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| I bound both hands in Marichyasana D today during my practice outside. The first time in about 8 months that I really felt strong in the posture. I touched fingers a few times recently, but it was labor. I've been practing outside during my lunch hour for weeks.
I didn't really know what to expect when I started my practice today. Nothing really stood out, until I got to the marchis I noticed that I was folding further and longer.
Well, when I got to C. I was grabbing the wrist! I knew right there that I was going to be closer in D.
Anyway, mysore (self-practice does work) The sequence does work. The only drawback is that I then had to do navasana... ugh!
Eric
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| nice!! |
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| fantastic. that is the way to keep the spirit which helps further practice. |
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| Thank you both for replying.
I do not have a teacher and this message board is helping me focus on something i love to do.
Eric
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| that's what we're here for 
But Eric, why is it that you don't have a teacher? Availability? or is that your preference?
TampaEric - 2007-03-23 2:19 PMThank you both for replying.I do not have a teacher and this message board is helping me focus on something i love to do.Eric |
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| Well, lots of reasons:
my teacher moved to Colorado last June. She was more Forrest Yoga, but she also taught ashtanga.
My wife and I had a baby (last nov.) so I have to be home more now.
There are only a few ashtanga teachers in town. (myself included)
I try going to our studio (because the classes are free), but I don't enjoy freeform power classes because I'm focusing on ashtanga. And, our studio is mostly Bikram and I don't like the heat and sequence very much.
Sometimes the power classes get hooked on cresent lunge for half the class and I end up in this horrible frame of mind. The flow classes are a little too easy.
And, really being a teacher at the studio makes it hard to practice there. Everyone kinda watches you. The good and bad. I don't like feeling like a show-off and 9 times out of 10 the other teachers makes some comment about my practice.
So, I know what I'm doing, but I don't get adjustments, so it hard. Sometimes, I think this is really good for me and other times, I really miss being led in a class.
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| I've always wondered how it must feel for some teachers to practice with other teachers and students around. My interest in Mysore style has been growing lately which is what caught my eye in your post.
Thanks for sharing!
Eric |
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| I hear you loud and clear, Eric
TampaEric - 2007-03-23 2:58 PMWell, lots of reasons:my teacher moved to Colorado last June. She was more Forrest Yoga, but she also taught ashtanga.My wife and I had a baby (last nov.) so I have to be home more now.There are only a few ashtanga teachers in town. (myself included) I try going to our studio (because the classes are free), but I don't enjoy freeform power classes because I'm focusing on ashtanga. And, our studio is mostly Bikram and I don't like the heat and sequence very much.Sometimes the power classes get hooked on cresent lunge for half the class and I end up in this horrible frame of mind. The flow classes are a little too easy.And, really being a teacher at the studio makes it hard to practice there. Everyone kinda watches you. The good and bad. I don't like feeling like a show-off and 9 times out of 10 the other teachers makes some comment about my practice. So, I know what I'm doing, but I don't get adjustments, so it hard. Sometimes, I think this is really good for me and other times, I really miss being led in a class. |
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| Hi Eric, congrats on your successes of late. It sounds as though you speak of binding in Mari C and D like you used to be able to do it all the time, and then had a set back and were not able to do it for a while... Did you suffer an injury or something that affected your capacity to twist?
I do imagine that practicing as a student in a studio where you are a teacher must be difficult. I attend mysore sessions which are frequently populated by the yoga teachers at my studio. Despite my willful attempts to turn my attention inwards and not watch their practice, I haven't always been able to resist looking at certain things. I find it quite inspiring, actually. My main teacher regularly does his own practice on Fridays (he supervises all the other morning mysore sessions, but lets his son do so on Fridays) and he is particularly entrancing because he is a true master and his practice is stunning to behold. And seeing him practice a pose that he recently tried to assist me with sometimes makes him instruction clearer to me. As for the other teachers, they are also very impressive practitioners, but I have to admit that seeing them having to struggle through certain asanas and showing that they have limitations of their own has helped me learn the importance of being patient with myself and really embrace this practice as a lifelong endeavor that will continue to offer challenges and demand dedicated effort no matter how many years I have practiced. Though I do feel rather bad for looking sometimes, I can say that I never thought of any of them as showing off (in fact, I rather think that it takes a great deal of humility to practice in front of those that they are also charged with teaching) and that practicing alongside them has only given me a deeper sense of respect for them than I had before. I don't know if my telling you that is of an use to you. But if you do long for instruction sometimes, I would think that you could find a place to practice and privately approach the teacher to ask that they not put you on display by commenting on your practice, or having you demonstrate things, or something like that.
Personally, I have just discovered this week that there is definitely something to be said about NOT having a teacher once in a while... I was attending mysore sessions as usual, and although there was a teacher supervising, she is not my regular teacher (who is away for a few weeks) and she does not know my practice... She had not approached me to make any modifications during that session when I got to garba pindasana, a pose that has been causing me a lot of grief. I can get into the pose no problem, it's rolling back that has been the issue. My teacher always hovers around me when I get to that point, because he knows exactly what will happen: on my first roll back, I always, and without fail, topple over and end up trapped there. So he has a good laugh, and comes to my rescue and does the rolling for me. Anyways, this substitute teacher (she's excellent, don't get me wrong - she's certified too and has practiced for over 25 years - but she is less proactive in adjusting and assisting students unless she is familiar with their practice) was tending to another student... I expected that I would get trapped as usual and was rather annoyed with myself that I couldn't do the pose. But I spent a couple minutes thinking about the movement and psyching myself, and when I finally started to roll, it just happened. I rolled around the whole way. It felt like a miracle. I have since been able to replicate it, and on the one rollback when I did topple over, I somehow immediately managed to right myself without help and continue rolling around...
I also wasn't getting much useful assistance from this same teacher in supta kurmasana, as she didn't try to take me deeper into the pose and forcibly cross my legs behind my head. I suspect that she didn't because, again, she doesn't know my practice and so doesn't know that I can comfortably be in that pose even though I can't "put" myself in it independently. So one day I just decided to really try to do it myself and I was almost there when she did come and help me with the last little bit I needed to hook my feet together behind my head. The following day, I got into the full pose without any assistance at all. It was extremely satisfying. I think that I had come to rely on my teacher's help to the point of not really trying my best to do it myself, and his absence made me learn to rely on myself only and I suddenly discovered that I could do it. So being away from my regular teacher taught me something that I might never have learned in his presence...
sp |
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| Good learnings SP.
Jonathon |
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| i wish we here in Jamaica had more Ashtanga presence so that we could benefit from Mysore practice
As it stands, i'll have to travel to the states to sample this
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| Hey Everyone!
I'm back. I was on vacation last week. (not the Florida Keys) but still a very nice vacation!
SP, yes, I have learned some of those lessons too. I guess I miss being adjusted to give me that extra push the most. We do have a senior iyengar teacher and although she doesn't know ashtanga, she knows yoga and I think I will schedule a private with her this week. I will do primary and she will make adjustments on me.
She came to my lead class last week. God bless her. She is probably 70+ years old. She did very well. I kept trying to encourage her to take it easy, but she was fine.
I'm going to start a new thread. I have some news to report!
Eric
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Success!
