Assignment for January Weekend:
Read and comment on the blogs submitted by your fellow students.
Assignment for December weekend:
Read and comment on the blogs submitted by your fellow students.
Assignment for December weekend:
What is the most difficult aspect of your personal practice?
Identify it and write a 200 word dharma talk about it.
Then design a brief (8-10 pose) sequence that directly
addresses that issue.
12/1/15
ReplyDeleteThe Most Difficult Aspect of My Practice –
Arm Balances in the Center of the Room and the Cultivation of Equanimity
Upeksha means equanimity, non-attachment, non-discrimination, even-mindedness or letting go. It’s not indifference. Upeksha grows out of mindfulness and allows the practitioner to master a situation. To truly create an arm balance practice Upeksha or equanimity without attachment must be in the heart and mind of the practitioner.
A little history – it was the summer of 2005 and I was at the Wild Woodstock Ashram (Gannon/Life) taking a very expensive ($40) class. As such, I was NOT going to miss a single pose. David called Pincha Mayurasana in the center of the room I glanced at my friend Gretchen, shrugged my shoulders and grabbed my strap - I was going for it!
I mindfully set myself up, placed the strap above my elbows and my hands softly but firmly on the floor. I lifted one leg then the other – I WAS UP along with the other 40 people in the room…that was until I wasn’t. I blurted “Gretch, I’m going down!” and proceeded to knock her and four others down. David Life announced to the entire room “and THAT is how you do NOT do this pose.” I was devastated.
I haven’t gotten up in that pose unassisted or without a wall since. Each time it’s called in class I make my way to Dolphin as a prep or find myself in Child’s Pose. I am completely attached to not doing it wrong (as opposed to doing it correctly). I fear the turning of my body upside down, blaming the size of my hips as the reason for my flawed center of gravity in these poses and, of course, the reason that I don;t do them. I can mentalize many of the aspects of these postures and tout their value in a practice, but when it comes to shifting my perspective and cultivating a middle of the room arm balance practice, I remain a fearful spectator.
Cultivating a sense of equanimity without attachment is the key to this practice for me and this sequence focuses on that.
Note: Optimal placement should be an even column from the base of the pose through the upper arm, armpit, shoulder, torso, pelvis, and legs
Sun Salutations to warm spine, activate legs
Virasana with Gomukhasana arms Then standing with Gomukhasana arms. Accentuate alignment points and the column of the body
Shoulder opener – standing, bent elbows to ceiling, block between hands lift overhead focusing on line from elbows to hip points mind the jutting of ribs forward
Shoulder opener on chair against wall – same alignment points
Belt and Block at the wall – Dolphin Prep lifting one leg at a time
Propped PM at the wall, play looking for plumb line without dropping into shoulders
Propless at the wall
Dolphin in the center of the room. Lifting one leg at a time. Possibly PM in the center of the room
Constructive Rest/SPG
Savasana
love the intro. not sure if sun salutations warm up or give the legs the integrity and strength needed. maybe add a fews backbends. why dolphin in middle of room after pinch?
DeleteAh, Gillian dear! That's just Davey's way of saying he loves u ;-/ ! But thanks for fearlessly addressing fear...
DeleteLiberation through non attachment to the outcome. A truly valuable lesson. Thank You.
DeleteNice. I like the sequence based on "equanimity". I also enjoy the lead in talking. Totally agree. --Denise
DeleteThank you for your honesty and clear wisdom Gillian! I'm going to copy this to the home page so everyone sees it.
ReplyDeleteLOVING your vulnerability Gillian
ReplyDeletethanks Gillian
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult aspect of my personal practice:
ReplyDeleteYears ago during her performance evaluation, a direct report asked, “When do I get to stop working on my ‘areas of development’ and start focusing on the things I’m already good at?” An interesting question … probably never.
By working on those things that are most challenging we strive to become well rounded. In a corporate environment this can translate to “being good at everything”, while in yoga we truly seek balance. Yoga suggests we move through our lives (and our asana practice) with both steadiness (sthira) and ease (sukha).
Not easy. Not nearly as much fun. When you look at the definitions of each; Sthira (firm, compact, strong, steadfast, static, resolute, and courageous) vs. Sukha (happy, good, joyful, delightful, easy, agreeable, gentle, mild, and virtuous – literally “good space”) I mean really, … which would you prefer?
Yet, finding the balance feels healthy and whole and right. My challenge is using strength rather than easing into my flexibility. I probably push & pull too much just to “feel a stretch”. My practice is to back off of that which is comfortable, and work on building strength.
Here’s a sequence to build strength (using blocks and props to avoid full range of motion)
• Supine leg lifts (gathering front body muscles) single then double
• Prone position ½ leg lifts (bending at knee with block between feet to strengthen hamstrings)
• Utkatasana several times with 5 breath holds
• Modified Surya A (moving from downward dog in/out of plank holding plank 5 breaths, holding plank tapping knees to floor 5x on breath, taking 5 breaths to lower to Chaturanga). Whole set 4-5x
• Down dog to dolphin transition (slowly bringing elbows to floor simultaneously and pushing back 2-3x)
• Trikonasana (using two blocks to stay high, next using one block and light finger tips - holding pose with legs and core)
• Prasarita Padottanasana A&C (firming sits bones toward each other to stabilize base, working legs and keeping them close enough together that head can’t reach floor)
• Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (without holding onto leg or toes) holding the leg close to 90 degrees for 5 breaths)
• Crow pose using core muscles to float back to Chaturanga
• Constructive rest
• Savasana
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Delete"Finding the balance feels healthy and whole and right" love that..
Deletewould love to see some lateral strengthening poses. what other poses could strengthen the adductors and biceps? Is strength just muscular?
ReplyDeleteAdhikara: Studentship and the Qualifications of a Student
ReplyDeleteEvery time I feel my life getting out of sync, my relationships straining, my mind growing foggy, and my body experiencing density and lethargy I am working diligently not to instantly go to blame of external circumstances. Things such as the city is so busy, the moon is so full, that person is such an energetic vampire and all the other S*^% New Girls Say. But to first ask myself, “what is the quality and the energy of my studentship?”, or my Adhikara. In Sanskrit Adhikara translates to authority and ownership of one’s own life, choices and development. And although adhikara is one’s competency at being a dedicated spiritual student it demands a strong level of personal authority and agency. Adhikara is the place where we are continually tending to our ground within so when the teachings come, they can sprout and grow. I am training myself to respond to friction and provocation with first questioning, what is the nature of my studentship and discipline lately? Am I being an easy and receptive student? What is the quality of my movement and my breath? Am I sitting in a way that honors the Spirit within?
Here is a sequence to build commitment, studentship and discipline.
Samasthiti/Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana
Paschima Baddha Hastasana ( arms behind the back holding the elbows)
Paschima Namaskarasana (hands behind the back)
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Utthita Trikonasana
Virabhadrasana II
Utthita Parsvakonasana
Salabhasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
*Pinca Mayurasana
Sirsasana
Parsva Sirsasana
Balasana
Bharadvajasana II
Sarvangasana/Halasana
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
(w/Eka Pada variation)
Savasana
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Deletebeautiful dharma and philosophy and great sequence but why does this sequence in particular address commitment, studentship and discipline? Also, would be good to know timings. For instance if halasana is held for a while, you wouldn't want to drop into setu bandha sarvangasana
Deletethere's a beautfiul open-hearted humility about reverse-prayer that seems evocative of student hood....and one would certainly need an attitude of discipline and commitment to tackle all those inversions!!
DeleteJust pausing and considering our responses..a powerful and challenging practice.
DeleteA lifted Heart and open Throat are my path to forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteI have been practicing Yoga with for over 20 years now... It was probably 10 years ago or so when fellow practitioners started asking me to teach them..I had become so introverted in my adult life due to trauma in childhood and adolescence that I just couldn't imagine that I would ever be brave or feel free enough to teach.
I have two beautiful bright children after multiple miscarriages.. and my husband and best friend in the world was my high school heart break... These are merely 2 examples of a pattern I've noticed throughout my life of struggle ending in immense joy...
Ive come from politely avoiding teaching opportunities even after 300 hours of training with Rodney and Colleen to taking on a handful of private clients and two group classes in my home studio. This has really freed me in a way that's dreamlike.... This practice of learning to prepare an offering and especially the connection with the people that I teach is so profound... Most of my students have been with me for over a year now and are loving my humble offering.... So, once again I'm reaching toward the other side of struggle and I am having moments of such joy...
Throughout the last few years of Rodney and Colleens influence, teachings and adjustments Ive come to realize that I hold so much tension in my throat and jaw...And that back bends and breath awareness release that gripping that has hindered my voice for far too long....
Supported Childs pose over a bolster ( resting the head on one side & the other)
mini sun salutations~
Full sun salutations incorporating backend and throat opening in Urdvha Hastasana
Lions Breath
thread the needle R&L
baby (cobra) Bhujangasana
Full Bhugangasana
Shalabhasana (Locust)
Dhanurasana (bow)
Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward facing dog)
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge)
Urdvha Danurasana (full Wheel)
Fish pose
Savasana
story is so real, raw, and perfect for the teaching. need more cool down and maybe more things specifically for the throat such as tv watching or chin on a block and maybe wring it out by adding shoulder stand. Also, seth bandha isn't a warm up for urdvha danurasana and would even be good to put a transitory pose in before bridge as it is pretty cooling after all the fiery backbends. Do you notice other areas of your body that hold tension from the early trauma. your practice is so beautiful and so is your offering.
DeleteHave you ever had the experience of hearing your voice when you're in certain social situations or talking to particular individuals and it sounds different? Almost unrecognizable? As if you've lost your voice?
DeleteI have. Love that you're fighting to be heard. Freedom of speech is sooo worth fighting for.
"The practice of learning to prepare an offering" ... lovely.
DeleteFancy arm balances piss me off. Hard not to think of them as showboat poses, circus stuff—especially when you can’t do them! But what attempting them makes clear is that they, like every pose we don’t like, point up musculoskeletal and psychological weaknesses that are well addressed—the magic of yoga.
ReplyDeleteRodney built a post-TT class around Koundiyasana, a nasty bit of business that relies on the very thing this particular yogin fears. As Gillian so beautifully explained, the ego—“I, a yoga teacher!”—coils around our inability to “achieve” the pose, especially with our students alongside!
Excuses abound, legitimate and non. Seems to me that those with a short torso and long legs (moi) prefer Bhujapidasana and Tolasana, while those with a long torso and shorter legs like Bakasana, Lolasana, and Kukutasana. I can fake Crow, Parsva the thing, and even do the preliminary balance of“flying” crow; but take that back leg up and out? Fuggedaboudit.
Particulars of your bod aside, it’s about deciphering the reliability of your trunk—arms, shoulder blades, abdominal and spinal muscles—in relation to your lower body, the way Handstand and Vashistasana become effortless once you build them correctly enough to get a sama vritti thing going in the body mind. Surely that’s all Koundiyasana requires. Right?
Sit well on edge of chair, feet hip distance and parallel. Left hand to right knee, right hand on chair back. Bend elbows away from each other and twist right, then straighten left leg parallel to floor. Set left foot back down, lean right elbow to thigh and reach left elbow into open twist, hand behind head.
Fold fwd between wide bent knees, hands on blocks as necessary, before repeating on left side.
Place blocks on highest or second-highest height outside feet and thread shoulders under knees. Fwd bend, moving spine in and up while pushing hands into blocks and shoulders into knees. Straighten right leg fwd any amount and visualize kicking the back leg out as well. Switch.
Tadasana with Headstand arms, pressing elbows and forearms evenly to ceiling to teach shoulder blade and ribcage placement, then lift in Urdhva Hastasana with index fingers broadening occipital.
Uttanasana
Step left leg back, thumb to rt hip crease, twist right pressing into and out of left palm.
Plank
Lower onto abdomen with blocks under top front shoulders, highest or second highest, lengthen legs individually from waist.
Adho Mukha
Jump fwd in stages, Uttanasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Tada, repeat left side.
Left leg back, Crescent Moon w Headstand arms, Momentary Lizard, Chatturanga, DD split, step rt foot fwd Trikonasana, turn feet, Parsvakonasana, turn feet, Uttanasana, Urdhva, repeat other side.
From Dog, step right foot fwd and slide left leg though to sit in Marichyasana A. (Those who cannot bind may clasp front of ankle, fingers pulling up, thumb down, elbow wide.) Cross shins, pull through, Dog, switch and repeat.
Uttkatasana. Bakasana. Chaturgana. Urdhva Mukha, Adho Mukha, step left foot fwd, turn right into Prasarita, narrow feet, stand. Gomukhasana arms (without bind as nec), fold fwd halfway, left palm under nose, twist right hand behind head. Release. Walk round to right foot, Bound Parsvakonasa, turn torso to floor, Koundiyasana right side! Dog, right foot fwd, walk left into Prasarita and repeat.
Sarvangasana or Supported Bridge w Sarvangasana arm setup.
Supta Baddha
Savasana
Love your intro. humor rocks. How about adding in supta padangustasana 2, ardha chandrasana, parsvotanasana, and hanumanasana to open hamstrings and adductors. maybe a warrior 3 for strong back leg
Deletecarrie I just love the casual and accessible tone you use to describe your relationship with yoga...there is no pretense or ostentation here...it is clear that yours is a practice that is lived and loved.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFluidity and Structure in The Hips
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult thing about my asana practice has been the physical limitation of my hips. After 17 years of having a yoga practice I watched with awe and patience as my legs, spine, inversions and breath practice all evolved and changed. After 17 years of a yoga practice I have grimaced, huffed, and puffed, while glowering at my two hips, Eduardo Sanchez and Hans Friedrich ( I have named them) as they look and feel exactly the same as when I started my practice. This can't be entirely true, that my hips haven't changed at all, but that's how it feels. I have owned up to my ego-centric envy as boys I have practiced alongside in yoga class, who have practiced a third of the time I have, just slide effortlessly in and out out of padmasa, galavasana, ardha matsyendrasana 3, tolasana and the like, as if they were playing a casual game of scrimmage on the campus lawn. I have never been able to understand or know for the sure what the basis of my hip limitation was. It could be structural, it could be muscular, it could even be energetic or emotional. Maybe it's a combination of all of it. I once asked Shiva Rea, one of my first teachers, what she thought about the idea that certain places in the body held specific emotional trauma and toxicity. For instance, if your calves are tight you are unfocused and aimless, if your hamstrings are tight you are an aggressive asshole, if your lower back hurts you don't trust yourself or your decisions. Although Shiva acknowledged that humans can and do hold emotional memory in their body, she told me not to fall for that false body code of neurosis. She thought the process of identification and exploration, svadhyaya, to be much more complex than that. I tend to agree. Still, the concept that our second chakra, svandhistana, is a spiritual hub of creativity, sexuality, and pleasure makes major sense to me. So when I approach the environment of my pelvic and hip region, I want to keep these fluid elements in mind. I have found that mindful and precise placement of props, along with a longer duration of time in hip opening postures have been helpful. They also feel damn satisfying, even though the visual results are not all that dramatic. The pay off is in how my knees and hips feel after. But if we were to take the vibration flow and fluidity of our second chakra into the sadhana of it all, I would think we have some sense of flow and play in it. Therefore, my idea would be do to the following 8 postures in almost a restorative sense. Allowing props, time and breath to really soak in the postures, for 1-3 minutes each, and then come back and around with an anjaneyasana version of surya namaskar and then flow through the 8 postures as more of a quick paced vinyasa sequence.
1. Baddha Konasana
2. Baddha Konasana with forward fold
3. Marichyasana C
4. Marichyasana D
5. Ardha Matsyendrasana 3
5. Parvritta Trikonasana
6. Ekha Pada Rajakapotasana
7. Galavasana
8. Utthita Parsvakonasana
9. 3 - 5 cycles of sivananda style surya namaskar with anjaneyasana
10. Repeat poses 1-8 as a flow
11. Savasana
story has us in hysterics. what a great writer. I am stealing this for our focus of the month - (without the sequence) Marich. d??? ardha matsyandrasana 3? We were so excited that you were going to do restoratives which would make total sense...give us the restorative sequence that you were talking about....:)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKatherine Shapiro
ReplyDeleteAssignment for December weekend:
What is the most difficult aspect of your personal practice? Identify it and write a 200 word dharma talk about it.
Then design a brief (8-10 pose) sequence that directly addresses that issue.
I am drawn to teaching methods that respect students’ personal processes, methods that are empowering and will guide students toward finding their own ground, space and light. I am grateful to be entrusted with that wisdom and given the support and space to make sense of it all. I look for the wise, experienced teachers who will say ‘Hey, I’ve been this way, and this is what I know about this: the road is treacherous; let me share what I’ve learned.’
I was driving recently on a rainy, dark night on the small, winding back roads of Sag Harbor; other drivers, also fearful and unable to see, were coming toward me with their brights on and were blinding me. I averted my eyes to the white line at the side of the road. It comforted me, to know that someone had taken this route before and had put a line there to guide me on my journey. Yet there were no guarantees; I had to be brave and stay the course. Then it occurred to me that my yoga practice was much like that white line. It serves me in my life as a guiding marker, put down by those who have traveled the same road before.
I would say the most difficult aspect of my personal practice has been to be able to trust my own abilities, to take the wheel, and not to be paralyzed by fear or confusion. I trust that the guiding marker was put down to support me, but ultimately I must take the wheel and drive.
With this in mind, I chose poses for a fairly uncomplicated practice with some longer timings to pull the senses inward, little challenges for strength and confidence and some flow sequence to get moving. I also felt that a long shavasana and a meditation at the end would be helpful to stay centered, and to find calm and clarity.
PRACTICE
*constructive rest with hands on belly
*constructive rest with arms folded overhead
*wide knee child’s pose ,hands in prayer folded back for shoulder stretch
*adho mukha svanasana l minute, head on two block, wedge support
*uttanasana 1 minute
*tadasana
urdhva hastasana -uttanasana-
down dog-plank-
down dog split with open hip twist ,step to
lunge ,hands down to lunge right foot, left hand on floor outside of mat big toe side ,twist to right,
hands down roll to outer edge of left foot for transition to
vasisthasana hold 5 breaths
plank-downdog hold 5 breaths -uttanasana -urdhva hastasana - tadasana
repeat other side 2 sets alternating sides
step through to
*dandhasana
*navasana 4 times hold 5 breaths, cross ankles, lift hips half way up in between each one
*setu bhanda block on lowest level a/feet on floor b/ straight legs in air
*constructive rest
*“windshield wiper”
*supta buddha konasana with blocks
*constructive rest
*savasana 7-10 minutes
*meditation a/nadi shodhana
b/ breath attention moving up and down sashumna nadi
c/ hold attention at third eye
d/ sit 18 minutes