Vinyasa III: You've been warned

There is a running joke about Saturday's Vinyasa III class: it starts off cute and quaint enough, a nice OM, some repetitions of Suryanamaskara, standing postures, etc. Everyone is looking neat as a pin,decked out in yoga's most fashionable clothes. Black mats dominate the space, with rugs accordion-folded at the ready. Soon enough, bodies warm up, the air thickens and, suddenly - cue that unmistakable beat - you're in the middle of Thriller: the room tilting with flashes of wild, contorted faces and lurching, slouching, twisted bodies moving in rhythm. Heaving, ragged breath presses in against the ears. E's laughter echoes throughout the cursed 3rd floor.

AAAAAAAiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee!!

(This isn't Thriller, but it is zombie yoga. You may have seen it before on Tiny Little Circles):



Well, for those that have been (and those that haven't), consider that we don't mess around on Saturdays. Deep backbends, arm balances galore (ofter combined with inversions), the weekly tradition of partner handstand work, plus a personal guarantee for a posture or two you've never, ever seen before (let alone considered subjecting yourself to). That said, once you cut loose your own expectations, there isn't a more satisfying or fun class in the tri-state area. Abhyasa and vairagya - constant practice and detachment - are just as true in intense, modern asana practice as they are in focused, seated meditation (which is what Patanjali was originally describing with the terms).

This past week we had a visit from our old friend Eka Pada Koundinyasana II (also known as Visvamitrasana B), as well as what one student - rather dramatically - called "all of the other arm balances". (*eyes roll*) Matthew Sweeney's Vinyasa Krama book continues to be an inspiration, though it has been secreted away to a safe location after some displeasure and even threats expressed by the victi-...er, students this week.

As enticing as this entry has surely made this class sound, unfortunately it will not be happening this week, April 4th. K & E will be traveling to exotic Iowa City, to serve as guest instructors at The Freestyle Yoga Academy (FYA) for a class of teachers in training (you may have seen FYA advertised in the Radish). Anywho, we're so sorry to say that the usual Vinyasa III festivities will be cancelled for the week in lieu of spreading the good cheer of the Primary Series and the basics of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga to our yogi friends to the west.

Of course, if you find yourself feeling dejected, bored, and in need of a Vinyasa III-type experience on Saturday afternoon, here are a few potential substitutions. They will produce approximately the same glowing sense of well-being the following day:

1) Get our your favorite extensive and impressive book of yoga postures. Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar or Asanas: 608 Yoga Poses by Dharma Mittra are good choices. Now, do all of the postures. Oh, and don't forget to vinyasa (jumpback) each time...

2) Throw yourself beneath a bus or train (whichever is most convenient).

3) Find a large, angry person looking to channel some rage. Begin provoking.

With these tips, you're sure to find yourself the kind Weekend Warrior that is proud to call the shala your home away from home.

Shala repre-SENT

Well kids, we're already looking forward to the weekend yoga madness, as usual. It's only March and things are getting toasty in the practice space, just like we like it. Every Tuesday we're surprised at what a great session we fit into 60 minutes in the Guided Ashtanga class, a shortened version of the Primary Series. Wednesday night's Vinyasa II class is turning out to be a great test kitchen for ideas for Saturday's Vinyasa III. A pinch of this, a touch of that, stir and simmer for 90 minutes. Delicious. Add a little more spice on Saturday and serve.

There really are endless combinations. The potentials of the human form alone are incredible (individual postures), and when you begin combining them, with patterns of movement interacting...well, you know the rest. Equal parts familiarity (consistency) and novelty (creativity) usually make for a good vinyasa class. And don't forget, the request lines (info@tapasyogashala.com) are always open...

In breaking news, word is that we'll have some visiting yogis in the (hot)house on Sunday for the Primary Series. A few cats from Hothouse Yoga (a Bikram/Power studio in Coralville, IA) will be dropping by for some chatvari action. It promises to be a juicy, schwetty good time, as usual. We can't touch the thermostat (we're only renting, after all), so let's see what we can do to raise the temperature, er, naturally. Jumpbacks, anyone?

Shanti (peace) out!

The Joys of Yoga and the Art of Adjusting

A few videos to whet the appetite for some weekend practice.

Pattabhi Jois is no longer teaching, but his timeless presence is captured here: the shorts, the broken English, the impatience, the confusion, the vague hand gestures. It's classic Ashtanga Vinyasa, at it's finest. Who could forget those profound words: "Take it your hand! Tight it!"

Oh, and that poor guy on the left.



Here we see more of why Guruji is Guruji: his light touch, patience, and willingness to "listen to the body," a Western yoga catchphrase that surely originated in Mysore. The "standing on the heels" move is unprecedented. And during the feet-to-the-head move, notice how some get two or three five-counts (joy!), and witness Tim Miller (the third guy to be adjusted) release into bliss after Guruji's compassionate, healing touch.



See you in class!!

Kino

As many of you know, we spent last Friday in Chi town at Moksha Yoga studio. The guest of honor, Mrs. Hot Shorts herself, Kino MacGregor. As promised, a photo...

...isn't she super cute???

The morning started off with a Mysore class. Thankfully, one of the instructors from Moksha who was there thought to crank the heat up. It was a wonderfully warm, juicy practice. We played it conservative and did the Primary Series. It seemed there were a lot of people on the other side of the coin, just going for Intermediate. Hmmmmmm.

In the afternoon, we returned for an adjustments workshop which was really wonderful. If you haven't figured it out yet, Kino is tiny. Easily under 100 pounds. Despite her small stature, she's super strong and a great adjuster. She talked us through several adjustments for the first half of the primary series and demonstrated how the postures weave back and forth preparing the body for Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana.

We found Kino to be smart, straight-forward and a little sassy. Just our style. She'll be back at Moksha in October and in Minneapolis in May. If you ever get the chance, check this chica out!

She's BAAAAaaaack....

This is Sara Strother. Remember her? She dropped by the shala in November to totally school E at his own game in his *yawn* Vinyasa III class. We know what you're thinking - about E and another claim of persecution but, unlike those UFOs and KGB agents we're always hearing about, this time there WAS a witness, and Ann wrote a blog about the experience (it's after the stuff about shopping).

Anywho...Sara is a Chicago-based Anusara instructor. (Check out her website: abalancedpractice.com). She also might be a ninja (again, see pics). One way or another, she is one bad-ass chica, as Ann would say. Anusara Yoga, by the way, is the system founded by John Friend, with whom Sara has studied (she's also studied with just about every other notable Anusara teacher in the country). If you don't know, you betta axe somebody. Or read about Anusara Yoga here.

(Not to digress, but how do these yogis end up with these names - John Friend, Richard Freeman, David Life - can these possibly be their given names? Usually to have to become a monk and take a spiritual name to get something like that - and even then it's in Sanskrit!)

We've just confirmed Sara for two workshops at the shala next month.

Friday, April 10th, 630-8p will be Align with the Divine: An Exploration of the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment. This class is appropriate for everyone (beginner and up). It will be an introduction to some of the basic elements of Anusara Yoga. Expect a rounded class with standing and seated postures, with both flow and alignment emphasized in the sequence.

Saturday, April 11th, 9-1130a Sara will teach Hearts on Fire: An Anusara Radical Expansion Class. We let her know that we like things hot and sweaty the shala, and she's obliged with this vinyasa-style class that promises to include arm balances, inversions, and backbends. For this one there are some prerequisites to ride the rides, kids: we ask that you are able to kick up into inversions at the wall (unassisted) and press up into Urdhva Dhanurasana.

We're working on pricing, how many spots to offer (it will be limited and probably full) and the other fine print for this event, but wanted to let you know as soon as we knew. Be sure to save the date - it's going to be a good one.

If you want more info about this event, the prerequisites mentioned (a new phenomenon for yoga in this area, we know) or to get your name on the list, contact us at the shala at info@tapasyogashala.com or 309.236.6084.

More to come.

Birds and Clouds

Hello friends and neighbors. It's been a good time recently at the shala, as we pulled off a workshop on the 2nd half of the Primary Series, graduated another class of yogis from the Intro course and, generally, continued to keep it real.

How do we do it, you ask? Mostly by jumping back first and asking questions later. We have a deep and abiding investment in and respect for the yogic tradition, in all of its spiritual and psychological genius. But we have recognized long ago that most of these things - the Yoga-sutra, the Bhagavad-gita, the Upanishads - are the spiritual equivalent of Einstein's relativity revelations. We all live in this same relative universe, and we can all recite that magic equation (it starts with an "E"), but that doesn't mean that we possess an inkling of its full implication. Such capacity takes much groundwork to cultivate.

So it is with yoga or any other contemplative tradition. Change happens slowly, and most of the "work" is indirect, creating change well below the level of conscious perception. Thankfully, there's the consolation of the "yoga butt" in the meantime, eh?

Somewhere along the way, New Age fluff and yoga cross-pollinated and created a real monster. You've seen it, even though it can be hard to identify. Magazines, conferences, products and, worst of all, advice. You think "I like this - it's about yoga" but you have the uneasy feeling that somehow it's actually NOT. It was summed up nicely by a student as "birds and clouds" - that saccharine, cloying, feel-good, self-absorption-disguised-as-self-discovery nonsense that's been around for a long time, but now has the word "yoga" in it.

In short, here's another great article at Slate.com that outlines it all nicely.

Beware.

Romance Postures Revealed

Ok friends, as promised...you can take a gander at the results of our rigorous survey in the comments of the Romance Postures entry, and we'll also mention them here. But without further ado, let's get to Matthew Sweeney's identified Romance Postures:

1. padmasana It's the most recognizable yoga posture, and if you can do this one, it's easy to forget how difficult it can be. The average Western student brings hips and knees with decades of culturally-dependent conditioning that involves very little external (lateral) rotation. In plain English, most folks knees don't do this. Of course, the hips are the real issue, but it's the knees that suffer, and it takes a long damn time for some people. Perhaps more than any other pose we'll list here, this one opens up a whole family of related postures and variations on other postures.

2. urdhva dhanurasana (dropback) Let's face it - we could all dropback if we really wanted to. What's stopping you (other than common sense and self-preservation)? To learn to dropback and come up is almost higher-order level integration of the body - above and beyond (and built upon!) the run-of-the-mill standing and seated postures. This is due to the coordination of the full length of the body and because of the use of momentum - something which is rare in yoga. Of course, we gradually try to eliminate momentum here as well, but at first it's unavoidable. And of course, we haven't even mentioned the fear factor: we witnessed students bawling in the middle of the shala in Mysore, having finally dropped back for the first time.

3. hanumanasana Another quinessential, classic posture, not just in yoga but in all physical arts. She is beautiful, but she is a Siren, her beak and claws bloody with the hamstrings of the over-eager. And yet, you keep going back and trying...there's just something about that beautiful symmetry...4. adho mukha vrksasana Enough said. Well maybe not quite...I mean seriously, what's cooler than standing on your hands? This one also opens up new vistas of poses, variations, and, especially, vinyasa combinations. It's different than all the other postures here because balance is an enigma, and entirely different animal than strength and flexibility, which seem to follow a more-or-less linear development. There really isn't anything anybody can tell you about handstand. You almost have to pretend you're the first person who ever tried to do this and figure it out for yourself, especially once you're trying to move from using the wall (which, let's face it, is mostly lame) to free-standing. In the living room. At the studio. At the office. In the grocery store. Doctor's office. Countless. G**d**n. Times. Until you finally get it...and can hold your newfound skill over everyone's head, literally (talk about a motivator!) As a final note on adho mukha vrksasana, notice that it is eventually combined with the urdhva dhanurasana dropback, sort of like when the Power Rangers link up to create one enormous hero. In this case, the final product is viparita chakrasana, the hands-over-feet-over-hands, back-and-forth movement that could be considered the pinnacle (or maybe a pinnacle) of yogasana as a purely physical practice.

Strangely absent are eka/dwi pada sirsasana, the leg-behind-the-head postures. These are perhaps second only to padmasana as far as recognizability within yoga and also as a prerequisite for a number of other postures.

As far as our survey, handstand was the most common answer. Other than that, there was a surprising diversity: backbends, arm balances, hip movements. You can certainly tell the Ashtanga influence, as some people are thinking in terms of movements and posture combinations. At the risk of turning this into a Daily OM...it is pretty certain that whichever postures are most evasive for you, they are the ones that teach the most.

Ok, enough chit-chat. Let's get back to work on that adho mukha vrksasana, eh?