It is no secret that in the past few months, I have stopped doing any kind of workouts so that I can commit that time to yoga practice, which takes place on the mat (whether in the shala or at home) about six times a week. In this commitment, I felt home practice (at least) should be of one type, so I opted for the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition. And … well, to further reinforce the practice, I figured that practice at the shala should also be the same.
It has been about one and a half month’s now and I believe that I have improved. Firstly, I am currently actively practising (1) at home (2) at Yoga Dynamics and (3) at Manasa School of Yoga. Firstly, home practice was started me out and kind of gave me a foundation. A year ago, looking at the Yoga Chikitsa, I was baffled as to how I could remember everything.
Then I remembered that in the tradition, the guru would allow the student to work from one asana to the next, and then reveal the next asana etc. I figured I was pretty alright until navasana, so I practised that for a week and moved on to bhujapidasana and so on and so forth.
When I began Mysore at Yoga Dynamics, Ganesh told me to end with bhujapidasana, before moving on to urdhva dhanurasana (“backbend!”). But the next session was all the way up to urdhva muka paschimottanasana. Strangely enough, I was kinda ‘demoted’ to kurmasana then recently back again to urdhva muka paschimottanasana.
The best part is, I know that I have improved and Guru Manoj also was happy that I have. Looks like the plan is working. But more importantly, I love the journey. Every practice is different and every practice yields new joy. It is so worth the commitment.