This week’s class was taken by a substitute teacher and as usual there was a lot to take home. We did a slightly different routine. More intense Uttanasana and adho mukha Svanasana before moving to the inversions followed by parsvottanasana, Parivritta trikonasana and Parivritta parsvkonasana. A few seated poses and some abdominal asanas completed the class before savasana. The intense stretch in Uttanasana was all the way from my buttocks. While in the pose, it was screamingly painful but it eased up as the class progressed. Maybe that preparation gave a better stretch in supta padangushtasana.
Sirsasana felt a little flushed while Sarvangasana was a tiny bit easier. Usually it is the other way for me. Normally, we go through the standing poses before getting into the headstand. This time, we did not go through the regular trikonasana, parsvkonasana etc.
Navasana was the new addition in class. The classes are getting more intense as the weeks pass. It’s a good thing I have just one class and to think I wanted two classes earlier.
Home practice was week 2 yesterday and today. It is tempting to take any week and follow the sequence but for now it seems like a good way to discipline myself by following the week wise progression. One of the thoughts is that I will lose my ability to do other asanas. But while on the mat yesterday, it struck me that spending as much time on the basics is very useful to replicate the same actions in other poses. I see how spending time in uthita hasta padasana and uthita parsva hastapadasana before getting into trikonasana helps with a better lateral extension.
One of the teachers in training suggested alternating halasana and Paschimottansana in rapid succession to help with Sarvangasana and I’ve been doing that with this week’s sequence. Was that responsible for a little ease in Sarvangasana in class?
Wednesday takeaways and homework
anonymous sadhaka 