Dropping Standing, seated Primary postures and moving straight to inversions of late, felt like quite a radical departure, I kinda like it.
The argument is that the effects of standing postures are covered in the spinal sequence.
Seated postures I tend to enter from sirsasana and include pranayama options.
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Current practice
The argument is that the effects of standing postures are covered in the spinal sequence.
Seated postures I tend to enter from sirsasana and include pranayama options.
Current practice
I seem to be dropping standing and seated postures altogether, the effects of standing come into the spinal movements, seated postures with pranayama exercises ending up entered and exited, hands free, from Sirsasana.
Spinal movements
Suryanamaskara
(Can't quite bring myself to drop these altogether)
(Can't quite bring myself to drop these altogether)
Sarvangasana prep
Sarvangasana - static 5 mins,
Sarvangasana vinyasas
Urdhva Dhanurasana
paschimottanasana
paschimottanasana
Sirsasana - static 5-10 mins
Sirsasana entry to seated asana inc. pranayama exercises.
- gomukhasana - 30 inhalation
- bharadvajrasana - 30 second exhalation
- baddha konasana - 30 second kumbhaka after exhalation
- Baddha padmasana
- Padmasana Nadi shodhana - 20 second kumbhaka after inhalation
Maha Mudra
Sit - Siddhasana
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I've been asked where one can find more on this approach.
See this post for an intro into Simon's approach, with videos, links etc
Simon Borg-Olivier made me fall in love with my SPINE all over again
For those not sure about the arm waving, and it took me a while to come around, I recommend Simon's 84 key asana course, see this post where I include a concordance with Ashtanga.
I hear Simon has an online Ashtanga course in the editing stage, should be excellent.
I'm just about to start Simon's 13 week online Yoga Therapy course, more on that to come.
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The videos below give an idea of my current approach to practice.
Spinal movements in different foot positions including a slower version......,
The first five minutes of the video below shows Simon demonstrating some of the spinal movements.
lengthening the inhalation and exhalation, so, one inhalation for both sides of the first exercise/vinyasa, one exhalation for both sides of the second twisting 'exercise/vinyasa
I might include one or more active movement variations of standing asana
After the spinal movements I might do a couple of sury's but have started skipping standing and seated postures altogether and am going straight into some shoulderstand preparation postures, these from Simon which strike me as important, a revelation in fact.
Followed by some shoulderstand prep from Vinyasa Krama that Krishnamacharya/Ramaswami recommended.
After a five minute static shoulderstand, lengthening the inhalation and exhalation to twenty seconds for each I'm tending to include the vinyasas below from Krishnamachary's old 1938 Mysore film footage, as well as perhaps a few other of his vinyasas that may come to mind.
I finish shoulderstands with the standard vinyasas from Ashtanga Finishing, leading into padma mayurasana.
Urdhva danhurasana
Sirsasana, a five minute static headstand, lengthening the inhalation and exhalation to twenty seconds for each.... followed by the asana below entered from sirsasana and including different pranayama exercises. The videos below don't include the pranayama.
Gomukhasana - 3 breaths each side - lengthening the inhalation to thirty seconds
Bharadvajrasana - Lengthening the exhalation to thirty seconds
Baddha Konasana A - Kumbhaka: Holding the breath out for thirty seconds
Padmasana: Nadi shodhana 12 rounds - 1:4:2:1 A twenty second Kumbhaka after the inhalation
Back up to sirsasana to stretch out the legs before lowering and entering siddhasana hands free for a twenty or forty minute Sit.
Appendix