Practice with Steve Hyland, Asthanga Yoga Pattaya

This morning I have started practicing under the guidance of Steve Hyland.

He is not a famous "Ashtangi" still he is certified, he has been practicing  with Richard Freeman and Hamish Hendry.

He has installed his Yoga Shala in Pattaya Thailand, a place well known for the night life and "local" girls. However I have absolutely no regret because Steve he's extremely well qualified.
From a purely physical and external point of view, my practice was not the most aesthetic nor the lightest but from a purely introspective point of view it was revolutionary.

I did listen my body and my breathing pattern, respect all aspect of my body and did not push anything too far or not enough. I was in tune with myself and it was probably the very fist time it happens to me.

The end of the year has been slightly uncomfortable and my body took the hit. During my last day in Mysore I had a nice talk with Trupta and explained him something that happened to me the day before: "As I was walking back home I suddenly started thinking of one heating argument I had before and others stuffs... then I start having such a huge pain in my left knee that I walked back home limping".

Past and present emotions can be so powerful they can impact our body and well being. I knew it before but I never really measured it to that extend.

Knees represent the refusal to yield, to bend, to obey, to submit.

While I was walking the thought that came up to my mind was an argument I had during which someone was telling me what kind of clothes I should wear in order to  be "more respectable in India", then the feeling of working for a cause that I did not share and the lack of integrity.

Introspection

I then realised that working on the external side was not properly useful unless we have no idea of what is happening deep inside of us. That is the one of the most difficult thing we have to face as human being and practitioner, do we really take time to understand our inner self? Are we really willing to do this personal work?

It seems that everyone wish to take care of themselves, that is one one of the reason why Yoga has become so popular.

Yoga is "healing". That is what social networks are saying with all "yogis" posting beautiful filtered pictures in crazy postures including spiritual sentences to caption that moment.

I am not bitter but I am becoming tired of it. The more I am practicing the more I understand that it is not the journey at all. The more I am travelling looking for teachers with who I can practice and evolve the more I understand and realise that I do not know myself and furthermore I never ever let myself to blossom fully.

Home is not a place where I will buy nice furniture in order to be happy, lately I finally understood it. I agree in some way I am very lucky to be able to travel but it is a choice that I have done and now my quest is knowing me better in order to teach what I found on my special quest.

That is only through that particular path that I am able to practice Yoga. Being able to declare that I have read the Sutras and understood the Upanishad and the Gita in order from time to time to place on of these sentence below a picture of myself performing the full wheel is not for me.

You can not buy wisdom, you can not find wisdom in a book and no one can teach what wisdom is.
Being grounded is the very first thing to learn and to practice, that what we should look for.

Making peace with ourself before making peace with others, mastering our emotions.

Being able to understand that we are not what we thought.

Being able to be alone in order to do introspection.

Introspection is a powerful tool, we should allow ourself to it.

Namaste
More articles here: XandraYogaBlog

What is like to practice Yoga in Mysore?

I am attending since the last week Anatomy class with "Ken the Rolfer". If you don't know him I suggest you google his name. He is a Rolfer and an Ashtangi. Being able to receive his knowledge his priceless.

That is the advantage of being in Mysore. 

Sunset at Ganapati Temple

Most of the world renamed practitioners are coming in the city to practice with Sharat or Sarawasthi or Masterji. Therefore as during the day you don't have that much to do, because lets say that there is not a lot of activity in Mysore, you have some great Ashtangis willing to share their experience.

I am not saying it is for free but at least you it is fully affordable.

When you are in Mysore you met a lot of people just like you.

No one will be surprised that you are teaching Yoga and practicing Yoga, therefore no silly question such as "Oh you teach Yoga, but outside of it what are you doing?". 

No one will be surprised to notice that after your 2 months in Mysore you will probably travel to Indonesia or Thaïland.

No one will be surprised or impress that you have being the last 5 years homeless just travelling with your yoga mat, because a lot of them have been doing it before you and they fully understand that you are on a Quest which is basically knowing who you are.

No one will be impress by your practice, because they have been there BEFORE you ;-)

You will meet a lot of wellness therapist: Yoga Thai Massage, Acupuncteur, Chiropractor, Qi Chong, Shiatsu, Rolfer, you name it, you find it!

You will be able to learn from a lot of people, there is always something happening in Mysore, you will be able to learn how to cook, to do rangoli, to paint, pottery, how to apply henna, bollywood dance etc.

And the most important thing, YOU HAVE TIME ! As I said outside of the morning practice there is not much to do, therefore everyone is participating to entertain the community and in the end it works pretty fine.

Now the big question is to know if Sharat will be there next year or not... No one knows.... but for sure if he is not coming than the local community in Mysore will have the economy going down.

- Namaste -

Practice of NAULI

KRIYA PRACTICE

Before practicing the Primary Series I do have a routine and Nauli Practice is part of it.

Nauli is one of the Kriyas of Shatkarma (the 7 Kriyas). It improves and cleans the abdominal region and improves the digestion.

Therefore that is one Kriya that has to be done on an empty stomach and that is why I used to practice it before my practice.

Right now I am able to do it from right to left however I can not do it from left to right, if someone has any tip for me on how to improve it I am open to any suggestions :-)

Nauli is activating Uddiyana Bandha.

I used to practice up to 5 times in a row, the more I do it the more I can.

Have a good day and a good practice!

- Namaste -

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KPJAYI - Week 2 with Sarawasti - Dedication!

This morning it was a Led class with Sarawatiji.
This morning I learned what "Dedication" is.

I usually do not like the Led Class but lately I started to really enjoyed all of them and specially led classes from Sarawasti. Her vinyasa counting is not too fast, not too slow, to me it is perfection. I just put myself in autopilot mode and follow all instructions without even thinking. 

I am 200% focus on her voice, not looking around at all, my mat is my world, my space in which I am moving and only her voice tone makes my arms rising up and body folding front.

I stayed in Chaturanga Dandasasana for all chatwari even when some students are not there and that the chatwari become a very long one.

I am not in a race competition but as Usha used to say I am completely surrendering to the practice.

This morning Sarawasti counted twice the left leg for Supta Padanghustasana and everyone followed without a flinch. Dedication.

The practice can not come without any dedication.

Dedication to a "guru" why not? If this word does not suit you then start the dedication toward yourself.

Tapas will follow :-)

Have a good practice!

- Namaste -

Stop bending the knees!

When your hamstrings are too short.

The truth rely on practice. You can read a Yoga book where all asanas will be well described with the "perfect" alignment and recommendation such as "bending your knees when your hamstrings are too short....".

I have been instructed to do so by some teachers, I have read it on several books, I have seen it during yoga practice and unfortunately I have been doing it and teaching it as well.....

Then when I started to practice with Iain Grysak he told me not to fold my knees in all forward fold (standing and sitting).

I was surprised.... 

But I listened to him and from that day my all practice drastically changed.

All my forward fold were actually folding deeper, the huge pain I used to have on the back of my legs started to disappear while my upper body was getting straighten and my lower back wide open.

I understood something, for instance in Padanghustasana the "goal" (if there was any achievement to it) was not to keep the chest on the knees or lower, it was simplest, just bend forward and the body will adjust to it.

The goal was not to go into one asana in particular with a specific way but more about becoming the asana itself with the actual ability.

Anatomically speaking we can not give or judge a proper alignment for one asana as everyone has a different body type.

Therefore there is no "your hips has to be facing that way on a sagittal plane and this is the last word", absolutely not. It is okay to have the hips slightly unaligned, it is okay to have a rounding back.

What is happening when we are bending the knees while forward folding?

In order to bend the knees we have to use the hamstrings as they are in charge of bending the legs. While bending, hamstrings are getting shorter so they are not stretching. 

What is a forward fold?

Mainly it is a stretch of the back of the legs and lower back, actually it is stretching the all posterior part of the body.

If the hamstrings are too short and not flexible while bending forward it can become uncomfortable, so to ease the movement automatically we want to bend the legs..... by bending them we are not stretching them.... so basically not solving any issue regarding their flexibility. 

A tight hamstrings does not help the lower back neither. Sometimes we think we are protecting our lower back by bending the legs while we are not.

Of course if there is any hyper extension of the knee it is advisable to slightly bend it. We should not work with a "locked" knee.

Enjoy your practice!

- Namaste -

Instead of moving forward I am stepping back....

I am back to Ubud to practice with Iain Grysak. This shala is amazing, peaceful, very good energy and mostly I have noticed that same students are coming back and I am one of them.

After the practice Iain asked me about my left side and noticed that my pelvis was not aligned. He suggested me to do half primary but give me the option to continue to practice the entire series if I was feeling good with it.

"Patience" is his word. And I have to admit that he is completely right. There is no point for me going further into the practice while I can not bend on the left side. My body is completely unaligned and even though I am spending more time and bringing more attention to my jump back and jump through (by the way it is clearly improving) the pain is still here and I am still very limited into my movements.

Hamstrings injury can last for 6 months or even more so I have to become patient and respect my body.

When there is not another option patience is the best thing to apply and to agree with.

When I am lengthening my arms in front of me and bringing my 2 index altogether I can see that my left side is shorter than my right side. My body is compensating. For example Navasana is not stable at all, right hip higher than the left one so therefore there is no stability.

Nothing else to say about it. Just Patience.

- Namaste -

Learning how to practice with my injury - Week 2, Mark Robberds

My injury is getting worst, left sit bone, left hamstring are completely tight, can not bend forward on the left side, however the hip opening is still happening so it does not stop to practice the Marychasana D for instance but all forward fold on the left side are completely out of reach.

This morning after Trikonasana B when I noticed that I could not even reach the floor without bending my left knee I was about to cry.

Then as my practice was going on I realised that it does not stop to me to work my jump back and jump through as well the lifting up.

At one my point I decided to just let it go.

When I reached Bhujapidasana I then realised that even though I did not really control the head down on the floor I've done it without my feet touching the floor, it was such an improvement. However to come back I had to bring the feet on the floor but mostly the work was coming from my arms, so I was very happy.

I also did a beautiful Setu Bandhasana with my arms crossed at my chest without any pain at all, it was actually very easy. Urdhva Dhanurasana was really easy as well.

My drop back were also very good, I come back with my head last and mostly the work is now coming from my legs.

So what am I learning right now?

Okay I have this bad injury but it is just limiting me in some asanas during the forward fold. However I can still improve the rest of the practice and instead of having pity of myself it woke up the warrior in me.

Today I practiced in full consciousness about my limitations and explored more about the things I can actually do but that I never done it fully because I thought it was out of my reach.

It was a full 2 hour practice, taking my time but respecting all vinyasas.

Finally it all happened for a good reason ;-)

- Namaste - 

Day 3, Mark Robberds Intensive - practicing my back bend

This morning my body was completely stiff but the practice was really good. Still my practice is really slow and I am managing the pain which is becoming smother. 

I start practicing more back bend but I want to do it slowly, there is no emergency for me to grab my ankles. I asked Deepika how can I use the wall and she showed me, so I am not doing any drop back as right now I would like to start doing it myself. For this I need to open more my upper chest but need really to work on my legs.

When coming back from a drop back the work is coming essentially from the legs. However I do not feel anything coming from my legs and beside I was not able to completely strengthen my arms neither. Therefore if I am doing a drop back with help mainly the work will be done from the helper and not from me so I want to avoid it and need to reinforce my legs during all backbends.

This will be my mission for this month of practice.

This afternoon we have a session so this morning just relaxing.

Mark Robberds, Ashtanga Yoga workshop - Day 1, Canggu

Back to Bali after 3 weeks in Europe during which my practice has been erratic. I did not practice at all for a full week as I am having tremendous pain in the left sit bone since the workshop in Sweden.

This morning I was very happy to go back on my mat and also a little bit anxious. How will I deal with the pain. 

After all it was fine, my left side is definitely getting sore during all forward bend so I have to adapt the practice by bending the left knee and putting a towel below my left tight each time I am bending forward for the siting posture.

Deepika noticed it and told me to continue like this, not forcing in Paschimottanasana.

I do believe it will be find, the funny thing is I did not feel any pain during Supta Kurmasana and Upavista Konasana, the pain is very present when I am bending forward with legs closer together but during a forward fold with an external hip rotation it does not bother me at all.

I am very happy to be back there and this practice even thought it was not the best practice was really good for my mind and body.

Becoming a slave of Tapas.....

We are always saying that we should listen to our  body and Yoga is the tool for it in order to understand how it works and how our mind is influencing our body part.

So when your body does not wake up on time and feel tired the all morning, is it laziness or is it a sign that your body is tired?

This morning I did not wake up. I slept until 7.10 AM. Outside it was raining and the sound of the rain hitting the window had a soporific effect.

Because I did not practice I am in a situation in which 1) I feel guilty.... and 2) I feel tired.

Why should I feel guilty when I have listened my body? Because there is the shade of the laziness..... I feel tired because I did not have the morning practice that used to wake me up. Really?

Yesterday morning practice was really stiff. Hamstrings really tight, pain in the shoulder, pain in the knee...

Am I finding any excuses for not being able to wake up?

This is where we should be careful. Not to transform the dedication and the tapas into a nightmare of psychiatric issues.  

Of course it is really good to have a healthy habit which consists of morning daily practice. BUT we should not become a slave of it. Tapas is good, fanaticism is bad.

Because right now if I sit down and start chanting the mantra "why I did not go to my morning practice, I am missing a practice" then it will be ruining my day and tomorrow my practice will be done with the weight of guiltiness on my shoulders.

Instead of that, listening my body and my mind. I did not wake up, okay, maybe it is laziness, my bed was very comfortable and I had an amazing dream.

Will it impact my practice of tomorrow? Yes surely or maybe not, who cares?

Will the Ashtanga Police come to my room and force me to do as many chaturanga I can bare until my arms give up?

Of course no! After all we are humans and not machines.

Tomorrow will be another day :-)

A flexible body equals a flexible mind

I might be a baby ashtangi considering that I have celebrated my one year of Ashtanga practice but I have been practicing yoga since the last 10 years. However by jumping from one style to another I never really enjoy any changes into my daily life.

I was practicing and teaching Pilates, daily swimming and jumping from Vinyasa Yoga to Flow classes to Hatha Yoga to Bikram.

The fact is by repeating daily the same sequence in the same order with a proper breathing had a huge impact on my physical body and on my mind.

It reminded me when I was doing dancing class as a teenager for the all year we were repeating the same choreography, once one part was learned adding new moves until the all set was about a 10 minutes dancing "show".  Then at the end of the year we were showing our work to the school and as it has been rehearsed billion time it was effortless. I remembered I was rehearsing at home and doing daily the floor bar exercices and I was getting really good to it.

That is the same with Ashtanga except that the sequence is slightly harder then the dance moves.

I think in all kind of Yoga we can create our own sequence that fit us and repeat it daily until the body completely absorbs the asanas and get ready to add more postures.

The secret is the repetition and of course a lot of Tapas (discipline, not the spanish appetiser).

Therefore the mind is not disturbed but more focused and it really helps for the rest of the day and probably for the rest of your life as well!

That was my thought of the day ;-)

Week 3 of April with Iain is done, time flies here. One more week and then back to Europe for 3 weeks before coming back to Canggu on June.

More practices to come, more benefits to get, more knowledge to learn, more flexibility for my mind and my body.

Have a great day!

- Namaste -

Jump back and Jump through in Ashtanga

This morning I woke up at 3.15 AM...... then was in the shala by 6.00 AM and started my practice. Curiously it was a good practice, I felt more open, Kurmasana was with heels completely lifted from the floor and pelvis well anchored in the floor. Iain gave me the adjustment for Supta Kurmasana and I hold it for 10 breathes, was very happy.

However jump back and jump through are still pathetic and really heavy. I am very closed to resign from them.

I have noticed that my jump front is really getting better, I can almost jump into the asana but to dismount the posture and to lift my pelvis keeping my legs crossed toward my chest or bringing my heels toward my pelvis is still impossible for me. 

I am putting all my efforts to it.

As David Robson says "When you don't know what you're doing or just can't find some way to connect to the work you  can feel a little bit lost"..... well David, I absolutely agree with you, I am completely lost!!!

There is a beautiful thing David is saying into his video "spin your arms IN"..... I am not sure I am doing it....

So basically I am quite following all of theses instructions but still can not do any jump back without touching the floor. That means that my arms are not strong enough or maybe they are too short and my legs are too big.

This is where in the practice we find excuses, we can't do because of our body. If I recall well last year I was 200% sure that Marychasana D was not for me at all, forever and ever and now I have absolutely no problem with it, I can grab my wrist with assistance and on my own I am closer to it.

So nothing is impossible, I know it but sometimes I am just fed up of trying without any success. And they say that we should not have any expectation.....

Tomorrow is another Mysore practice tomorrow will a new try!

- Namaste -

Week 2 - Practice is bad

How can we keep a stable mind when the body is changing daily??? This morning my practice was heavy, not flexible and the worth part is I was skipping asanas!!! After Supta Kurmasana (which was really bad even with Iain's adjustment) going directly to Upavista Konasana A.... then realised my error and went back to Gharba Pindasana.

Then After Upavista Konasana A going directly to Ubbaya Padanghustasana....... what was happening??? 

Today my mission is to watch all videos on Youtube about jump back and jump front because I am getting slightly pissed off for not being able to do any of them properly. So I need a clue, even though I think I know all the "tricks" but none of them is working, can I order longer arms???

I don't understand what is the thing that I don't get? Why the message can not reach my brain when I order myself "lift up, cross and jump back"..... Almost everyone is doing it and me I am just heavy as a big truck....

Basically my day has started pretty badly because of this practice.

Tomorrow will be another day, another try and all of the best!

More pelvis to the practice....

This morning I spent more time working more from my pelvis. In Utanasana I used to slightly micro bend my knees while bending forward. Same for Padanghustasana and Padahastasana. This morning I try not.

I was remembering Iain asking me to strengthen my legs while bending forward.

The feeling I had was completely different, I felt by lengthening my legs I had more movement into my pelvis. I usually micro bend my legs in order to protect my lower back and to keep my chest to the thighs but by doing the micro bending I realised that I might be probably locking my pelvis.

So all my practice was focused on my pelvis.

And it does change the practice. For the jumping front my movement came directly from my pelvis, bringing the siting bones up, I tried to do the same for the jumping back keeping my legs completely straight, it was harder but not impossible.

I do believe that by micro bending my knees while bending forward did not allow the flexibility I am looking for to my pelvis. I have to change the habit and to renew my practice once again.

Practice is not still and can not be, it has to evolve and it is a daily progress and process :-)

It was a full 2 hours practice with all vinyasas. The beginning was hard, really hard but then my breathing was more focused and so do I.

Still enjoying it.

A slow and awesome practice!

Yesterday I did my practice outside even though it was raining.... not a good practice but I managed.

This morning I started my practice outside, then the rain came, and took the decision to practice inside. And to my big surprise I was more focused, slower in my movement, in my breathing and in the end it was one of the best practice I ever done since I am in Thailand.

Full vinyasa practice from Dandasana, did not feel any pain, as more vinyasa were coming my body felt alive, did not really push in any asana, on the contrary I practiced all of them very slowly and after 2 full hours of practice was in my Shavasana a big smile on my face.

My yoga mat is finally doing his job, it is not slippery at all and today I did not use the yoga blanket, I was sweating like hell but as my mat was really fixed and helped me a lot for more stability I did not feel any reason to use the yoga blanket at all and it was great, specially for the backbend.

Urdhva Dhanurasana is still very hard to do, I have two choices, one keeping my arms down and grabbing the yoga mat on the side while I am lifting up my pelvis, stretching my legs and rolling on my head.

Second choice and harder is to bring my cross arms on my chest.... in this case can not really extend my lower back, legs can not stretch completely and forcing too much on the cervicales. So right now I am doing the first option.... hoping one day I will be able to do it perfectly.

Ah perfection! Actually I stopped to look for it. I do agree that my jump front are getting better (only for the standing postures) but the jumps back are still relatively pathetic, then I do what I can do, sometimes repeating the jump back before doing the next asana but in general I do accept that I will not become a "jumper ashtangi", it won't be me, I am not from that family.

I am just a dedicated Ashtangi doing her best!

Tropical morning rain - Full Vinyasa Practice!

My body was slightly stiff this morning. So after Purvotanasana I decided to practice with full vinyasa.

Sweating, sweating and cleansing :-)

Tropical rain - absolutely loving it!

After all I am practicing on my own so better to give the best of me. On the contrary it did not exhaust me, I had more and more energy has the rain was pouring, thunderstorm hitting the sky and practice was wet from both rain and my sweat.

It was a good practice and surprisingly did not go over 2 hours as expected.  

This morning I really emphasis about the jump back and jump front which are getting better but are still heavy.

Supta Kurmasana is still by black beast. I can lift my heels from the floor in Kurmasana but still can not bind on my own on Supta Kurmasana.

I am trying everything, starting from the bending led on my shoulder then bending forward, did not work - balancing from one side to other side trying to glide my shoulders below under my knees, did not work - bringing my knees closer to my ears as I am bending forward in Kurmasana, did not work - bringing and rotating my arms more in the middle of my back, did not work neither...... after all of this my lower back was screaming, I was not breathing properly anymore but was not getting pissed off...... I am more in resignation mode regarding this asana.

The full vinyasa helped me to release my lower back as I was staying 5 breathes in Adho Mukha.

Supta Kurmasana why are you here? what are you? what should I learn from you? I have no clue....

Will see tomorrow....