Monday 9:30a Intro: Week 3 (Jan 19, 2009)

4 students – no new students;
1 menstruating, 1 w/ swollen L leg (5-6 weeks); 1 w/ R lower back pain & R frozen shoulder.

Before class discussion on the first two Yamas, Ahimsa (= non-violence / non-harming) & Satya (= truthfulness) and how they relate to yoga practice. Stressed was the importance of being fully aware and attentive in our practice as well as in our everyday lives despite all the worldly things that draw our attention away from our physical and mental selves. If we ignore our pains, whether mental or physical (or both) and/or mask them with drugs, alcohol, TV, work, etc. how are we to figure out how to alleviate them for good? I’m not saying that you should be in pain, but can you detach (Vairagya) long enough to study what is really going on and try to understand the true source of the pain? And if possible, find relief with your yoga practice.

1.) Tadasana / Samasthiti
Tada = mountain, Asana = posture
Sama = same, Sthiti = stable

2.) Urdhva Baddhanguilyasana
Urdhva = upward, Baddha = bound, Guily = fingers

3.) Utthita Trikonasana
Utthita = extended, Tri = three, Kona = angle

— Student stumbled coming out of pose; prompted the questions “why?” and “what part(s) stopped doing the job of supporting?”; student to repeat the pose to try to find out, work on lifting the thighs strongly to ground the feet;

— Abhyasa & Vairagya (practice and detachment) to study pain and/or difficulty, such as stumbling or falling out of a pose;

4.) Utthita Parsvakonasana
Utthita = extended, Parsva = side, Kona = angle

5.) Tadasana

— Brick at lower thigh/just above the knee to “wake up” inner leg & learn the lift;

6.) Utthita Trikonasana

Move into…

7.) Utthita Parsvakonasana

8.) Utkatasana
Utkata = mighty, powerful

— Sacrum & buttocks at the wall; use the wall to lift of pubic plate, keep pelvis level;

— Student with frozen shoulder keep arms down;

9.) Vimanasana
Vimana = flying machine

— Bend front knee slowly so attention stays at the back leg; back heel at wall to press & get extension; keep back leg in Tadasana, inner knee moving towards wall;

— Arms out to sides for balance; lift chest by lifting from pubis;

10.) Virabhadrasana 1 (2x)
Virabhadra = warrior

— 2 students with arms up; 2 with hands on hips (shoulder & menstruating)

11.) Uttanasana
Uttan = extended

— Hands on bricks; buttocks at wall for alignment; “glue” buttock bones to the backs of thighs & lift from pubis;

— Watch/study knees so that they lift (is there Satya/truthfulness? Are they really lifting?);

— Student w/ lower back pain did not do – instead do Adho Mukha Virasana (Adho = downward, Mukha = face, Vira = hero / child’s pose) over bolster support;

12.) Viparita Karani
Viparita = reverse; Karani = process

— Given to rest after work of standings; also for student with swollen L leg

— Student with back pain in seated Gomukasana (Go = cow, Mukha = face) to open hips; then supine belted traction with legs in Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, belt at upper thighs, KD pulling on belt & holding legs at 90 degrees to relieve compression at the lower back;

— Student on menstrual period in Savasana with knees over bolster;

13.) Savasana
Sava = corpse