Sweet Vinyasa: Sacrifice and Santosha: Monday, November 11, 2013

Ease with the "what is" requires a quieting of the mind, according to the yogis. This is harder than it sounds because it requires we let go of our story and our small limited view of how we think it should all look.

The word chitta (as in sutra 1.2 yoga chitta vrittis nirodahah) translates as heart/mind so we spent some time focused the heart to help us align to the more clear sight of what is.

windshield wiper with lung and heart meditation

reclining Buddha

cat and cow
balasasna
puppy dog

OMG with flying cow and easy side plank variation

plank
downdog

uttanasana
tadasana

shoulder shrugs

standing sequence #1
lunge
high lunge
prayer lunge
warrior II dance
trikonasana
pigeon variation
three leg dog

downdog
other side standing sequence #1

tadasana
uttanasana variation x2
tadasana
OM

standing sequence #2
lunge
warrior I
prayer warrior
warrior III variation
standing splits
uttanasana
tadasana

other side standing sequence #2

uttanasana
malasana

baddha konasana

janushirsasana with twist and side stretch

bridge
cosmic rest
bridge or wheel

twisted root

savasana

sit
OM
Namaste

Sweet Vinyasa: Ahimsa and Ananda: Friday, November 8, 2013

Subbed this Friday morning class for Tasha. We played with the possibility that the feeling tone of ahimsa is ananda. One of the ways we helped find our internal alignment was to breathe in to the back of the heart, cultivating our skills of seeing more clearly.

Sit

Leg tapping

Supine Schiffmannesque hamstring stretch

Cat n cow
Balasana
Puppy dog

Easy side plank with OMG and flying cow

Sphinx or seal

Balasana variation

Plank
Downdog

Uttansassna
Tadasana
YAM

1/4 sun salutes

Tadasana
OM

Standing sequence #1:
Lunge
Twisted lunge
Hammock
Warrior 11 dance
Trikonasana
Pigeon variation

Three leg dog

Other side standing sequence #1

Downdog
Baby cobra
Locust
Balasana

Plank
Downdog
Uttanasana

Tadasana

Shoulder rolls
Uttanasana variation

Standing neck stretches

Tadasana

Standing sequence #2
Side angle prep
Trikonasana
Half moon
Uttanasana
malasana

Other side standing sequence #2
Happy baby
Twisted root

Savasana

Sit
Om
Namaste

Soft Vinyasa: Dance of the Body and the Breath: Saturday, November 10, 2013

We used a sequencing to Dancer's pose to experience sutra 1.12.

Heart opener over bolster

Cat and cow
Balasana
Puppy dog

Plank
Downdog

Tadasana

1/4 sun salutes

Lunge with bricks
Low crescent

tadasana
OM

Standing sequence
Lunge
Hammock
WarriorII
Pigeon variation

Downdog
Baby cobra
Locust

other side standing sequence

Tadasana
Guitar hero

Dancer's Pose play

Eye of the needle

Restorative twist on bolster

savasana

sit
OM
Namaste

Sweet Vinyasa: Unclear Directions: Sunday, November 10, 2013

One of the challenging aspects of teaching yoga for me is simply getting "right" and "left" correct. Today was almost comically impossible to keep it straight. So much so that I don't even feel like posting the class notes, much less letting the video go live.

The bigger teaching is to quiet the ego...we were even talking about this in class today. I'm learning that when I show up to class vulnerable and with an open heart, that the class will be OK because the yoga  will come through. Today's "bad" class was helpful to help me remember when the directions are unclear, if you follow your heart and internal guidance things will turn out just fine.

Heart opener over bolster

cat
cow
balasana
puppy dog

OMG
easy side plank

plank
downdog

uttanasana
tadasana

shoulder shrugs and rolls

standing sequence:
lunge
twisted lunge
hammock
warrior II
triangle
pigeon variation

downdog

other side standing sequence

baby cobra
locust
balasana

downdog
pigeon
supine tree

bridge
other side pigeon and supine tree

bridge or wheel

twist

supported savasana

sit
OM
Namaste

Sweet Vinyasa: Attention, Affection and Faith: Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The sanscrit word for faith is shrada. Shrada is not a blind faith, but rather it is visionary. Yogis are asking us to widen our perspective, for not seeing clearly is the source of all our suffering. Two alignment instructions for a wider perspective (and there are many techiques) are to pay closer attention, and love one another.

on bricks
OM
A
O
M
OM x3

cat
cow
balasana
puppy dog

OMG
flying cow
easy side plank

barrel roll
balasana

affection meditation on bricks

plank
downdog with foot play
uttanasana

standing sequence #1
lunge
hammock
side plank prep
trikonasana
pigeon variation
downdog

sphinx with seal option yin style
crocodile

other side standing sequence #1

baby cobra
locust play
balasana

downdog
uttanasana
tadasana
OM

uttanasana
standing sequence #2
lunge
side plank prep
half moon
uttanasana
malasana

other side standing sequence #2

supine windshield wiper or happy baby

closing sequence:
eye of the needle
twisted root

other side closing sequence

savasana

sit
MMMMMMM
Namaste

Yin Yoga: A Dance of the Devas: Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Buddha is rumored to have said, "in this very body one can discover all the gods and all the demons". Our practice tonight encouraged becoming more sensitive to the many layers of the self.

Malasana
malasana twist
malasana with anjali mudra and three more hand gestures ( a la Erich Schiffmann)

uttanasana
downdog

balasana with ajna rest (2 mins)

butterfly (4 mins)

swan (4 mins)

balasana
lunge (4 mins)

reverse windshield wiper

sphinx/seal/saddle (4 mins)

twisted root (3.5 mins)

sit (15 mins)
sit/savasana (3 mins)

namaste

Sweet Vinyasa: The Heart Has Reasons That Reason Cannot Know: Monday, November 4, 2013

The sages talk a lot about the different levels of the self. One of the ways it is expressed is by Buddha "in this very body one can discover all the gods and all the demons". Another is the koshas. There can be a tendency to get hung up on heirarchies and "shoulds". The yogis suggest simply practice looking as a good first step, and from that place of what is, take action. We leaned into Blaise Pascal's "the heart has reason that reason cannot know" to help us with our alignment.

Sit

Janushirsasana
Janu with Side bend
half cow
savasana

other side

cat
cow
balasana
puppy dog

plank
downdog with foot play

uttanasana
tadasana

guitar hero

tadasana
uttanasana

standing sequence:
lunge
twisted lunge hammock
warrior II dance
pigeon variation
downdog

baby cobra
locust

barrell roll

other side standing sequence

downdog

easy side plank

downdog
uttanasana

tadasana
YAM

tree

uttanasana
malasana

eye of the needle
twist
repeat eye of the needle and twist

savasana

sit
OM
Namaste