Van Halen's song "Jump" came to mind after Saturday's Women's class. Nine seconds into the opening riff of this early video, David Lee Roth literally jumps into this Hanumanasana-like pose, and later intones, "you've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real".
Geeta continued the theme of jumping from Wednesday's class. Just as each pose was taken, we sprung to the next. Techniques were taught for springing and landing with each new pose added...how to coordinate the movement of the limbs and the lift of the hips so that the legs could move quickly into place. Initially we worked on the mats but found those got in the way, so cleared the floor of all props and just worked on the cool stone floor.
What I think she was getting at was that practice shouldn't always be the same, step-by-step process...press the heel, lift the knee cap, turn the thigh. "I can tell you how to bend the knee," she said, "and then your mind is with the knee." Sure, those techniques help us as we begin to learn a new pose, but after a while, taking the pose on as a whole rather than parts, practicing in different ways, awakens the mind to where there is an opportunity in the body, some new awareness...and today's class definitely awakened some opportunities in us all.
In addition to jumping back and forth from Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasna, a classic warm up in a yoga class, we jumped from Downward Facing Dog INTO Parsvottanasana, INTO Trikonasana...Ardha Chandrasana...Parsvakonasana--landing briefly enough to strike the pose before leaping back to Downward Facing Dog.
There was a lot of grunting and laughter and resting Uttanasana and stopping to watch demonstrations for nuance. The goal pose? A variation of Visvamitrasana*. Think Parsvakonasana, but as you jump the leg forward from Downward dog, bring the foot to the outside of the hand, duck the shoulder under, and lift the foot off the floor as you straighten the arm. Turn the chest and extend the top arm to the ceiling...now jump back to Downward dog. Go on...you know you want to try it!
Might as well JUMP!
When all was said and done that day, I felt lighter and with a new sense of the opportunities and possibilities, even if my Visvamitrasana wasn't quite fully achieved.
* Visvamitrasana is a pose named after a warrior king-turned sage, Visvamitra. Per Light onYoga, he was in a rivalry with Vasista, a Bhramin sage. Through hard work and piety, Visvamitra raised himself to bhraman status.
What I think she was getting at was that practice shouldn't always be the same, step-by-step process...press the heel, lift the knee cap, turn the thigh. "I can tell you how to bend the knee," she said, "and then your mind is with the knee." Sure, those techniques help us as we begin to learn a new pose, but after a while, taking the pose on as a whole rather than parts, practicing in different ways, awakens the mind to where there is an opportunity in the body, some new awareness...and today's class definitely awakened some opportunities in us all.
In addition to jumping back and forth from Uttanasana to Adho Mukha Svanasna, a classic warm up in a yoga class, we jumped from Downward Facing Dog INTO Parsvottanasana, INTO Trikonasana...Ardha Chandrasana...Parsvakonasana--landing briefly enough to strike the pose before leaping back to Downward Facing Dog.
Might as well JUMP!
When all was said and done that day, I felt lighter and with a new sense of the opportunities and possibilities, even if my Visvamitrasana wasn't quite fully achieved.
* Visvamitrasana is a pose named after a warrior king-turned sage, Visvamitra. Per Light onYoga, he was in a rivalry with Vasista, a Bhramin sage. Through hard work and piety, Visvamitra raised himself to bhraman status.
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