Friday 6:00a Asana 1: Week 1 (March 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

Present analogy of taping and mudding drywall. The first coat of mud is like your first pose and perhaps even your first attempt at each pose: you probably won’t get it “right”, and the more you over-work or over-think it, the more of a mess you make or the more you waste your energy (brahmacharya). Apply what you know and whatever techniques you have for a short go, then “let the mud dry”. Come out of the pose, go again. Assess, sand your rough edges, and refine your actions.

1. Rope 1 & 2
See Geeta Iyengar’s “Yoga Gem for Women” for photos & explanations;

2. Utthita Trikonasana

3. Virabhadrasana 2

4. Utthita Parsvakonasana

5. Trikonasana
Into…

6. Parsvakonasana

7. Vrksasana

8. Trikonasana
Into…

9. Ardha Chandrasana
Into…

10. Parsvottanasana

11. Trikonasana
Into…

12. Ardha Chandrasana

13. Vrksasana

14. Prasarita Padottanasana
Into…

15. Parsvottanasana
Buttocks down to come up, keep legs firm;

16. Adho Mukha Svanasana
@ wall;
Hands bisected on edges of bricks;
2nd time, no bricks;

17. Sirsasana
Brick “house” @ wall for upper back;
“Roller skate wheels” that spin opposite each other = mound of the big toe and the inner heel, to sharpen the inner leg;

18. Halasana
Into…

19. Salamba Sarvangasana
No chair for Halasana;
“Roller skates”;

20. Eka Pada Sarvangasana

21. Virasana in Sarvangasana

22. Savasana