Yoga this evening

T'was an evening to remember. Today it was an advanced class by Nina, full of poses that hadn't been done in a while. It started with a classic Gomukh Asana (in sitting form), which I had performed only sparingly in the past. As we performed, she remarked "let go of your ego" and don't try to get your back foot straight. Let go of my ego? -- that is what I need to do in life I said to myself! This is a yoga pose. Eureka!

It made so much sense. So in the next pose called revolved triangle pose http://yogajournal.com/poses/692 I just did the best I could and the best I could was worse than a beginner could do. Ah! home practice is what I lack I said to myself! Then that voice in the back of my mind reminded me again "Let go of your ego"! OK OK I am letting go!

And then we moved to back-bends and other poses that really worked your thighs and hamstrings, everything leading to the incredibly difficult Rajkapot poses http://yogajournal.com/poses/863 and boy did I yell in pain after every leg strech. No, no ego here, just honest expressions of the pain. Nina threw in a adho mukha vriksasana (hand stand) http://yogajournal.com/poses/788, my favorite pose.

I did it twice and the third variation was too much. I had no energy left and and my panting heart had to let go of my ego. I just went into a child pose. My heart was racing fast and it felt like I had just run a marathon. A Supta Virasana lead to another painful grunt. It prompted a fellow student to comment "make the effort effortless"! Yes Barbara, one day I will, but right now every effort is painful.

We moved on to chair supported back-bends and a chair supported halasana in lieu of shavasana and it was the end of a very challenging class. I was really humbled. As I left the class I promised myself I would continue to work on letting go of my ego. And folks, if you are serious about letting go of your ego and looking to make your efforts effortless do visit http://www.sunsetyoga.com/ to find out how. Thanks Nina for another great class, I will actually sleep well tonight!

Namaste
The Yogi

Running and Yoga

Runing and Iyengar Yoga. Two years ago I used to walk about 7-10 miles a day and also ran 2-3 miles on tread mill. Running and Walking are great cardio exercises but both these exercises tend to contract your muscles. Running especially can be bad on your knees. My Iyengar teacher, Nuvana Z (see www.sunsetyoga.com ) advised me to do 20-30 minutes of yoga stretches after either a cardio or weight training work out. I would do the following sequence of poses:

Modified Surya Namaskar--Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Uttanasana, Ado mukha Svanasana, Plank Pose, Adho-M-S, Uttanasana, Tadasana, and then Paschim Uttansana, Janur Sirsasana, supta padangagustasana 1 and 2, and occasionally add a twist such as Marichyasana III. At the end Sirsasana on the wall and then 5 minutes of shavasana or supported badhakonasana for relaxation. Eventually I added sarvangasana, along with chair supported halasana before shavasana. I didnt start Sirsasana till one year after I started doing yoga, so I would simply do shavasana after the seated poses.