learning ashtanga and Bikram

[Guest guest]

Alan<br><br>Good for you. At 45 with not much

flexibility it is going to be a long journey into yoga,

though of course a worthwhile one.<br><br>Yoga is all

about you. If modifications help you and if they

protect you form injury or simply overstretch and bad

positioning then why not? Ask what you actually want from

yoga, and it probably isn't being able to perform like

the opening segment in Swenson's film - the improv on

the deck. It's like music, you might take up an

instrument just for the fun and the feeling not because you

want to be the greatest jazzer, maybe that comes maybe

not. Do you really care? <br><br>When I started yoga I

couldn't touch the toes in uttanasana let alone the floor,

if all the acrobatics had been the important stuff

I'd have watched John Scott's practice (the first I

ever saw) and thought that's not for me, but it wasn't

that which turned me on, it was the feeling I got

watching this group, I was calmed down into

meditation....funnily the coolest woman with the best backbends wasn't

there the next day as she was in hospital with a bad

back which highlights the need for care....if

modifications and props (even the wall) keep you safe what's

the big deal, if you were learning trapeze you

wouldn't start without a safety rope or net just because

the experienced acrobats don't use them.<br><br>On to

Bikrams. I've tried it. The heat thing is really odd,

though there are some astanga groups that mimic it. The

room was so hot it was hard to breathe and I had to

try hard not to faint at first, like trying yoga in

the sauna. There's a set commentary that the teachers

have to learn and repeat while the asana is happening.

Our boy sounded like he was a racing commentator

which was funny but I think after a few times would be

annoying, no silence. The asanas were pretty simple, done

twice each time, but as far as teaching you about yoga

so you can go away and do it all on your own which

is why you take lessons it wasn't there.<br><br>See

what you think Alan when you try it, to me you will

learn more and get further into yoga with astanga, it

has a wider vocabulary, which is a good metaphor

because yoga is a language of the body and so

modifications are just simplifications to get the basic messge

across, when you learn a foriegn tongue you start with

simple words not complicated ones. Like language yoga

must be able to flow, to be maleable otherwise it is

of no use, even astanga is only a means to an end

and that is the peaceful joyful feeling of the union

of the individual consciousness with the divine

which is what the word yoga means.

[Guest guest]

The place where I go has a Bikram class ... it's

sort of fun, and I like trying different styles of

yoga as it adds to and enhances the practice. You can

approach your limitations from different angles and work

on them, ie loosening tight hips or hamstrings, or

improving balance by trying different asana than the ones

in Primary Series.<br><br>I agree about the

commentary, though; I go to this class pretty regularly, and

the teacher says the same things each time for each

asana, pretty much.<br><br>I also agree that it seems to

work best as a led class. My center doesn't quite get

the heat up all the way (they use space heaters) ...

and it's not as, er, moist as I've heard it gets at

other places that offer Bikram.<br><br>I don't know a

whole lot about yoga and the different schools, but

Bikram strikes me as Cliff's Notes Yoga ... you lightly

touch all the major areas of the body with this

practice, and it would seem to fit a busy "lifestyle", but

I'm not sure how deep you could go with Bikram's 26

poses. That's not really a criticism, mind you, just

that it's a very static system; you buzz through the

whole thing, and that's it.<br><br>As a relative

beginner to ashtanga and yoga in general, I enjoy it okay.

It's nice, once a week, to do some different asana

than the ones I'm working on in Ashtanga. I'm not sure

that I'm going to push all that hard to find a class

when I move out west this summer. I will, however, be

looking for places to go for Ashtanga. <br><br>Ringing

endorsement, eh?<br><br>Christina