Thursday 9.30a Asana I — Week 30 (September 24, 2009)

Focus: Study of embodiment through body - mind - breath taught by Prashant Iyengar in Pune July, 2009.

Discussion: Body - mind - breath
See [Monday 6.30p Asana I — Week 35 (September 21, 2009)]

By the body for the body
By the body for the mind
By the body for the breath, etc.


1. Invocation in Swastikasana
a. By the body for the body: Reinforce the spine with the paraspinal muscles... back ribs, shoulder blades, latissimus dorsi.
b. By the body for the body: Reinforce the spine by lifting the inner buttock bones and pelvic floor. It removes the heaviness. Navel back.
c. By the breath for the body: apanic cycles with mulabandha and uddiyana kriya to reinforce the spine at the root.
d. By the breath for the mind: uddiyana and udanic kriya quiet the mind and take it inwards.

2. Upavistha Konasana
a. mulabandha and uddiyana kriya

3. Parsva Upavistha Konasana
a. By the mind for the body: When stiff, the willpower gives up first.
b. By the breath for the body: Don’t hold your breath. Fear of pain makes you hold the breath, which makes you stiffer.
c. By the breath for the mind: Coordinate the length of the exhalation to match the amount of time it takes the hand to reach and hold the foot. To relieve the fear, reach and hold more quickly.
d. By the breath for the body: Turn more by adding mulabandha and uddiyana kriya .
e. By the breath for the body: At the termination of exhalation, there is a slight bahya, pause. Extend into that vastness. It brings space in the body as well as the mind.
f. By the body for the mind: When you learn from prakrti there is less struggle; the mind becomes more sattvic.

4. Baddha Konasana
a. Reinforce the spine by lifting the inner buttock bones and pelvic floor.

5. Padangusthasana Dandasana
a. By the body for the body: Outer ankles extend back towards outer hips and then pin the hips in to relieve the lower back and bring length to the spine. Move the femur towards the back thigh and press the heels down to free the spine.
b. By the body for the body: Holding the big toes, push them, with the inner heels, slightly away from you to pull the upper back into concavity.
c. By the breath for the body: At the termination of exhalation, pull the upper back into more concavity. Extend into that vastness.
By the breath for the mind: Then, because there is no struggle, the mind becomes serene. It is transformed from parinama citta to divya citta. Until that point there is an aggressiveness in the pose and the mind and body remain stiff.

6. Adho Mukha Svanasana
a. By the body for the body: Pin the hips and outer deltoids in. This increases strength and elongation.
b. By the body for the mind: When you learn from prakrti there is less struggle; the mind becomes more sattvic.
c. By the body for the breath: It is easier to breath. “Find out if the shoulder blade can contribute, if the sternum can contribute, if the floating ribs can contribute... Find out how any part can contribute... to improve [the mind’s] willingness to exercise..., the power to exercise. Exhalative kriya. Retentive kriya. Inhalative kriya. It’s not just exhaling, inhaling, or retaining. Understand the kriyas there. Understand that you are commencing the study of embodiment.”
d. At the termination of exhalation, there is a slight bahya pause. Extend into that vastness.

7. Sarvangasana Cycle
a. Salamba Sarvangasana

b. Halasana