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| Hey all,
I know this is a complete n00b question, but I've been searching for an answer everywhere, and haven't found one.
I'm a video-taught ashtanga yogi. I practice sometimes with David Swenson's first series video, sometimes without. I live in the middle of nowhere, in Indonesia, so that's what I've got to work with at the moment. On the whole, things are progressing well. I have only one problem:
My mat is (I assume) standard length, but I can't seem to stay on it when doing vinyasas. Either I'm too far forward, and my jump-thru to sit causes my feet to end up way off the front of the mat, or the reverse--I'm too far back and they go off the back of the mat. My current method from down-dog to scoot my hands back to the middle of the mat, since my feet are right at the back. It sort of interrupts my flow though, and I'm sure it's not the correct way.
Is my down-dog too wide? Is my mat too short? I've watched heaps of videos, and it seems like the teachers are staying on their mats. What am I missing? |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Uppsala, Sweden | This happens to all of us, with standard length mats and normal length bodies. Most people I think eventually don't care if their feet sometimes land in front of or behind the mat, as long as the floor is not too uncomfortable or slippery. As long as my butt, knees and head are within the boarders of the mat, I don't move around too much to correct it. This means, that my feet are in front of the mat when I sit down.
Those teachers either have extra-long mats, or they are shorter than average practitioners. Or, as I have observed, they actually scoot around a bit and only just stay within the limits of the mat, and sometimes land outside of it. And some of them probably are midgets, or not very tall.
If you are a very tall person, you might want to look for the extra-long mat alternative. |
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| Haha thanks, that's just what I needed to know 
Unfortunately, here in Indonesia (and most of Asia, as I have observed) every floor is made of bathroom tile, so it's pretty difficult to find a non-slip surface, hence the need to stay as much on the mat as possible. Anyway, I'll scoot if I need to Thanks for your help! Since I've never actually seen a real-life person doing this, other than on videos, it's good to get advice from real humans. |
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Regular
Posts: 86
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | I prefer shorter mats.
Whichever direction I am facing (towards the center of room or away), I do seated poses with heels just off the edge of the mat. Doing the jumpbacks from dandasa (well, dandasana-lolasana), insuring heels are barely off edge of mat, should help.
Edited by yogabear 2010-04-18 7:45 AM
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| Yes, there is alot of scooting in Ashtanga if you are using a mat. No way to get around it. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
There's no way to stay on the mat at all times in Ashtanga. For seated stuff, you can expect most of the leg below the knee to be on the floor, and for chakrasana you will have the feet way behind the end of the mat. It doesn't matter that much for the seat stuff, since your palms are still in more or less the right place for a jump back, but for chakrasana you will have to leap or walk to get your hands in the right place.
One solution that I have seen is to use two mats, overlaid slightly, so that you have more that 3 metres of mat surface to work with. This is probably best with thinner rubber mats.
... bg
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| Mats as we know them only came into existence in the early to mid 1980's. Yoga asana practice, by any definition, is older than that. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
And thus free of the limited geometrical constraint, which as we all know, doesn't work for many poses.
Have any of you noticed that some schools/styles of yoga have modified asanas and made sequences that are better suited to mat-to-mat practice in crowded rooms. Moving arms from hips (tadasana) to overhead (hastasana) is a great example: some teach this with hands moving in an arc in front of the body, and some teach it with hands moving in an arc to the side of the body...and some just take the hand through namaskarasana and overhead.
... bg
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Regular
Posts: 86
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | Going into uttanasana/forward fold, I'm trying to choose between hands out to the side (swan dive) or hands forward like you're diving into a pool. Either way is awkward for some reason. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
I totally prefer hands out to the side, but if I am in a crowded class I will usually do the other to avoid swatting people.
... bg |
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| I use a mysore rug over my rubber mat, and I layer it so that the rug extends out the front of the mat by about a foot or so. When I do seated poses, my heels are on the rug only section out the front. I find that this stops me 'falling' off the end of my mat. Manduka do extra long mats for the taller yogis.
Still haven't figured out how to not chakrasana off the end of the mat though. It's a losing fight methinks :S |
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| Thank you everyone, that really helps! As I have never been to a class before (living in Jakarta just makes it impossible), I appreciate everything I can learn from you guys.
Selinayogini: Where did you get your mysore rug? I'm looking for one, but it looks like I have to get one online, since there's nothing available locally. |
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Member
Posts: 26
| Just a suggestion- if you have the room and you practice alone, there is a circular mat that is 6' in diameter. I am SURE you could stay within the confines of it! :-) |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
Yeah, that's how I use my Mysore rug as well; also use it for sequences that are mainly seated.
..bg |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | The forum has been so thoroughly spammed that I thought I would add that Ashtanga in a Hotel Room is another case where a lot of positional adjustment is needed. Hotels seem to think that filling the room with clutter makes it nicer, so I often find that I have to move the lounge chair, the coffee table, the floor lamp, the table-desk, etc, maybe piling them into a corner so that I have some space to practice. Even then, you have to be careful not to slam your foot into the built in credenza during vinyasas.
The other thing is that hotel carpets can be pretty gross. I have taken to carrying a mat with me just to keep my body away from the carpet, although in a pinch I will use the bath towel. Some folks use the bedcover, but I have found that those can also be disgusting if they are the thick quilted things and have not been regularly dry cleaned.
Anyway, Asthanga practice has served reasonably well for travel - I can jam it in between whenever the meetings end and before the business dinner starts.
... bg
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | just posting so that something other than spam will be on the top of the page... |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Bay Guy - 2011-01-20 1:09 PM
just posting so that something other than spam will be on the top of the page...
same idea... |
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New User
Posts: 1
| Can anyone recommend a good Mysore rug? |
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Jumping off the mat?
