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| Hi..
this is my first post. I have been practising yoga for a few years, but mainly Sivananda. I took up Ashtanga back in August last year as I found a studio offering Mysore style practice and was curious to try.
However, due to work obligations and family time, I can only attend maybe once a week. Other days I practice on my own. My instructor (as he is not authorized and does not want to call himself a teacher) recently taught me dropbacks and standing up, and I am managing to do that unassisted most of the time. He told me I am ready for second series, but he doesn't think he should teach me as he is not authorized/certified.
So..I am curious as to whether I should just go ahead and do it myself. My instructor says the key things before doing second series is – getting the head to floor in all the prasaritas, binding supta kurmasana and Mari D unassisted, and getting up and dropping back. I can do all that pretty well, so…should I go ahead or am I an Ashtanga criminal? Also I am curious as to whether people have actually managed to do second series without a teacher??
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| Hi simmi,
Welcome to the forum,
My usual answer would be to progress to the next series at your teacher's advice and under their instruction. Considering your circumstances though and the fact that you have a steady home practise then I would say yes. Buy yourself a copy of BKS Iyengar's Light on Yoga, as all the asana are described in there.
I'm not sure that I follow your teacher's logic though. Maybe I misunderstood, but if he is unwilling to teach the second series due to certification reasons, why is he then teaching the first series? Does he know the second series?
This is what David Swenson says about progressing to the next series:
"First Series is the springboard into the other series. When I first learned they would have us do all of first and then add second until you could do both. Once you were there you would then practice one or the other. The other approach that seems more popular and civilized is to do all of first and then add second onto that. Once the student is doing all first and second up to Supta Vajrasana the second series is then entered after the boat until all of second is completed then one or the other is practiced independently. Third can be taught in the same way as moving from first into second but instead of from first to second you would move from first to third having substituted third in the place of second. You could also use second as the springboard into third in the same way as first was used to enter second".
Jonathon
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| Hi Jonnie,
Thanks for the quick reply. My teacher has been to Mysore several times but is still working on his authorization. I have never asked him if he knows second series, but I have always assumed that he does. He just feels that he doesn’t have the experience to teach second series…
However I have a lot of respect and trust in my teacher’s abilities. It’s a shame, but I reckon I can always ask him for tips outside class..and maybe in a forum like this;)
Thank you for your input, I think I will go ahead and add pasasana then. ;)
Simmi
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| Your welcome.
As I'm sure you already know, the second series is predominantly back bends. David Swenson's book breaks down the series very well and his DVD and practise cards are also very useful.
Jonathon
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| Hi Jonnie.
Yes I have David Swenson's book. I also have Richard Freeman's intermediate series DVD. Anyway yesterday at home, I did some second series asanas. I used to practice lots of the backbends in Sivananda and also some Bikram classes, so actually its not that new to me. Getting up from Laghuvajrasana is still a little difficult, can't really get up! And I also got my feet in kapotasana! hehehe. Couldn't reach the heels though. Supta Vajrasana was a total bomb, had to call out to my husband in the next room to pull me up;) Basically felt like I was flopping around on the floor.
Anyhow I am not too sure I could possible get past all the strength related asanas like Pincha and karandavasana on my own though...My core has never been that strong...Anyway I reckon thats a long way off for me..
So its been a really fun day. I think I will add until Laghu at home until I can get up properly..
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When to progress?
