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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
I did a class with a teacher who follows Ramanand Patel not
long ago. It was really quite amazing, involving the intersection
of asana and sound/singing. Have any of you had this experience?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I had one workshop with Ramanand just before he started doing the sound work. He is an amazing teacher! I have been very interested to find out about the work he is doing now and would love to hear about it, too. One thing that he did, which I eventually adopted, was to chant the invocation to Patanjali or another short invocation during savasana. Since I have never had Bruce in my class, I have always had comments that it deepend and compimented the student's experience  |
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| tourist - 2005-09-08 10:09 AMOne thing that he did, which I eventually adopted, was to chant the invocation to Patanjali or another short invocation during savasana. Since I have never had Bruce in my class, I have always had comments that it deepend and compimented the student's experience
I think it depends on the student, and the instructor. When I first started it was very useful to have some sort of prompting during savasana. However now that I've been at it for a while, I find that it can be very distracting. OTOH, I've also been finding myself drawn more and more to silence in general lately. They do call it peace and quiet for a reason. 
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| GJ - our Level IV class almost never has prompting of any kind for savasana. I agree  |
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| Brother BayGuy:
Can you clarify the term: Intersection of Asana and Sound/Singing? If someone is prepared to do a discussion, I am open. But, there is NO connection between Hathayoga Postures and Singing, except where one finds a peace while listening. Now, while coming to meditation postures such as sitting, shavasana, etc., singing can be an object which gives focus.
Regards
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Dear Brother Neel,
It is not easy for me to explain this well on the basis of the one class that
I took. I think, however, that your comment on meditation captures the
main intention. Here's the basic description from Patel's web site:
In this workshop Ramanand Patel and Pandit Mukesh Desai combine their efforts to provide a safe and penetrating journey into yoga practice. Ramanand will provide the expertise on learning various asanas in the Iyengar Tradition. Sound will be used as a prop to support deeper penetration and to help introject the breath and the senses. Pandit Mukesh Desai will accompany Ramanand with his vast knowledge of Indian Classical music and his wondrous vocal and musical ability.
Apart from the use of sound, the sequence of asanas I did was quite unusual.
It was almost entirely prone. Imagine doing Parivrtta Trikonasana while lying
on the floor, and you will have the sense of it.
BG |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| The floor standing poses are awesome! We did them once with Julie Gudmestad and someone mentioned they were Ramanand's. |
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| Brother BG:
Thanks for your reply. Thus, now I understand that my statement is correct. Music is used as a tool to focus attention in. This can be done in various ways though. Music being universally liked, it can be very interesting. Also, I am amazed to know about Standing Poses in a lying down poses as I had introduced these in my style, Authentic Yoga, a few years ago. (I had not heard of them until you wrote here.). However, how the music is actually used in Ramanand Class is NOT known to me and that needs to be experienced.
Regards
neel kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
Patel's floor poses were almost all asymmetrical, as I recall. [And I wrote "prone"
above when I meant "supine" (sorry).] The last asana in the class I did
was a standing pose held for about 5 minutes on each side while the teacher
sang...I would leave my body under such circumstances if it were a floor pose
or an inversion, but standing poses take enough attention to hold you in place.
It's a remarkable experience.
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| it's so exciting to hear people talking about Patel's classes! I just took a weekend workshop with him on mula bandha. It was amazing. He is a great teacher. I love how freely he talks of God. And his poses are indeed very creative. If I lived in San Francisco he would definitely be my main teacher. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| aaron - does he still tell the really bad jokes? |
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| He sure does! He told the corniest jokes. At one point we were laying on our backs with the soles of our feets facing the ceiling (thighs into the chest) and he says "The more you can get your feet paralell with the ceiling the easier it will be for God to see into your soul!". Get it? They just went on and on. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| He loves to get everyone into something really challenging, how us there and then say "And now look ridiculously happy!" I stole that and use it with my beginners:-) |
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| He was always saying that! And after finishing one side of a difficult pose he would say "Okay, and thanking God you only have two sides...let's do the left side!". I thought that was really funny. I bet he would think it was really funny that we are quoting his jokes on this message board! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Yep, Im sure he'd get a kick out of it. Yesterday I used "why are you in such a hurry to get your hands to the floor? There's no chocolate down there..."  |
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| oh yes! and then there's all the chocolate jokes! in one of our classes he kept talking about the stomach this and the stomach that. Someone asked if he meant the abdomin or the actual stomach. He said "Yes, the stomach...the place where chocolate goes!". All this talk about him is making me wish I could study with him more. He invited us to send him an email to let him know how the workshop changed our practice. I think I will send him one soon. What's the story with his certification exactly? He's not certified right? I know he's considered to be a senior teacher but I think technically he's not. Is that right? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Well, I don't know all the ins and outs of the various cerrtification things but Ramanand is certainly very highly qualified. He certainly studied intensly with BKS for a long time and knows everything there is to know about Iyengar yoga |
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| Oh, I definitely don't doubt for a second that he is a very highly qualified teacher. And that he did and does study intensely with BKS. I think it's interesting how he is truly doing his own thing. He is a great follower of Iyengar yoga yet doesn't believe in the absolute purity of any system of yoga. I am currently working toward a teacher in training certification and these are things I like to think about - what's mine, what do I believe and compare it to what the Iyengars are telling me. Patel seems very unique. It's nice. |
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| I agree Aaron - most of my favourite senior Iyengar teachers are those who have sort of "moved on" from the Iyengar bureaucracy and dogmatic approach - people like Ramanand, Kofi Busia, Aadil Palkhivala, Judith Lasater, etc. |
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Yoga and Sound
