I've tended to have a negative view of Instagram or rather how it is often employed to promote and maintain celebrity yoga practitioners status through the use of advanced asana and 'words of advice or wisdom'. And of course if you're on fb with most of your friends and acquaintances being practitioners then you're going to be exposed to endless photos of yoga postures.
from my previous post...
In the blogosphere/cybershala days the only photos of interest were those working towards an asana or the first time we actually got into it, after that there wasn't any reason to take another, kapo perhaps, dwi pada sirsasana when we were working on getting a little deeper to a more comfortable place but otherwise what was the point, no Instagram in those days.
It's one thing to share photos and videos with friends and the community of working towards an asana quite another perhaps to post the same asana in some fancy location, with questionable motives. OK the occasional one perhaps can be fun but making a habit or business out of it is rather depressing.
But I'm coming around to Instagram. I was sent a link to a video a few weeks back that I thought I needed an account to view. It seemed to take over my phone and contacts so I quickly uninstalled the app. On receiving mail this week with some nice photos from friends accounts I decided to tentatively have another crack at it.
And I'm hooked, I've wanted somewhere to quickly post and share some photos of living in Japan, the weird and quirky as well as the beautiful, Instagram is ideal, much more convenient than a blog or even fb.
And then it struck me.....
If advanced asana can be endlessly promoted through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and the proficiency we can explore there, in postures that most can approach.
I had thought about making my previous post on 9 years of home practice my last (not for the first time) but perhaps this might make a nice direction for the blog, exploring Primary asana and perhaps some more basic Intermediate series/group asana with more proficiency. Not so much getting lost in technique and alignment, which can be yet more distraction but exploring the possibilities of the breath ( it may well be that the breath improves the alignment which in improves the breath).
And perhaps to look again at the so called Ashtanga Rishi approach project, less asana with longer stays but this time with longer, slower breathing and Kumbhaka just as Krishnamacharya presented in mysore in the1930s when pattabhi Jois was his student.
Advanced asana aren't intrinsically bad, it depends on our motives and intentions in practicing them, I had as much Asana madness as anyone.
from my previous post....
These (advanced ) asana were fun to explore over a period of three to four year but at some point it may feel time to put the toys away and look for something more. Some manage to do both of course, play/explore/research the more intricate and physically demanding asana ( and Krishnamacharya hoped a few would) and still go deeper into the practice. Personally I just wanted to breathe more slowly, which meant less asana and less asana and at my age meant less of the intermediate and advanced asana.
On Instagram then, along with photos of Japan, a Proficient Primary Project..... do I need a hashtag?
Here's the Badda Konasana Instagram post from earlier today.
If we can promote advanced asana through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and work on proficiency there. Ramaswami and his teacher Krishnamacharya suggest timing how long we stayed in a posture, then repeat it staying the same length of time but taking only half the number of breaths.
Here I'm working on 8-10 second inhalation, equal exhalation and a 2-5 second kumbhaka (breath retention, here retaining the breath out) at the end of the exhalation. Staying in that posture for five to ten minutes. Padmasana is a counter posture and feels much more comfortable following a longer baddha konasana. For this reason I tend to shift it to the end of my practice just before my Pranayama and Sit.
If you don't want to explore such long stays in regular practice this makes a nice pre-Sit evening practice. Five minutes each side in Maha mudra (janu sirsasana A without folding forward and long slow inhalations and exhalations perhaps with jalandhara banndha and kumbhaka 5-10 seconds after the inhalation), then baddha konasana, Siddhasana for some Nadi Shodhana pranayama perhaps and then padmasana (or other preferred meditation posture) for your Sit.
See this earlier post http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2015/07/pattabhi-jois-recommend-up-to-fifty.html replicated below.
'Pattabhi Jois recommended up to fifty breaths in baddha konasana' - Kino Macgregor
Krishnamacharya often recommended long stays in certain postures, perhaps he passed this along to Pattabhi Jois, whose son Manju mentions that his father would often stay for a long time in some postures. Baddha Konasan may well have been one of these long stays as Pattabhi Jois recommended staying in the posture for up to fifty breaths.
See also the Ashtanga Rishi Series
'Then, once one has mastered all of the asanas, one can practice "the rishi series", the most advanced practice. One does the 10 postures that one intuits will be the most beneficial and appropriate for that day, holding each posture for up to 50 comfortable breaths'. David Williams loosely quoting Pattabhi Jois.
I tend to rotate postures in my practice that I stay in for an extended period, given the time I'd stay ten minutes or more in Baddha Konasana every practice. I often bring it into my later Pranayama prep. practice which tends to consist of a sun salutation, maha mudra, baddha konasana, padmasana, sidhasana kapalabhati, japa nadisodhana pranayama and a sit.
Here I'm following Simon Borg-Olivier's tips, suggestions and recommendations ( I'm currently following his YogaSynergy Fundamentals online course), entering the posture as hands free as possible. I find nutating the tailbone in helps as well as thinking move the sit bones towards the feet and bring the belly button forward. I'm also practicing abdominal breathing. These are all tips from Simon that I've been exploring in this posture.
We still have Krishnamacharya count to and from the posture but once there we hit the pause button, explore the vinyasas, the longer stay, here Krishnamacharya's later hand and arm variations (hasta vinyasas that Ramaswami introduced me to on his TT) as well as the kumbhaka's t(he breath retentions after inhalationa and/or exhalation and udiyana kriya that Krishnamacharya writes of in his early Mysore text Yoga Makaranda). In the later text formally known as Salutations to the teacher, the eternal one, that AG Mohan has rearranged and referred to as Yoga Makaranda Part II Krishnamacharya mentions padmasana as being a pratkriya, a counter posture, to baddha konasana.
A series of posts exploring the the 'Ashtanga Rishi Series' mentioned at the end of Nancy Gilgoff's Article (see link below) and outlined in a reply by David Willams on his forum below ( the headings in block capitals are mine.
from my previous post...
In the blogosphere/cybershala days the only photos of interest were those working towards an asana or the first time we actually got into it, after that there wasn't any reason to take another, kapo perhaps, dwi pada sirsasana when we were working on getting a little deeper to a more comfortable place but otherwise what was the point, no Instagram in those days.
It's one thing to share photos and videos with friends and the community of working towards an asana quite another perhaps to post the same asana in some fancy location, with questionable motives. OK the occasional one perhaps can be fun but making a habit or business out of it is rather depressing.
But I'm coming around to Instagram. I was sent a link to a video a few weeks back that I thought I needed an account to view. It seemed to take over my phone and contacts so I quickly uninstalled the app. On receiving mail this week with some nice photos from friends accounts I decided to tentatively have another crack at it.
And I'm hooked, I've wanted somewhere to quickly post and share some photos of living in Japan, the weird and quirky as well as the beautiful, Instagram is ideal, much more convenient than a blog or even fb.
 |
| My instagram account https://www.instagram.com/grimmly2016/ |
And then it struck me.....
If advanced asana can be endlessly promoted through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and the proficiency we can explore there, in postures that most can approach.
I had thought about making my previous post on 9 years of home practice my last (not for the first time) but perhaps this might make a nice direction for the blog, exploring Primary asana and perhaps some more basic Intermediate series/group asana with more proficiency. Not so much getting lost in technique and alignment, which can be yet more distraction but exploring the possibilities of the breath ( it may well be that the breath improves the alignment which in improves the breath).
And perhaps to look again at the so called Ashtanga Rishi approach project, less asana with longer stays but this time with longer, slower breathing and Kumbhaka just as Krishnamacharya presented in mysore in the1930s when pattabhi Jois was his student.
Advanced asana aren't intrinsically bad, it depends on our motives and intentions in practicing them, I had as much Asana madness as anyone.
from my previous post....
These (advanced ) asana were fun to explore over a period of three to four year but at some point it may feel time to put the toys away and look for something more. Some manage to do both of course, play/explore/research the more intricate and physically demanding asana ( and Krishnamacharya hoped a few would) and still go deeper into the practice. Personally I just wanted to breathe more slowly, which meant less asana and less asana and at my age meant less of the intermediate and advanced asana.
On Instagram then, along with photos of Japan, a Proficient Primary Project..... do I need a hashtag?
#proficientprimaryproject
Update: In response to a question: Yes, please do. Feel free to employ the hashtag in your own proficient primary photos/videos
Here's the Badda Konasana Instagram post from earlier today.
If we can promote advanced asana through Instagram then perhaps we can also promote Primary asana and work on proficiency there. Ramaswami and his teacher Krishnamacharya suggest timing how long we stayed in a posture, then repeat it staying the same length of time but taking only half the number of breaths.
Here I'm working on 8-10 second inhalation, equal exhalation and a 2-5 second kumbhaka (breath retention, here retaining the breath out) at the end of the exhalation. Staying in that posture for five to ten minutes. Padmasana is a counter posture and feels much more comfortable following a longer baddha konasana. For this reason I tend to shift it to the end of my practice just before my Pranayama and Sit.
If you don't want to explore such long stays in regular practice this makes a nice pre-Sit evening practice. Five minutes each side in Maha mudra (janu sirsasana A without folding forward and long slow inhalations and exhalations perhaps with jalandhara banndha and kumbhaka 5-10 seconds after the inhalation), then baddha konasana, Siddhasana for some Nadi Shodhana pranayama perhaps and then padmasana (or other preferred meditation posture) for your Sit.
*
See this earlier post http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2015/07/pattabhi-jois-recommend-up-to-fifty.html replicated below.
'Pattabhi Jois recommended up to fifty breaths in baddha konasana' - Kino Macgregor
"My teacher (Pattabhi Jois) would recommend that students who felt very tight in their hips hold this pose for up to fifty breaths". Kino Macgregor's - The power of Ashtanga yoga.
 |
| hasta vinyasa options during a long stay in Baddha Konasana |
Krishnamacharya often recommended long stays in certain postures, perhaps he passed this along to Pattabhi Jois, whose son Manju mentions that his father would often stay for a long time in some postures. Baddha Konasan may well have been one of these long stays as Pattabhi Jois recommended staying in the posture for up to fifty breaths.
See also the Ashtanga Rishi Series
'Then, once one has mastered all of the asanas, one can practice "the rishi series", the most advanced practice. One does the 10 postures that one intuits will be the most beneficial and appropriate for that day, holding each posture for up to 50 comfortable breaths'. David Williams loosely quoting Pattabhi Jois.
I tend to rotate postures in my practice that I stay in for an extended period, given the time I'd stay ten minutes or more in Baddha Konasana every practice. I often bring it into my later Pranayama prep. practice which tends to consist of a sun salutation, maha mudra, baddha konasana, padmasana, sidhasana kapalabhati, japa nadisodhana pranayama and a sit.
 |
| This vinyasa is good for the kidneys supposedly Simon talks about coming into the posture (ideally almost any posture) hands free and only as far as is comfortable. spend some time there and allow the posture to come along in it's own time which could take years. Your knees may never touch the floor, which is perfectly fine, they don't have to for the posture to count as the asana. Richard Freeman would suggest you're one of the lucky ones in that you get to feel the effects of the posture at an earlier point. |
Here I'm following Simon Borg-Olivier's tips, suggestions and recommendations ( I'm currently following his YogaSynergy Fundamentals online course), entering the posture as hands free as possible. I find nutating the tailbone in helps as well as thinking move the sit bones towards the feet and bring the belly button forward. I'm also practicing abdominal breathing. These are all tips from Simon that I've been exploring in this posture.
 |
| Pṛṣṭa Añjali - hands in reverse prayer Really bugging me that I'm tilted slightly to the side |
We still have Krishnamacharya count to and from the posture but once there we hit the pause button, explore the vinyasas, the longer stay, here Krishnamacharya's later hand and arm variations (hasta vinyasas that Ramaswami introduced me to on his TT) as well as the kumbhaka's t(he breath retentions after inhalationa and/or exhalation and udiyana kriya that Krishnamacharya writes of in his early Mysore text Yoga Makaranda). In the later text formally known as Salutations to the teacher, the eternal one, that AG Mohan has rearranged and referred to as Yoga Makaranda Part II Krishnamacharya mentions padmasana as being a pratkriya, a counter posture, to baddha konasana.
The video below is ten minutes long, at times it looks like it's frozen or come to the end, unfortunately there are too many shadows to show up what's happening with the abdomen, the uddiyana bandha kriya indicating the kumbhakas.
Appendix
Krishnamacharya's baddha konasana instructions, Yoga Makaranda and Yogasanagalu
Baddhakonasana
This has 15 vinyasas. The 8th vinyasa is the asana sthiti. The 1st to the 6th vinyasas are like the 1st till the 6th vinyasas for pascimottanasana. In the 7th vinyasa, just like the 7th vinyasa for pascimottanasana, keep the hands down and bring the legs forward in uthpluthi. But instead of straightening them, fold the legs and place them down on the ground. Folding them means that the heel of the right foot is pasted against the base of the right thigh and the heel of the left foot is pasted against the base of the left thigh. When the legs are folded in this manner, the soles of the feet will be facing each other. Hold the sole of the left foot firmly with the left hand and hold the right sole firmly with the right hand. Clasping the soles together firmly, do recaka kumbhaka, lower the head and place it on the floor in front of the feet. After practising this properly, press the head against the top of the soles of the feet. While keeping the head either on the floor or on the soles of the feet, make sure that the seat of the body does not rise up from the floor and remains stuck to the floor. This sthiti is baddhakonasana. After this, from the 8th until the 15th vinyasas, practise as in upavishtakonasana and then return to samasthiti.
Benefit: Coughing, urinary diseases (constant dripping of urine, burning urine), genital discharges, collapsing of the navel inward — such diseases will be cured.
If women practise this especially during menstruation, it will cure all men- strual diseases and will clean the uterus. It will be very helpful for women who wish to conceive.
*
BELOW:Later pictures added to the 3rd (1970s) edition of Yogasanagalu (originally published in Mysore in 1941).
Earlier long stay video
I've explored fifty breaths, also twenty-five long slow ones for the Rishi series of posts, this time ten slow breaths with recheka Kumbhaka ( retaining breath after exhalation) with deep uddiyana. I added Gomukhasana as a counter, here holding the bottom knee rather than the top.
Krishnamacharya writes about exploring the breath this way. See blog post,http://tinyurl.com/mqbw2kf
*
Ashtanga Rishi Approach
I'll be starting each of these posts with this same introduction/reminder of the the context.
'Originally there were five series: Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A, Advanced B, and the fifth was the “rishi” series'.
Ashtanga Rishi Approach
'...Doing a practice of 10 postures for up to 50 breaths is a method of preparing for "advanced series" after one has learned 1st and 2nd. It can be done once or twice a week. One does the "salutations" and then starts going thru the series, holding each posture for as long as comfortably possible. Notice which postures could be held for 50 breaths. The next time you practice this way, the postures which you could hold for 50 are omitted and new ones are added at the end. One gradually works thru the series, dropping and adding asanas, still doing 10 asanas per session. I have gone all the way thru 1st and 2nd this way several times over the years and have found it beneficiall'.
Ashtanga Rishi Series
'Then, once one has mastered all of the asanas, one can practice "the rishi series", the most advanced practice. One does the 10 postures that one intuits will be the most beneficial and appropriate for that day, holding each posture for up to 50 comfortable breaths'.
Ashtanga Rishi Blog post series
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, first day Paschimottanasana to Janu sirsasana A
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, second day Janu Sirsasana B to Navasana
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, third day Bhuja pindasana to badha konasana
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, fourth day Upavishta konasana to Supta bandhasana
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, fifth day Pasasana to Kapotasana
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, sixth day Supta vajrasana to Ardha Matsyendrasana
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, Seventh Day Eka pada sirsasana to Tittibhasana C
Ashtanga Rishi Approach, Eighth day to seven headstands
Rishi series made from asana named after Rishi An alternative take on the Rishi series
UPDATE: 25/03/16 It strikes me that there is a flaw to this project, while exploring the longer stays of fifty breaths in primary and intermediate asana I've tended to stick the regular current rate of breath, a couple of seconds in halation and the same for exhalation. However Krishnamacharya in his 1934 Mysore book Yoga Makaranda (and also Pattabhi Jois in several interviews) stressed the importance of long slow inhalations and exhalations, 10,15 even 20 seconds for each. Krishnamacharya also stressed the employment of Kumbhaka (retaining the breath in or out). Fifty breaths at 10 seconds each for inhalation and exhalation plus a 5 second kumbhaka equals 25 seconds per breath, that's twenty minutes for one asana., three hours and twenty minutes for 10 asana practiced in this manner.
However Pattabhi Jois is quoted as saying "up to 50 breaths", so while we may well chose to stay in one asana for twenty minutes taking fifty long slow breaths we might also choose to stay for twenty-five slow breath bringing the practice of 10 asana well under two hours.
A new Rishi project is proposed, twenty to twenty five breaths (10 second inhalation, 10 second exhalation, 5 second kumbhaka), in 10 postures.
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2016/03/instagram-promoting-proficiency-of.html*
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