Manasa Yoga recently had its first workshop of the year for 2017. This year, guru Manoj Kaimal wanted to introduce the directions he had for the yoga school for 2017 and the ideas behind the new classes: Pulsations, Flexibility and Strength and Stability, during this three-day workshop. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I couldn’t make Day Two (Flexibility), but here is the lowdown on the first and third day.
The first day, Pulsations, is described as:
Inspired by the philosophy of krama traditions of Tantra, this workshop focuses on clarifying the components which make up a Manasa Pulsations class. Be ready for dynamic conditioning mobility work even as you get introduced to the philosophy of ever recurring pulsations which make up what we call as time.
The philosophy, as stated above, is very tantra, and I totally enjoyed it. We were invited to observe time as a dynamic process, and as such, there was a lot of movement during the Pulsation Day. I especially like the Child’s Pose pulsations, and if you want to learn more about that, go for the Pulsation classes on Tuesday 😉
The Strength & Stability workshop revolved around the Yoga Sutras 1:13, 14 and 15, namely that there are four factors of practice:
- Long term
- Regular
- With respect
- Well-served
The context for Strength & Stability classes at Manasa (at least, for now) is the handstand, so there was a lot of handstand work! I suffer from a little backbend when it comes to handstands and forearm balance, although the latter is improving. So it’s a lot of strong core work and shoulder / serratus strength and stability during this workshop!
Also, during that final workshop day, we learnt how important the strength of the multifidi should be for inversions, especially headstand. To experience more, go try a class at Manasa Yoga, SS2! [n.b. The Ashtanga-inspired classes remain as is at Manasa Yoga, for more information, check the website!]
I was really bummed that I missed the Flexibility class, which includes backbends and unfortunately Wednesdays I can’t make classes based on my current schedule. All in all though, I really enjoyed those two days of workshop. I learnt a lot, especially techniques for teaching classes! Were you there? What are your thoughts?