Tuesday 6.30p Intro: Week 3 (Mar 17, 2009)

3 new students for March-April session
Focus on leg alignment and actions in standings. Those students who haven’t mastered the arm work of last week, should work on it every day. Next week we will continue to review and consolidate Weeks 2 and 3 before moving on to the inversions of Week 4.

Note new poses for this week are in bold face.

Discussion: Patanjali Yoga Sutras II.46, the definition of asana.
See Tuesday 4.30p MS: Week 3 (Mar 17, 2009) for first part of the discussion.

PYS II.46 Perfection in asana means firmness in body, steadiness in intelligence and benevolence in consciousness.

Sthira-sukham-asanam
Stable - pleasant - posture

Sthira-sukham-asanam: Stable - pleasant - posture
In the first sutra on asana, using only two adjectives, sthira and sukham, Patanjali defines asana. Sthira refers to the body; any shakiness is but an obstacle [described in PYS I.31 in the Tuesday 4.30p MS: Week 1 (Mar 3, 2009) class]. Furthermore, according to B.K.S. Iyengar, shaking in the body causes an unstable mind. Taking into account Patanjali’s overall goal to still and stabilize the mind, B.K.S. Iyengar applies “stable” to the mind as well as the body, calling it “steadiness in intelligence.”

Those practitioners and commentators who relegate asana to only physical practice, are then hard pressed to understand how to interpret sukham. It confers the idea of happiness, comfort, and delight — the antonym of dukham’s sorrow, pain and despair. However, defining asana as “comfortable” can be very misleading. Practice requires effort, energy and enthusiasm to still the mind. A “comfortable” interpretation leaves open the possibility that any lazy practice is acceptable and will bear fruit. How can this lead to samadhi?

From my study of B.K.S. Iyengar’s interpretation, I have concluded that sukham occurs only as a result of practice. Thus, only when the body and mind become stable, does the mind become “pleasant,” or obtain what Iyengar calls “benevolence in consciousness.” This benevolence, or goodwill that comes as a result of perfection of asana, picks up the theme of the mind remaining serene and diffused like a calm lake, the citta prasadanam of PYS I.33.

In the Iyengar method we always start by learning the standing poses to properly stretch the arms and legs to free the spine because the spine receives the action of the limbs. We use three things to put the body into a position that brings peace of mind: the principles of alignment, the ability to discriminate, and effort. And then, amidst the difficulties of practice, every so often we get a glimpse of understanding, a correlation that explains the fruit of our actions: “If I move my leg this way, my back stops hurting and I can breathe more easily. My head feels clearer, less clogged. My brain feels less confused.” The result is poise, denoted by stability and equanimity — the very terms Patanjali used to describe the mastery of asana.

Invocation in Swastikasana

1. Tadasana/Samasthiti

2. Tadasana (Urdhva Baddhanguliyasana)
a. Omitted for time and emphasis.

3. Utkatasana from Urdhva Hastasana
a. To keep the spine erect, as in Tadasana, the more you bend at the hips, the more you must descend the buttocks towards the floor and move the navel back, else the waist will protrude forward, possibly causing back pain and making it difficult to breath.
b. Not stretching from the armpits, and side ribs, straight up, towards the ceiling, will further exacerbate the waist protruding forward. Press the Urdhva Hastasana wrists into an imaginary wall rope to move the navel back and descend the buttocks. The spine receives the action of the limbs.
c. Each part of the body has its own dharma, duty. Pain from compensatory patterns occurs when those duties are renounced and remaining burden is too great to bear on the other parts of the body.

4. Vrksasana
a. Should have taught after Utthita Parsvakonasana to link opening of right hip and inner thigh.
b. Stand in Tadasana, feet together, and press down the inner edges of the feet more to counteract the tendency to not press them down as much as the outer edges.
c. With the back to the wall for stability, place the right sole on the left inner thigh and counteract the tendency to lean to the left by continuing to press down the inner edge of the left foot. Inject the left outer thigh into the bone, and bring the left femur into the socket to further press back against the right sole.
d. Descend the right buttock as in Utkatasana.
e. Next week take the right knee to the wall to both drop the right hip and to open the right inner groin.

5. Utthita Hasta Padasana
a. Teach jumping next week.

6. Parsva Hasta Padasana

7. Virabhadrasana II
a. Swap first prior to Trikonasana to get freedom in hips without the challenge of stiff hamstrings.
b. Turn the right leg out more to bring the right femur more into the socket. Connecting the femur into the socket supports the pelvis, trunk, and spine.
c. Lift the right pelvic rim up, off of the thigh, to bring more freedom to the hip joint when bending the right knee. Keeping that up, then sit the right buttock down.
d. Descend the right outer buttock as in Utkatasana to free the spine. Then, the opposing action. Ascend the torso up, off of the thigh. The spine receives the action of the limbs.
e. Make the left side the stable side, so that the right side becomes more mobile. Extend the left leg towards the left outer heel and restrain the left arm from moving to the right while bending the right knee.

8. Utthita Trikonasana
a. Turn the right leg out more to bring the right femur more into the socket. Connecting the femur into the socket supports the pelvis, trunk, and spine.
b. To straighten the knee, lift both the kneecap and the back thigh up, away from the knee as in Tadasana, to make the knee light. Don’t just collapse into the back knees.

9. Baddha Hasta Uttanasana
a. To straighten the knee, lift both the kneecap and the back thigh up, away from the knee, to make the knee light.

10. Utthita Parsvakonasana
a. Turn the right leg out more to bring the right femur more into the socket. Connecting the femur into the socket supports the pelvis and trunk.
b. Move the right buttock bone in, anteriorly, to prevent the right knee from wandering in anteriorly. Then, from there, turn open the chest.

11. Virabhadrasana I (turning the trunk)
a. From Utthita Hasta Padasana, turn the left foot in from the heel. Hands of the hips, come on the left toes, raise the left heel up, and turn it out more to turn in the left leg, hip and waist. Lower the heel to the floor by stretching the calf.
b. Second iteration: Turn the left inner thigh, and inner calf from the inside out (internal rotation of the limb).
c. With Urdhva Hastasana arms, bend the knee only as much as you can keep the left hip as far forward as the right, as in Parsvottanasana.

12. Parsvottanasana (hands on bricks, concave back)
a. Omitted for time. Do next week.

13. Prasarita Padottanasana (hands on bricks, concave back)
a. Prasarita = spread. Spread the inner knees apart, away from each other to press the outer heels down into the floor.

14. Chair Sarvangasana
a. Omitted for lack of time.

15. Savasana
a. Trifold blanket beneath head. Release the muscles and allow the mind to penetrate inwards towards the vastness of the soul.