Friday 6:00a Asana 1: Week 6 (Feb 6, 2009)

NOTE: This is an Asana 1 class and not for beginners. All students have been attending classes at Yoga St. Louis for at least one year.

5 students. One student with sinus problems, one with clogged ear from airplane travel.

Class discussion from BKS Iyengar talking about asana (“Devotion: An Interview With Guruji” by Linda Di Carlo, Yoga Samachar Vol. 12 No. 2):
“Asanas are like the sun. As the rays of the sun touch the earth evenly if there are no clouds. But in us as sadhakas (a seeker, an aspirant), there are a lot of thick clouds in our intelligence as well as in our mind. … That is why so many asanas are given, to remove the clouds that cover the intelligence and consciousness.”

1.) Tadasana

— Observe, compare, contrast & find where you are “cloudy”, where the intelligence cannot yet penetrate;

2.) Utthita Trikonasana

Move into…

3.) Utthita Parsvakonasana

Move into…

4.) Utthita Trikonasana

Move into…

5.) Utthita Parsvakonasana

6.) Tadasana

— Reevaluate cloudiness, where you are stuck;

7.) Virabhadrasana 2

Move into…

8.) Utthita Parsvakonasana

Move into…

9.) Utthita Trikonasana

Move into…

10.) Utthita Parsvakonasana

Move into…

11.) Ardha Chandrasana

Move into…

12.) Parsvottanasana

— No bricks, hands on floor;

13.) Uttanasana

14.) Tadasana

15.) Paschima Baddha Hastasana
Paschima = West, back side of body

— Hold elbows, upper arms belted;

16.) Utthita Trikonasana

— With arms belted;

17.) Gomukhasana (2x) arms only
Go = cow, Mukha = face

18.) Virabhadrasana 1

19.) Virbhadrasana 3 (3x)

— First time, middle of room;

— Second & third times at wall, arms/hands supported in rope holes;

— Extend through back heel;

20.) Uttanasana

21.) Adho Mukha Svanasana (3x)

— First time, palms turned out & bisected on edge of bricks; work on not dumping into wrists, press into mounds of fingers to open shoulders;

— Second time, same bricks at hands, add brick between upper thighs; compare how different from first dog pose – lighter on hands?;

— Third time, no bricks;

22.) Halasana

23.) Salamba Sarvangasana

24.) Baddha Konasana in Sarvangasana

— Feet together, knees apart to move tailbone up; rejoin legs;

25.) Ekapada Sarvangasana

26.) Halasana

27.) Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

28.) Savasana