 108 kapalabhati followed by six rounds of an Ujjayi nadi shodana pranayama without kumbhaka before asana and then 60 rounds of basti and a standard nadi shodana pranayama with kumbhaka (again only six rounds) after asana practice.

On the whole I've managed to retain my pranayama practice but I remember that Ramaswami got very excited that most of us ended up practising  80 rounds on the course. I've let that slip to 40 rounds most days so it would be good to work back up to 80 over the next two weeks.

I follow that with a short sit.

"...so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith". Coleridge

Recently I've switched from mantras and chants to prayers. I find that although I love the sanskrit it lacks... resonance for me. Revisiting my Anglo Catholic roots, for good or ill, certainly resonates... uncomfortably a lot of the time. I employ the ancient Jesus prayer ( have been for six months or so) throughout my practice, on the inhalation and exhalation, right there along with effulgence in the heart (chakra? - The similarities in practice are remarkable), nothing jolts an old philosopher into presence like mentally saying God, Jesus and Sin twice a breath. I replace the Pranayama mantra with the Creed (both take 20 - 30 seconds on the retention following the inhalation) in my pranayama practice. There was a tendency for the mind to wander with the Sanskrit, nothing lulling about professing belief, again uncomfortable. I keep reminding myself it's a mystery religion, it's not supposed to make rational sense, that's the point, the ultimate willing suspension of disbelief, to allow something like this to belive in your practice and it does focus the attention ( good excuse to visit the old Christina Mystics again too, smart wonderful stuff on experiencing the divine). In place of Japa mantra mediation I say the Rosary, Sanskrit IS wonderful but ahhh Latin, again it resonates, thunderously. I conclude the practice with a quiet 10 minute sit with the focus on effulgence in the heart.

That said there is something powerful about listening to Ramaswami's chanting in Savasana, there's resonance there too somehow, what layer is that speaking to I wonder.

I was privileged enough to share some of Ramaswami's teaching with somebody who is attending the first part of Ramaswami's workshop this weekend, he's already let me know that he is finding it "inspiring". This section is on Chikitsa Krama and based on the Yoga for Internal Organs module material that Ramaswami presented on the TT course I attended at LMU in 2010. Much of this material can be found buried away in Ramaswami's Newsletters ( will find the links to those newsletters if anyone is interested).

So I can revisit this material for a start.

For the Hatha Yoga Pradipka  I can reread Ramaswami's recommended version, the Jyotsna, commentary on Hatha Yoga Pradipka by Brahmananda on Svatmarama's Hatayogapradeepika

Ramaswami is also teaching the Yoga Sutras in Wells so I can read and chant through

as well as a close reading Ramaswami's little booklet 

also...