Vrttis
Yesterday I was at my meeting with my fellow teachers of Black Dog Yoga's Teacher Training. Somewhere in the meeting we were talking about asanas, and a pose named "Prasarita Padottanasana" was mentioned. I was taught by several teachers including Naime Jezzeny and Professor Douglas Brooks that the correct way of pronouncing it is by stressing the second syllable (ie: praSArita) and I heard my fellow teachers saying it in another way. So I corrected them.
!
And as soon as I did- I felt horrible. One of the teachers told me that both ways of saying it are fine, and that was the end of that. Then as I was driving home, it started; my thoughts started to go crazy. I started to feel like shit. I started thinking that they were all probably saying that I was a snob, a rigid person. That who was I to correct them? I started to feel my mind going crazy and kept going deeper and deeper, down the rabbit hole. I got home and one by one I called the three teachers, apologizing. And all three of them, respectively, had no idea what I was talking about. Not one remembered the incident. They didn't care. And all the while I had driven myself crazy...
I started to think about vrttis, which is Sanskrit for "mental mode; fluctuation; activity." It's a word famously used by Patanjali in his second of his Yoga Sutras: "Yoga chitta vrtti nirodah" which translates as "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." The image of the mind turning and turning, revolving like waves, really works for me. It totally feels like that; like an ocean with choppy waves.
In some styles of yoga, namely styles that are influenced by Patanjali's Classical Yoga, people are taught to control their vrttis, to control their body, to control their prana. To stop the thoughts so that you may experience samadhi. In other styles of yoga, like for instance Anusara which is based on tantric philosophy, we are taught that it's not so much controlling, subjugating, forcing the body, the mind, the emotions, but rather embracing what is and continuing to align to a bigger energy. Tantra means "methodology of expansion." So a more tantric approach for dealing with the mind would be to embrace your thoughts and still remember that you are more than just your thoughts; to embrace your body as it is, and still remember to keep aligning with grace; to honor who you are as an individual and still keep remembering that you are also Supreme Consciousness...
Theme: Vrittis
Virtue: Courage. Courage to see that we are more than our thoughts, our moods, our bodies...
Focus: Inner Spiral
Poses:
Child's Pose, Down Dog, Uttanasana
Five Surya Namaskar A
Lunge, Parsvakonasana
Crescent, Warrior 2, Ostrich
Vasisthasana
Prasarita Padottanasana
Sirsasana 1 for 2 minutes add variations including Upavista legs, Baddha Konasana legs and Parsva Sirsasana in Virasana
Child's Pose
Pinca Mayurasana
Twisting lunge to Eka Pada Rajakapotasana 1 to Agni Stambhasana
Hanumanasana with block underneath the front thighbone- doing it using all the 3 levels of the block.
Pigeon 1 thigh stretch, going into Mermaid
Urdhva Dhanurasana
Drop Backs!
Drop Backs again, spotting at the heart.
Upavista Konasana
Parvrtta Upavista Konasana
Baddha Konasana
Supine Twists
Savasa
Class was great, just great. Had a really strong group of practitioners in class. It so helps me when everyone is into it. It changes everything for me. People had tons of breakthroughs. Linda was able to grab her hands in Mermaid for the first time and we all clapped. I think it helped that Aly, a really sweet student, was encouraging her. It so helps when we as a community encourage each other's growth. Solana and Panny from the Teacher Training where there and they did such great Drop Backs. Solana was beaming. It's so humbling to see people attempt difficult things with a smile, no matter what happens. Thank you Solana for the cupcakes! And Panny for the tangerines!
Anusara Poster Project Pose: Hanumanasana
^-^ I ADORE this blog almost as much as I ADORE you!! I love getting little doses of your witty bubbly wisdomness in text form =] This class was AMAZING to take, and equally amazing to watch =3 **thank you so much for listing the asanas, I tried to write them down while I was auditing, but it took too much time away from observing =p** You're very welcome for the cupcake, and thank YOU for the amazing hug!! <3
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