In Lodhi Gardens, Delhi pre Covid 19. pc Devashish Sharma
The Covid 19 has driven us all indoors, and our yoga online. A few weeks into the lock down, my entire teaching schedule shifted online.
After a few weeks yoga teachers across the world realized that this may very well be the future of yoga. Many senior teachers offering online classes & workshops. With considerably more time at hand, I started attending some of these online yoga classes. I even downloaded a few courses and the accompanying reading list.
As more and more yoga studios went virtual, Savitri from Saktiisha Yoga connected with me and soon I was on their virtual schedule. I started inviting guest teachers to my class too. So far we’ve had amazing yoga sessions with Medha Bhaskar and Susanne Mayer and look forward to many more. I wish we’d discovered online yoga earlier!
Here are 5 Things I Wish I knew About Online Yoga Before the Corona Virus
It is absolutely possible to practice yoga with a teacher online.
The teaching isn’t diluted on an online medium – in fact, it’s amplified. Teachers teach from the comfort of their homes and this is evident in their demeanor.
An online class will save you a lot of travel time. That time can now be spent sipping some tea, meditating, catching up on reading, meal prepping etc.
There are various online offerings – from a touch base once a week to membership access to thousands of videos – you can find something that works for you. I have registered for weekly live yoga classes & membership to the YogaBranches portal. I’ve also explored Carrie Owerko’s plans. In addition to this I attended a few online classes with Amrutha Bindu Yoga and a weekend workshop streamed to London by Raya UD. In addition to this I’ve bought several David Garrigues courses for philosophy study. I looked at OMStars too, and not to forget – I tried a few workouts with Cult.fit as well!
Practicing in your rattiest and most comfortable pajamas beats pulling on a pair of yoga pants any day.
Have you jumped on to the online yoga bandwagon yet?
Today we had the privilege to have Susanne Mayer as our guest teacher. Susanne’s session was called Hands & Feet in Yoga. The hands and feet are the base in all asanas, and we hardly pay attention to their placement and positioning. When practicing asanas our attention moves to the gross body, and we rarely think of the seemingly ‘unimportant’ aspects of the asana. During the session we learned how to use our hands and feet to bring stability to our asanas and used blocks to understand them more. Below is a recording of the class, since I know many of you will want to follow along.
I met Susanne about 4 years ago at RIMYI (Pune) and last year we hosted our first yoga retreat together in Liguria, Italy. Below is a snapshot of a conversation I had with Susanne some time last year. I had intended to put it up on the blog back then, but have only gotten around to it now.
When did you start practicing yoga?
On a day off during our Liguria 2019 retreat.
I started practicing a long long time ago, but it was not Iyengar yoga.
My first Iyengar-like Yoga experience came from a used little pocket book I saw in the street of some South American city, I believe it was in Buenos Aires or Santiago – don’t remember. It was titled “Yoga for Americans” and is written by “Indra Devi” who was, just like Iyengar a student of Krishnamacharya (I didn’t know anything of that, back then…), but I guess she was at Krishnamacharya’s a bit later than Iyengar. She was the first woman who Krishnamacharya agreed to teaching yoga –- after first refusing to do so. He was basically forced by the Maharaja of Mysore’s wife in whose place he had lived and taught their children for so long. Indra Devi was American from Los Angeles and had developed an early love for India and the films produced there, subsequently she starred in several old movies from that time around the 1930s onwards…
That little book traveled with me and was pulled out each morning when I had to get up and out of our tight bed in our VW camper van in which I traveled with my boyfriend and another friend through South, Central and North America from 1977-1979. We were sort of hippes then…
But each morning I rolled out my woolen blanket when I had found a level patch somewhere near and started with some rounds of Surya Namaskara, then some other poses, but mostly learnt and practiced headstand. Without any wall behind my I just did as she describes in that book, and one day it worked. Don’t ask me what that looked like… 😉
Between then and my first time with Iyengar yoga, there were lots of periods when I’d rather dance, Contemporary, Jazz, Brazilian and classic ballet styles alike. But after a while I always returned to yoga, as it seemed to offer something on top of the beauty in bodies moving along with nice music, something deeper. resonating within me with more satisfaction and promising more understanding of whatever there was out there.
On that long way I had many different teachers and went to different yoga centres – Sivananda was the most wide spread in germany at that time, but only in big cities like Munich where I lived for a while, and Frankfurt where I also had a stint for work at television. Nothing in Stuttgart… Somehow I lost it again and again because either I moved to another place for work or a good teacher changed pathways and went elsewhere.
Until I met an old friend at a jazz club one night who I hadn’t seen in a long time. I told me: ” I’m doing great, I practice yoga.” I was surprised – he didn’t seem like a yoga student type to me. He told me he had suffered from migraine all his life and was “out” for a few days each month but had been alright since he started yoga.
I instantly asked him where he went to practice and he told me about this great teacher close to my house, and I was there the next morning… 😉
After those first 90 minutes I walked out and felt my whole body vibrating and lifting up by itself.
That was it for me. I went back for years, up to 3-4 times a week. Until I asked my teacher how I could get deeper into the philosophy of yoga. He recommended a teacher training to explore that. As I had been teaching at university for many years and was happy being a student, I didn’t quite want to go there, but he said I could just do it and then see if I’d really want to teach. So….
Susanne’s cute mini cooper was also our main ride to the city during the retreat.
What brought you to yoga?
My mat was and is my island – away from my continuous stream of work and my little family back then, and
presently, as someone who recently retired and has all the time of the day to their own disposition, it’s more and more to meet with my deeper inner being, experience my breath, and to still these endless movements of my all too vivid mind.
Back then, luckily my young son also had training sessions of sports on some evenings or didn’t mind me returning home a bit later, and my partner usually never returned from his office before 7:30pm for dinner anyway, and sometimes I also went in the early mornings, before I went to uni… It was doable. In 2012 I started my teacher training and since then, for me my life has continually developed in an uplifting and creative way, breaking through what had been limits to my life so far, and it’s simply great.
I somehow also started teaching just because I really believe in the power of practicing yoga in a multidimensional way and felt an urge to help passing it on to others.
I experience teaching as a most giving process. While I still worked at uni, sometimes I felt really tired when I went to my yoga classes right after returning home in the evening, but after teaching one or two yoga classes, I come out somehow elated and energized. Which is amazing and very fulfilling.
What keeps you going?
Yoga keeps changing my life for the better, my body is healthy, my mind is alive, I feel younger than ten years ago, in some ways at least as far as my energy goes.
With age my body is giving me new challenges with problems in several joint areas. Iyengar Yoga is the best to deal exactly with such issues, and this made me start studying yoga therapy a year ago. It is physio therapeutic work including the aligning, joining and relaxing aspects of yoga.
Yoga helps a lot with another process which comes with getting older, which is much more important than physical ability, I believe.It forces us to look inside ourselves and towards an understanding of our mind’s workings.
We overcome new challenges of all kinds with new and never ending confidence about our ability to tackle almost anything by simple continuous practice of asanas and meditation.
And so on…
The entire Liguria 2019 crew having one last dinner before we bid each other adieu…until next year.
What was your day job?
I worked at the Stuttgart Media University, where I held a professor position for more than 20 years. Nearly 35 years of facing ever changing media, software and computer systems, the amounts of communication that come along with these jobs simply made me sit, and sit and sit, looking into this square screen, not noticing how time flew away, until my body cried for help.
Plus – my son told me I was hunching forward at the dining table like an old woman (…children usually tell the truth as bitter as it may taste…), and mostly my bones told me I couldn’t really get up and walk after long hours of computer work – I HAD to do something….
Why Iyengar yoga for you?
I noticed this was a different kind of teaching. I was told what do with my different body parts, where to put my attention to and what parts to connect or stretch – unlike in other yoga styles where there is no real instruction, just showing poses with the order: …and now you do it (…which ever way you can…)
There was helpful correction into alignment and I started understanding little by little what yoga really was about.
I could feel the wholeness of my body and its limbs, including my minds workings, and I understood the ways some parts wouldn’t go unless I was shown or told how to do it “right” – after which it always felt like another epiphany, one after the other…
How many times have you been to India?
Only twice in my life – but there will be more… 🙂 I had been scared for a long time, that India would catch me emotionally and I might not be able to bear seeing so much poverty next to utter luxury and not cry out loud…
But now… maybe due to my yoga practice and learnings on Indian history and philosophy I might be able and also want to understand a lot better. I can definitely feel my fascination with India’s culture after my only two visits during those last years growing…
The first time was in February 2017 when I flew back from Australia via Delhi to visit an Indian friend who came to visit my partner and me some years before in Germany. She had invited me to come and meet her family in Delhi, always telling me, if I ever come to India, to come to her house so she could plan all else from there with me.
The whole family was incredibly helpful in answering all my “newbie” questions about their daily rituals, and also the reason for all these maids in the house who all shared a different kind of mini job. Like one came just to do the dishes, another who actually lived in the house, was presently trained in cooking specials, where to shop for food and what to prepare, yet another came in each day for washing clothes (by hand…) and another one came to clean the house…
Still, my friend seemed utterly exhausted by having to manage all that along with her mother-in-law in whose house they lived.
I thought – WOW, at home I do all that by myself… plus I raise my kid and have a full-time job…
After 3 or 4 days Delhi I sort of fled to Goa, just to be able to walk and breathe some clean air on an open beach again which I had just left behind in my favourite places in Australia…
But that didn’t happen before I explored some really stunning places in Delhi – like the Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and I couldn’t get enough of the beauty of architecture, harmony, geometry, and the poetry and music which was offered through the audio guides there.
All in all this was a great introduction to one of the biggest cities, rounded by a surprise concert with my favourite Tabla player Zakir Hussein who happened to play a charity concert at my friends’ sons’ college on my last night there.
Coincidence organized by the universe I like to think.
After about a week in Goa I went to Pune to visit the RIMIY institute for the first time – mainly to find out of I really felt I could go there half a year later for my practice month which I had signed up for already years before.
I had heard all kinds of stories…
I had passed my teacher assessment just 2 years before I went there for the first time, and BKS Iyengar had already passed away by then.
But I was received very friendly, was allowed to go into the big shala to watch a class given by Abhijata and Raya who I had both met before during yoga conferences in Berlin and Basel/Switzerland.
Your favourite aspect of Iyengar yoga?
The unending depth of further explorations into our true being which keeps evolving more and more over the years.Exploring interpretations of the Patanjali Sutras with those more than 2000-year-old insights on the workings of a human brain and how Patanjali mentions bit by bit all the obstacles from simple to complex we as humans are confronted with on a daily basis… then obviously as today: it’s the very same phenomena as we experience today what is being discussed there.
Western psychology could have won tons of insights many years ago from these deep Eastern philosophical musings, had it not been largely ignored by Western snobbishness. It’s very slowly showing and dawning on the horizon in Western medicine and psychology/psychiatry, thanks to the hard work of a few determined doctors, academics, philosophers and healers alike.
At this point I’m no longer wondering what the new normal is. I’m getting used to life as it is at the moment. While I have been stepping out every once in a while to buy vegetables and other essentials, I don’t think I ‘miss’ going out. My cooking and cleaning routines are getting more streamlined and I’m finding a new balance. Having to use my home as an office, a workout arena, a movie theater, a study and the Friday evening hangout zone is now become easier for me.
I’ve also realized that I’m quite enjoying teaching from home. I find that now all my energy goes into teaching my classes and not on battling traffic, or even getting ready. Yes, I have taught many a class in my pajamas. I have more energy for my personal practice, and in the lat few weeks I’ve attended classes with teachers across the world, and this is having a positive impact on my own teaching.
I’ve also started giving my students ‘homework’ and it’s gratifying to teach yoga concepts in depth and have students turn those ideas in their minds later. Maybe practicing online is suiting many students as well! The other day we delved deeper into the Ardha Chandrasana or the Half Moon Posture. Most frequently, students get so focused on finding their balance in the posture that they forget about all the other aspects of the asana, such as an open chest, a long neck, straight spine….
This variation works the best for most practitioners. The hips are open, the spine is parallel to the floor and the arms make one line. The chest is open, neck relaxed and gaze is towards the ceiling. If you find it hard to balance with the gaze on the ceiling then keep your gaze on the floor or in front of you.
When you are most stable on your legs then reduce the height of the block. When we do this there is a tendency to lose connection with the core, which leads to the raised leg becoming lazy and descending. Keep the raised leg long and push the heel out. Bend from the hip, not from the sides.
Here I’ve lowered the height even more. At this point the asana had started to become a little more challenging. It took a little effort to keep the raised leg in it’s position and to ensure that my body weight doesn’t lean entirely on my hand.
This is the classical Ardha Chandrasana. As you can see, it requires a significant extension of the sides. You should NOT practice this version until you have cultivated enough strength to keep the raised leg lifted and the chest open and strong.
If you’re a beginner….
If you’re a beginner to yoga and have just started your journey, this blog will show you step-by-step instructions about how to get into this posture. You can also watch this video for tips on how to make your posture better:
You can order ‘Beyond Asanas’ here and learn more about the history and mythology of the Ardha chandrasana.
It is said that if you perform the fish pose in water you will be able to float like a fish. Yoga Journal
The thoracic spine is the most difficult part of the spine to bend. That’s because the structure of your upper body has so much bone and tissue which needs to be considered in a back bend. While the lumbar spine has only soft abdominal organs and muscles, the thoracic spine has the rib cage and the sternum to deal with when it needs to bend. In the Matsyasana you are trying to bend the upper spine very deeply. Therefore, the best approach to this asana is a very cautious one.
The benefits of Matsyasana include:
Expands the rib cage and enables better breathing.
Alleviates anxiety.
Helps to massage the abdominal organs.
Promotes better digestion.
Massages and stimulates the thyroid gland.
Fixes problems of the curvature of the back.
Be careful with this Matsyasana if you have a migraine or high blood pressure as this may aggravate the condition. Also, if you have a serious neck or lower back injury then you may want to avoid this posture. If your neck feels too tight and painful when you perform this asana, then use a pillow or a rolled up blanket under your neck. Watch the video below for some tips.
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Done with some reflection, this pose helps yogis discover blocks in their bodies and in their lives. You will be able to look at your present and future without the fog of the past clouding your vision. you will experience clearer vision and perception. (Beyond Asanas, p 33)
In Beyond Asanas I wrote about the Ardha Matsyendrasana in Chapter 6. Ardha Matsyendrasana literally means Half Lord of the Fish Pose. Read more about Matsyendranath in the book and find out about the man who learned yoga from Lord Shiva himself.
Benefits of Ardha Matsyendrasana
Stimulates your digestive system.
Stretches the shoulders, chest, arms and spine.
Reduces lower back ache.
Trims the excess fat from the sides.
Helps us realize that everything that has been ‘twisted’ can be untwisted.
Most students focus on the twisting aspect of this posture, but I would encourage you to focus more on the chest expansion. If you feel that your breathing is labored when you’re in this asana, it means you need to work a little more on opening up the thoracic spine. If you continue to practice the Ardha Matsyendrasana in this manner, you’re adding stress to an already tight spine. Find out which variation works best for you in the below video:
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
Janu means the knee. Sirsa is the head. In this posture sit with one leg stretched out on the ground and the other bent at the knee. (Light on Yoga, p148)
The Janu Sirsasana is my go-to pose when I want to do a more restorative and relaxing practice. In fact, Geeta Iyengar has included it as an important asana for women during menstruation (Yoga: A Gem for Women). This is because not only does this posture help to relax the mind, but it also helps to soothe feelings of restlessness and irritability.
Other benefits of the Janu Sirsasana include:
Relieving chronic headaches and migraines.
Helps to relax the eyes and the mind.
Reduces menstrual cramps.
Regulates menstrual flow.
Gives a great stretch to the hamstrings and calves.
Stimulates digestive organs.
Janu sirsasana is usually practiced daily by most practitioners. I personally prefer a supported janu sirsasana so I use practicing it with props. There are many different ways you can use props to make this asana feel more relaxing. Watch this video to see how to do that.
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
Back bends have never come easy for me. I’ve struggled with them since the time I started practicing yoga. Every time I feel I’ve made some headway, I return to practice the next day and realize that was probably just a figment of my imagination.
The key to progress in yogasana is consistent practice. The key to progress in back bending is safe consistent practice. I’ve injured myself many times thinking that I should just ‘push through the pain’. I now wish I had taken the time to understand the anatomy of the spine and even focused on basic fundamental movements rather than being in a mad rush to conquer the more difficult asanas.
In retrospect I would have made my daily practice more introspective. How far can I push myself? Am I pushing myself enough? Is this a physical or a mental roadblock? Am I doing my best to extend the spine? Am I trying to proactively understand the pain, or letting my teacher do the work to figure it out? Am I trying my best to make progress, or repeating old patterns?
When we understand ourselves, we know what we need. Once we know what we need, we can work towards achieving it. This way, we can take care of ourselves. (Beyond Asanas, p 131)
Benefits of Ushtrasana
Stimulates and massages the thyroid gland.
Strengthens and stretches the back, shoulders and arms.
Expands and brings flexibility to the chest so the practitioner’s breathing becomes smoother.
Tones the abdominal organs.
Reduces menstrual cramps.
Improves posture and problems of curvature of the back.
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
The Viparita Virbhdrasana is an asana that I haven’t explored too much as it’s rarely practiced in classes I attend. As a result, I don’t teach it very much either. In fact, I wasn’t even sure of the Sanskrit name for this posture before Medha enlightened me.
In a practice which has three different versions of the Warrior posture, why would there be a pose called ‘reverse’ warrior. What does it signify? Is there a deeper meaning?
The most common problem I see when students practice the Virbhadrasana 2 is the tendency to lean the torso forward, towards the leg which is bent and turned out. But we need to try to keep the chest open and expanded, just like a brave warrior. The way I like to explain it to my students is that a warrior needs to protect himself and in the battlefield is surrounded on all sides by the enemy. If he leans too much to the front, he won’t be vigilant about the danger that could be lurking behind him. Therefore, it’s important to keep a long and strong torso, even as one leg is bent to the side. The Viparita Virbhadrasana helps to correct the tendency to lean forward.
Benefits of the Viparita Virbhadrasana:
Great to stretch and lengthen the sides of the torso.
Opens the hips, groin and sides of the body.
Expands the torso, enabling better breathing.
Strengthens the legs.
Watch the video below for pointers for this asana.
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
I’ve written about the importance of transitions in a previous blog. The up dog to down dog transition is perhaps one of the most famous transitions in the yoga practice.
In taking care of the spine it is also important to perform dynamic movements. Although the spine supports the body, it also needs support from other muscles to work optimally. If your abdominal muscles and sides are weak, the load of the entire torso is borne by your spine and this leads to compression of the back and back pain. This eventually leads to disc bulges, slipped disc etc.
Back pain can be prevented by keeping the spine supple and flexible. Moving the spine from a concave to convex position i.e curving it in and out – is an excellent way to keep the vertebrae well conditioned and strong.
Adhomukha Svanasana
Adhomukha means face downward in Sanskrit. Svana means dog. There are many different ways of practicing this posture. Sometimes with heels lifted up, other times with the toes lifted. Sometimes with feet together, sometimes wide apart. Sometimes with heels against a wall, sometimes with the hands against the wall. Each variation has its own distinct benefit.
Benefits of Adhomukha Svanasana
Provides great relaxation to the body and mind.
Makes the shoulders and shoulder blades more flexible.
Great to tone and strengthen the legs.
Rejuvenates the entire body.
Stimulates blood flow to the brain and helps to relieve anxiety and depression.
Reduces lower backache.
It is advisable not to hold this posture for long periods of time when you are menstruating. However, those with heavy and uncomfortable menses will benefit greatly by practicing this posture between their cycles.
Urdhvamukha Svanasana
Benefits of Urdhvamukha Svanasana
Great to ease a stiff neck.
Rejuvenates the spine.
Great for those with sciatica, slipped or prolapsed discs.
Strengthens the spine.
Expands the chest, so enables better breathing.
Keeps the pelvic region healthy.
[Practice Tip] For beginners to yoga this posture is a challenge. Most of us tend to collapse the shoulders and chest, and this puts a lot of strain on the shoulders and neck. To prevent this, push your hands more strongly into the floor, making sure your fingers are spread wide apart. Then elevate the chest up and forward.
Watch this video to understand the finer points of this transition.
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
Marichi means ray of light. The story of Sage Marichi goes back to the creation of the universe. (Beyond Asanas: The Myths and Legends Behind Yogic Postures, Pragya Bhatt)
Before I begin writing a blog, I like to research the topic a little more. Surprisingly, there is very little information for this asana online. Which is ironic because the Supta Marichyasana is practiced widely as a closing posture in yoga classes all over the world. In writing this blog I had to look at my own experience with the posture and I also asked Medha for hers. My introduction to this asana was through Baba Ramdev’s yog shivirs, where he endorses this asana as a great way to trim excess fat from the sides.
However, thousands of hours of asana practice later, I would say it’s power lies in its ability to gently stretch the spine, the lower back, the shoulders and the sides of your body all at one go. Just a couple of years ago it was impossible for my knee to rest on the floor, my shoulders would lift off of the floor, I wouldn’t be able to breathe and it would hurt to push my knee down!
Over the years I’ve found that the key lies in the abdomen and the breath. The breath must be long and steady and the abdomen relaxed. Once this is in place it becomes easier for the body to sink into the posture. Watch this video for more pointers on how to do this asana safely.
Benefits of the Supta Marichyasana:
Helps to reduce lower backache.
Reduces stiffness on the neck and shoulders.
Great to keep the spine supple and flexible.
Increases blood circulation to the abdominal organs.
Gently massages the digestive organs thereby improving digestion.
Improves flexibility of the hip, knees and ankles.
When to avoid this asana:
Menstruation.
If you’ve recently had abdominal surgery.
When you’re recovering from a back injury.
Participate in our Work From Home Challenge this entire month and win a giveaway at the end of the challenge. Download our practice tracker and asana sequence below:
s of computer work – I HAD to do something….
and I couldn’t get enough of the beauty of architecture, harmony, geometry, and the poetry and music which was offered through the audio guides there.
