Learning the finishing sequence

[Guest guest]

Hi, I'm getting back into my Ashtanga practice

after a prolongued absense. My first school taught all

classes in a led, modified format and mostly skipped the

finishing postures. Now I'm practicing on my own and want

to follow the traditional method of sticking to the

sequence up to the first posture you can't do (in my case,

ardha baddha padmottanhasana) and then skipping to the

finishing sequence. What I don't understand is: what do you

do about the finishing postures you can't do? In my

case, I can't do padmasana or any of the inverted or

seated seated versions of it. In following the

traditional approach, should I skip these or include a

modified version of them? Thanks in advance.

[Guest guest]

I follow that "traditional" method of working

through the astanga series up to the first posture I

can't do too, because I consider it to be the safest

way to learn astanga, and if this board sometimes

reads like a clinic report, it may also be due to the

fact that simply modifying the poses you aren't able

to do and rushing on to asanas your body is not yet

prepared for can lead to injury.<br><br>Fortunately, I

have no problems whatsoever doing shoulder stand &

head stand, and I am also quite good at doing

padmasana, so that the finishing sequence isn't all too

difficult for me - however, I still do have problems with

coming out of matsyasana into uttanapadasana.<br><br>If

you are stuck in the standing sequence yet, I don't

think it's advisable to do the inverted postures

already. Better to master the full standing sequence

first, before attempting shoulder stand & head stand. In

this case, close your session with sitting on the

floor either cross-legged or in half-lotus for the time

of 5 to 25 ujjayi breaths, applying mula & uddiyana

bandha and gazing to nasagrai dristi, before lying flat

on the mat into savasana.<br><br>After having

mastered all the standing poses, you may choose to start

learning the full finishing sequence. Here again, better

to learn one posture after the other rather than

doing full finishing in a modified fashion. Try to do

shoulder stand first, afer that closing crossed-legged or

in half-lotus, as above. Once you have mastered

sarvangasana, move on to halasana, again closing crossed-legged

or in half-lotus...and so on, until you have

mastered the full finishing sequence.<br><br>Now this is

the way I do my practice. I'm sure it doesn't

correspond completely with what is taught in Mysore. So

maybe, someone who knows more about the traditional

teaching method might correct me if I am wrong.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your feedback. I'm actually pretty

comfortable in most of the inverted postures, it's just the

ones that include padmasana that I can't do. I too

would like to know how the finishing postures are

taught in Mysore and Mysore-style classes. I have heard

that you should attempt at least some of the finishing

postures, by I don't know the specifics. If anyone who does

know could relay this info I'd be grateful.

[Guest guest]

After teaching Surya Namaskar, Pattabhi Jois then

teaches Padmasana, Yogamudra and Utpluthi. These are

usually the finishing postures practiced until the whole

primary series is learned.<br><br>However, sometimes,

when it is clear after several months that a student

will take a long time to complete the series,

finishing postures are introduced earlier.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your response! I'll be sticking to just these postures at the end of

my practice for the foreseeable future.