I used to be annoyed at how the back cover of Ramaswami's The Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga and how it states...
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That always seemed misleading to me, it was the publisher of course, it seemed to suggest that the book included 900 asana whereas it's more like the usual 200-250 asana, I spent a lot of time counting and could never get close to 500 let alone 900.
That's this asana bias we have talking but in the Krishnamacharya tradition ( for want of a better word) we have a vinyasa system, Paschimattanasana is 15 vinyasa, Marichiyasana 22 (for A) each vinyasa is just as important as the asana proper or mudra, though we may stay for three, five, 15 breaths in the state of the asana, five ten minutes or more in an mudra. As Monty Python and the children sang
Ramaswami did it again yesterday in his fb post, he mentioned that the students practiced
My first reaction, 'NO, they practiced a dozen or so asana' my second reaction was to kick myself as the penny finally dropped.
We should stress the number of vinyasa rather than the actual asana because that is what this method is all about, it's a vinyasa practice!
Breath and movement or rather each stage of the breath and movement .....even when in the state of the asana when we stay for several breaths we have the bandhas being engaged and loosened, information passing through our bodies (prana?), blood moving from high to low pressure in accordance with the asana. Those hand and arm movements in vinyasa krama as we come back to dandasana for example are just as important, as valuable, as a jump back and through.
We don't just practice a handful of asana (even a big handful as in Ashtanga) we practice hundreds of vinyasa, hundreds of inhalations and exhalations, ( perhaps a hundred kumbhakas or more).
Congratulations to everyone who completed Ramaswami's Teacher training at LMU this month, it's a full on course. This was supposedly Ramaswami's last TT at LMU although he will no doubt teach shorter courses and workshops there. I also noticed this week that Ramaswami will be teaching a two week Advanced course in Chennai, very tempting.
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I've mentioned how I no longer see much of a distinction between my straight 'Ashtanga', 'Krishnamacharya Primary Group' and 'Vinyasa Krama' practices...., that's not exactly true there are times when the practice clearly leans more towards one or the other. The longer stays, kumbhaka and full vinyasa are more characteristic of Krishnamacharya's Primary group. A very straight forward, by the numbers, Ashtanga 'though taken somewhat more slower, would still be familiar to most Ashtangi's and, as I now find myself back practicing, Vinyasa krama with the jump back and through taken out from between sides and variations and only included at the beginning of a new group or subroutine.
Pracrticing Vinyasa Krama again with a loose Ashtanga framework feels like coming home after the focus of the last couple of years recreating Krsiahnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda practice and the brief Straight Ashtanga interludes in Rethymno and at Spirityoga Osaka.
My current practice then follows the general framework of a half Ashtanga Primary/2nd or Krishnamacharya Primary Group as laid out in his Yogasanagalu table but I drop some asana to make time for the longer stays. It's hot here in Osaka, 33 C in the practice room with 50% + humidity, so out go most of the jump backs. I add in a couple of vinyasas around some of the key the Ashtanga asana so Tiriangmukhaikapada Paschimattanasana leads into krouchasana then Bharadvajasana and Ardha Matsyendrasana creating a Vinyasa krama subroutines before moving on to janu Sirsasana. I also include some of the hand and arm movements characteristic of Vinyasa Krama and Krishnamacharya's later teaching. This is all followed by long shoulderstands and headstand with variations as we see in Ramaswami's presentation but also in the old 1938 Mysore video of Krihnamacharya. I end up with pranayama, pratyhara and more formal meditation, a not untypical Vinyasa Krama practice.
It was nice then to see this post from Ramaswami yesterday....
"10 minutes sirasasana
10 minutes sarvangasana
10 minutes paschimatanasana
5 minutes mahamudra
10 minutes ekapadasana (standing on one leg
asana for 5 mts on each leg)
15 minutes pranayama
10 minutes dharana meditation
all on top of more than 100 visesha vinyasas
Many in the 200 hr vinyasakrama yoga program at LMU did
today during the last week of the program"
http://vinyasakramayoga.blogspot.jp/2011/11/vashitasana-sequence.html
*****
119. vasishtasana p219
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120. anjaneyasana p223
121. halasana-pascimatana-uttanamayura sequence p228
with Debbie Mills
122. utplutis p230 ( and arm balances)
We can see that uncrossed leg jump through at 11:03 (note the quick glance up and smile at Ramaswami ). This was an early TV yoga slot Ramaswami did back in the 80s
Ramaswami includes a number of arm balances, I explored practicing them as a sequence, bit of a struggle
There are some extra visesha vinyasa sequences mentioned in Ramaswami's book that we practiced on his course
Ding Namaskara - salute to directions
with Arby Robles
"Ramaswami presents sequences of more than 900 poses and variations...."
That always seemed misleading to me, it was the publisher of course, it seemed to suggest that the book included 900 asana whereas it's more like the usual 200-250 asana, I spent a lot of time counting and could never get close to 500 let alone 900.
That's this asana bias we have talking but in the Krishnamacharya tradition ( for want of a better word) we have a vinyasa system, Paschimattanasana is 15 vinyasa, Marichiyasana 22 (for A) each vinyasa is just as important as the asana proper or mudra, though we may stay for three, five, 15 breaths in the state of the asana, five ten minutes or more in an mudra. As Monty Python and the children sang
" Every inhalation and exhalation is sacred"
Krishnamacharya stresses this perhaps in Yoga Makaranda by presenting each stage of the sun salutation and suggesting long stays of five, ten minutes might be possible and yet how often have we passed through those stages with barely a thought, likewise with each stage of a jump back and through.
Ramaswami did it again yesterday in his fb post, he mentioned that the students practiced
'100 visesha vinyasas',
We should stress the number of vinyasa rather than the actual asana because that is what this method is all about, it's a vinyasa practice!
Breath and movement or rather each stage of the breath and movement .....even when in the state of the asana when we stay for several breaths we have the bandhas being engaged and loosened, information passing through our bodies (prana?), blood moving from high to low pressure in accordance with the asana. Those hand and arm movements in vinyasa krama as we come back to dandasana for example are just as important, as valuable, as a jump back and through.
We don't just practice a handful of asana (even a big handful as in Ashtanga) we practice hundreds of vinyasa, hundreds of inhalations and exhalations, ( perhaps a hundred kumbhakas or more).
*
Congratulations to everyone who completed Ramaswami's Teacher training at LMU this month, it's a full on course. This was supposedly Ramaswami's last TT at LMU although he will no doubt teach shorter courses and workshops there. I also noticed this week that Ramaswami will be teaching a two week Advanced course in Chennai, very tempting.
*
Pracrticing Vinyasa Krama again with a loose Ashtanga framework feels like coming home after the focus of the last couple of years recreating Krsiahnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda practice and the brief Straight Ashtanga interludes in Rethymno and at Spirityoga Osaka.
My current practice then follows the general framework of a half Ashtanga Primary/2nd or Krishnamacharya Primary Group as laid out in his Yogasanagalu table but I drop some asana to make time for the longer stays. It's hot here in Osaka, 33 C in the practice room with 50% + humidity, so out go most of the jump backs. I add in a couple of vinyasas around some of the key the Ashtanga asana so Tiriangmukhaikapada Paschimattanasana leads into krouchasana then Bharadvajasana and Ardha Matsyendrasana creating a Vinyasa krama subroutines before moving on to janu Sirsasana. I also include some of the hand and arm movements characteristic of Vinyasa Krama and Krishnamacharya's later teaching. This is all followed by long shoulderstands and headstand with variations as we see in Ramaswami's presentation but also in the old 1938 Mysore video of Krihnamacharya. I end up with pranayama, pratyhara and more formal meditation, a not untypical Vinyasa Krama practice.
It was nice then to see this post from Ramaswami yesterday....
"10 minutes sirasasana
10 minutes sarvangasana
10 minutes paschimatanasana
5 minutes mahamudra
10 minutes ekapadasana (standing on one leg
asana for 5 mts on each leg)
15 minutes pranayama
10 minutes dharana meditation
all on top of more than 100 visesha vinyasas
Many in the 200 hr vinyasakrama yoga program at LMU did
today during the last week of the program"
I don't think this is necessarily the order they practiced these at LMU this week. I imagine it's much as we practiced it in 2010, the sun salutation with mantra followed the On one leg tapas then the visesha vinyasa sequences. Next up was perhaps the long paschimottanasana, prep for shoulderstand, a five minute shoulderstand without variations, ten minute headstand with variations followed by another five minute shoulderstand with variations. That would lead into finishing with the maha mudra then pranayama and meditation. I'd be interested to hear in comments from anyone on the course how they might have approached it slightly differently this year.
But what are these visesha vinyasa I imagine many asking?
First thing to stress, Vinyasa Krama is not about sequences. Ramaswami organised the asana/vinyasa, at Krishnamacharyainto request into sequences to help us see the relationship between asana, how they lead towards each other, grow out of each other, how they are related. The sequences are made up of shorter subroutines. We learn these relationships then choose from amongst the asana/vinyasas and subroutines to make up our practice each day ( the Ashtanga series we can see are made up of such subroutines, the Marichi's for example). There are some key asana we are recommended to include, Pachimottanasana, head and shoulderstands, maha mudra and perhaps baddha konasana also ( Krishnamacharya used to include mayurasana in the list of asana one should practice daily).
The visesha vinyasas are distinctive subroutines that Ramaswami included at the end of his book and on the last week of his course at LMU. Ashtangi's might find these nice to practice on a moon day or Saturday before settling down to some pranayama and a sit ,or perhaps as an extra evening practice.
***
On my Sister Vinyasa Krama blog which developed into my Vinyasa Yoga Practice book I listed the Visesha sequences from Ramaswami's book, although I only prepared practice sheets for one and videos for two. Since that time, other attendees of Ramaswami's TT course at LMU have brought out some other excellent videos, I've included some of these below.
http://vinyasakramayoga.blogspot.jp/2011/11/vashitasana-sequence.html
Ch. XI. Visesha Vinyasa Kramas p213
Sun salutation with mantra p213
119. vasishtasana p219
120. anjaneyasana p223121. halasana-pascimatana-uttanamayura sequence p228
122. utplutis p230
also
Arm balances p233
Ding namaskara ( salutations to directions ) p237
Khagasana flying bird pose sequence. p240
*****
Sun salutation with mantra p213 ( my early version)
Sun salutations with mantra - Kelsey Garden
120. anjaneyasana p223
121. halasana-pascimatana-uttanamayura sequence p228
with Debbie Mills
122. utplutis p230 ( and arm balances)
We can see that uncrossed leg jump through at 11:03 (note the quick glance up and smile at Ramaswami ). This was an early TV yoga slot Ramaswami did back in the 80s
Ramaswami includes a number of arm balances, I explored practicing them as a sequence, bit of a struggle
There are some extra visesha vinyasa sequences mentioned in Ramaswami's book that we practiced on his course
Ding Namaskara - salute to directions
with Arby Robles
Khagasana flying bird pose sequence.