Holding a pose for 50 counts is a heck of a lot!
Last Friday's primary series practice took me through a yoga experiment, I was going to try and hold the poses, 10 of them in particular, for many more counts than I usually do. I'd try for 50 (although I knew that was unrealistic) and see what would happen. To where I would get.
It was all inspired by Grimmly's post on the "Rishis series" , which talks about how Nancy Gilgoff (a very senior student/teacher of KP Jois) mentioned that after a student finished second series they could do these "rishis" series in which one would rotate through primary and intermediate by doing only 10 poses of them a day (after the standing sequence) and holding them for 50 counts.
I am nowhere near finishing second series, that is how I knew 50 counts was unrealistic...
My intention was to go deeper into the poses, to go "Krishnamacharya" on them. I have been doing primary series for so many years now that some of the first poses in the series are very comfortable to me, why not try and stay in them? I thought, derive full benefit, breathe deeply as I stay with them, explore them, feel the aliveness of them.
It turned out that in the very first pose of Primary Series where you are standing and then you forward bend, grab your toes and stay there, sucking in the abdomen, breathing deeply and connecting with the area of the perineum by tightening it, working the back into a straight line, breathing deeply and with sound, making sure not to lock the knees, etc. has a LOT more details and nuances I would have imagine. Padangusthasana is a very beautiful pose.
That forward bend is, of course, followed by another forward bend, Padahastasana, (same position with hands under the feet) and although all I could hold was 12 counts, yes that is where I ended at, as soon as I came up I was in a different world.
In a Different World:
Holding on to the poses for long had an effect in my understanding of the pose, yes, but the BIGGEST EFFECT WAS IN MY MIND. It calmed it down, slowed everything down, made me hear the birds around, the sounds of the trees, the smell of the river coming through the window.
I would dare say at that moments I was in the present, fully here, fully now... no thoughts even!
It is clear that the effect of the asanas is to tame the mind when done much slower like this. I liked it! And although of course on Sunday I went back to my regular routine I did so with a refreshed attitude and new understandings. What a treat!
And it all comes from holding longer, staying there, going within.
Last Friday's primary series practice took me through a yoga experiment, I was going to try and hold the poses, 10 of them in particular, for many more counts than I usually do. I'd try for 50 (although I knew that was unrealistic) and see what would happen. To where I would get.
It was all inspired by Grimmly's post on the "Rishis series" , which talks about how Nancy Gilgoff (a very senior student/teacher of KP Jois) mentioned that after a student finished second series they could do these "rishis" series in which one would rotate through primary and intermediate by doing only 10 poses of them a day (after the standing sequence) and holding them for 50 counts.
I am nowhere near finishing second series, that is how I knew 50 counts was unrealistic...
My intention was to go deeper into the poses, to go "Krishnamacharya" on them. I have been doing primary series for so many years now that some of the first poses in the series are very comfortable to me, why not try and stay in them? I thought, derive full benefit, breathe deeply as I stay with them, explore them, feel the aliveness of them.
It turned out that in the very first pose of Primary Series where you are standing and then you forward bend, grab your toes and stay there, sucking in the abdomen, breathing deeply and connecting with the area of the perineum by tightening it, working the back into a straight line, breathing deeply and with sound, making sure not to lock the knees, etc. has a LOT more details and nuances I would have imagine. Padangusthasana is a very beautiful pose.
That forward bend is, of course, followed by another forward bend, Padahastasana, (same position with hands under the feet) and although all I could hold was 12 counts, yes that is where I ended at, as soon as I came up I was in a different world.
In a Different World:
Holding on to the poses for long had an effect in my understanding of the pose, yes, but the BIGGEST EFFECT WAS IN MY MIND. It calmed it down, slowed everything down, made me hear the birds around, the sounds of the trees, the smell of the river coming through the window.
I would dare say at that moments I was in the present, fully here, fully now... no thoughts even!
It is clear that the effect of the asanas is to tame the mind when done much slower like this. I liked it! And although of course on Sunday I went back to my regular routine I did so with a refreshed attitude and new understandings. What a treat!
And it all comes from holding longer, staying there, going within.
Cool! I'm glad you were able to find your peace in holding the poses longer. It's a fun concept.
ReplyDeleteI tend to split the fifty up into sides, 25 each etc when I do Rishi, not many postures i've stayed in for fifty. Twelve is a nice number though, twelve long slow steady comfortable breaths makes more sense to me than twenty-five shorter ones, especially by the time you get to the last five. Did you try it with the K quote in mode about bringing god into the heart on the inhalation, offering oneself up to the god on the exhalation? Exploring an approach to that currently. Interesting. Nice to experiment.
ReplyDeleteYes John, it was a great practice, really nice to find this
ReplyDeleteDid not go THAT Krishnamacharya, just the more counts this time, but that sounds great too... I found that just the breathing kind of got me there though... not much to think after 12 full counts in a couple of forward bends, I seemed to come up totally peaceful, no need for anything... just being there, really sweet feeling. And yes I agree, makes a lot of sense to build up and stay there in long breaths....
ReplyDeleteHi Claudia! have you ever tried to do the primary series in your mind. i do this at night and fall asleep everytime--haha. I can never make it very far...but
ReplyDeleteit is a good study as well!
Have not, at least not yet. Heard of people who do it when sick, and that it feels just as if you had practiced... wonder...
ReplyDelete