Monday 9:30a Intro: Week 5 (June 1, 2009)

No new students. Introduction of Salamba Sarvangasana. Focus of class: the three gunas, rajas, tamas and sattva. Charging the legs and arms (rajas) while maintaining a firm foundation in the feet (tamas).

Poses were chosen at random (plus others added in to make the sequence more logical) from the list of poses on the Teacher In Training syllabus for Assessment. The three standing poses, one seated and two inversions are indicated by *.

1. Brick Tadasana
Awaken the inner thighs @ inner upper knee;

2. Utthita Trikonasana
Bring the outer hip into the socket;
Prepare for Ardha Chandrasana;

3. * Virabhadrasana 2
2x;
Charge the back arm and lift the back thigh from where brick was in Tadasana to ground the pose;
Lift from the pubic plate to make the pose lighter;

4. * Ardha Chandrasana
Ardha = half, Chandra = moon
2x;
Make the standing foot tamasic;
Same hip action as in Trikonasana;
2nd time @ wall for support;

5. * Uttanasana
Ut = intensely, Tana = to stretch
2x;
Perform Tadasana with strong lift in thighs;
Extend forward taking hands to bricks;
Reach chest forward, head up & shoulder blades into back body;
To prevent throwing the knees back, bend a little and work on the lift of the knees, fronts and backs;

6. * Virasana
Vir = virile / heroic
Seated on center of shins, buttocks between heels on a brick;
Do not curl toes in towards each other;
When challenging to sit on shins because of cramping in feet, place blankets under shins so ankles can hang over edge;
Parvatasana (Parvata = mountain) arms, 2x : clasp fingers, extend arms forward & then up with straight elbows; sit buttock bones down as arms go up;

7. * Halasana
Hala = plough
Spend time getting on top of the shoulders, clasping hands under buttocks;
Press down upper arms to lift up;
Legs in Tadasana, inner knees up towards ceiling;

8. * Salamba Sarvangasana
Salamba = with support, Sarvanga = entire body
From Halasana, extend one leg at a time;

9. Savasana