Tuesday 6.30p Intro — Week 34 (October 20, 2009)

Focus: Review and consolidate standings from Week 14 syllabus, with an emphasis on Virabhadrasana III, hip and shoulder blade actions. Keep the brain cells passive, quiet, and innocent while “intelligizing” the body to purge its tamasic ignorance, as taught by Geeta Iyengar in Pune July, 2009.

1. Invocation in Swastikasana
a. “Slow, soft, smooth breath so that the nerve cells do not get aggravated. The brain cells remain passive. But, at the same time, gradually lift the body with your breath.... As you exhale the breath, make your brain cells quiet, silent, and passive. Take your palms at the bottom of the sternum and lift your chest upward. Shoulders roll back.

b. “Connect the dorsal spine to the frontal chest. Do not bring the head forward. Recede your frontal face towards the back of the head....

c. “Throat passive, tongue passive.... Release your lower lip down so that your tongue doesn’t touch the upper palate. This is the beginning of dhyana [meditation].... Relax the cheeks. Relax the upper eyelids downward. Relax the forehead from the top to the bottom, downward. Relax the upper lip towards the lower lip. Do not clench the teeth.

d. “The fluctuation of the eyes happens because your eyes are projecting outward. Keep your eyes going deeper inside. Then you find you are quiet. Even if my words are jarring to your ears, you should not get disturbed. So look within. As you look within, the face, the eyes, everything goes towards the back of the head.

e. “To get the feeling of prayerfulness, your body has to be in a receptive state first, with the ascending action.... And then the mind has to recede from the brain, downward, so that there is a receptivity. It is not only verbally praying. Correct yourself from the dorsal [spine] towards the frontal chest. Then you remain in “you.” If the dorsal goes backward, then you don’t remain in “you.” If you don’t remain in “you,” prayers are useless.

f. “Wherever the body collapses, lift it upward with the inhalation breath.... A slow, soft inhalation. When a normal inhalation doesn’t help raise up the body, ascend your trunk with a deeper inhalation, but don’t allow it to sink with the deep exhalation. A slow deep exhalation. Find out what that mental state is in that position.

g. “Relax your face. Let it become absolutely innocent. But your body should not become innocent because the body is already dull, slow, and, therefore, ignorant [tamasic].... Therefore it has to be intelligized. But the head, brain and face always think that they are absolutely intelligent. So eliminate the feeling in the brain that you [know something]. Relax the brain and become humble. The two qualities must be established in your body and in your brain. Don’t let your ego tell you that you know everything perfectly. Make the brain innocent. But the body cannot be in a state of ignorance. Rather, it has to be intelligized. Let go of the tamasic guna [that is heavy and dull]....

h. “Remain silent for a while. Before you start the prayers, absolutely silent, quiet. And this position has to be held until your prayers end. ”
[Geeta Iyengar, 7-4-09]

2. Tadasana/Samasthiti
a. Paschima Baddhanguliyasana arms to take the shoulder blades down towards the tail bone and lift the sternum chest.
b. Keep the head back in all poses. Make it light and the brain innocent.

3. Tadasana - Urdhva Hastasana - Uttanasana (10 X)
a. Fast to coordinate breath and movement.

4. Utthita Trikonasana (2 X)
a. Take the shoulder blades down towards the tail bone and lift the sternum chest to lighten the head.

5. Utthita Parsvakonasana
a. Left arm vertical: take the shoulder blades down towards the tail bone and lift the sternum chest.
b. Left arm overhead: extend the outer edge of the shoulder blade towards the hand.
c. Lay right side chest on a blanket on the right frontal thigh. Then repeat with the blanket removed. Pin the outer right hip to prevent lower back catch.

6. Ardha Chandrasana
a. Right outer shin, outer thigh, and outer hip in to keep the inner edge of the right foot down. Inserted prior to Virabhadrasana to prepare for Virabhadrasana III.

7. Parsvottanasana
a. Added for emphasis. Concave: pull the fingertips on the mat to take the shoulder blades towards the tail bone and lift the sternum chest. To get this shoulder action it is OK to bend the right knee a little if this is the first time the hands have not been on bricks.
b. Lift the outer right leg up to the right hip, as in Trikonasana and Ardha Chandrasana. Then take the right outer shin, outer thigh, and outer hip in to keep the inner edge of the right foot down and level the hips, as in Parsvottanasana. Inserted prior to Virabhadrasana I to prepare for Virabhadrasana III.
c. Fingertips pull on flat bricks to both take the shoulder blades towards the tail bone and straighten the knee. (2X)
d. Belt the greater trochanters in to extend the hamstrings as in Parsvottanasana on Tuesday 6.30p Intro — Week 32 (October 6, 2009).

8. Virabhadrasana I
a. Extend the outer edges of the shoulder blades up ward, towards the hands.
b. Push the palms into imaginary hands to lift the pubic plate and the sternum chest.
c. With the left heel firmly down, lift up from the back of the knee to the buttock bone and tuck the left buttock over the buttock crease, as in Virabhadrasana I on Tuesday 6.30p Intro — Week 8 (April 21, 2009).

9. Virabhadrasana II
a. Use the legs to lift the pelvis and then lift the pubic plate and the sternum chest.

10. Virabhadrasana III
a. In Tadasana press down the inner heels and extend through the inner legs.
b. Hands on floor, lift the left leg up and down, coordinating the movement with the breath. Don’t bend the left leg. Extend through the left inner heel, as in Tadasana.
c. Lift the outer right leg up to the right hip, as in Trikonasana and Parsvottanasana. Then take the right outer shin, outer thigh, and outer hip in to keep the inner edge of the right foot down and level the hips, as in Parsvottanasana. Centralize the body to stay within the “you.”

11. Parivrtta Trikonasana
a. Pin the hips to bring the body to the midline

12. Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
a. Omitted for time.

13. Prasarita Padottanasana
a. Pin the outer hips and lift the legs. Concave: pull the fingertips on the mat to take the shoulder blades towards the tail bone and lift the sternum chest.
b. Head down on floor or brick, lift the shoulder and trapezius to prevent shrugging. Head passive, innocent, and hanging down.

14. Uttanasana
a. Baddha Hasta arms
b. Concave
c. Extended, holding ankles
d. Hands on floor

15. Adho Mukha Svanasana
a. Omitted for time.

16. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana
a. Omitted for time and emphasis.

17. Paripurna Navasana
a. Omitted for time and emphasis.

18. Virasana (Parvatasana arms)
a. Omitted for time and emphasis.

19. Sitting poses
a. Omitted for time and emphasis.

20. Salamba Sirsasana I
a. Omitted for time.

21. Sarvangasana Cycle
a. Salamba Sarvangasana I
Hands lower on the back to ascend the back trunk. “Lift the frontal trunk to keep it parallel to the back trunk.... When you stay in the pose quietly, some new intelligence comes and says, ‘Yes, I can proceed further.’”
Don’t allow your chest to mistakenly go back. Look at the ascending front body, feet slightly back, and lift the chest.

b. Ekapada Sarvangasana
Foot on chair seat. Don’t allow the right buttock to go backward. Buttock into the body, going with the right leg as it descends. [Geeta Iyengar, 7-20-09]

c. Halasana
Feet on chair seat.

d. Chair Karnapidasana
Omitted for time.

22. Supta Padangusthasana I
a. Omitted for time.

23. Forward Extensions
a. Omitted for time.
Dandasana
Urdhva Hasta Dandasana
Padangusthasana Dandasana
Paschimottanasana
Janu Sirsasana
Paschimottanasana

24. Savasana (5 min)
“Exhale in such a way that the brain cells become passive inside. That lightness has to come. So exhalation has to come in such a way that it brings lightness to the brain. Lightness to the head. You can’t have everything in the head and then exhale. Exhale in such a way that the head is emptied.... Go on emptying.

“While doing Savasana, it is the same innocent mind. Quiet, innocent mind. So go on emptying the brain cells. Go on emptying the head from inside. Go on emptying the senses of perception. Feel as though, “I haven’t done anything.” Don’t be so proud that you’ve done something. Let that pride fall. So letting go process not just of the muscles and bones, etc.... Having that innocence, retain it inside.” [Geeta Iyengar, 7-20-09]