welcome to the Ashtanga realm! That is the yoga to get you in shape, but heed my warning to watch out for injury. I have many many years of Ashtanga with the old man KP Jois, in the early days and I have taught thousands of hours of Ashtanga since 1990, and the instructor is out of line to be intimidating. Look at th you tube links on the other strand mkat has here and get informed. I have told new people their practice maybe to watch the pose on the first day.
It is not how much yoga you do but the intention of how you are doing it!
To really do Ashtanga right you need to have daily bit by bit lessons. Please take it easy, and it will become easy!
Discussion Topic
if at first you don't succeed, try it again!
Posted on 06/25/08, 10:39 am
Yesterday I took the most intense Yoga class I have ever taken. I have been doing yoga (off and on) for 11 years. I have done many different styles. If you take yoga and find you don't like it, take another class, until you find one you like. This one is only held once a week - now I know why LOL! We did a series where we did not touch the ground with anything but our feet and hands, for several minutes, from downward facing dog to up dog. I have never done up dog before, but it was like the Cobra, without touching the floor with anything other than your hands and the tops of feet. OH! Pain! I could feel that! It felt pretty good to be there. It was all younger women, and one young man. Another woman there about my age, she had never been to yoga before and she left after 20 minutes. aww, I felt bad, since it was her first experience and it was a bad one! It was bad, but I made it through. I think I will go again next week. I need to get in to shape, I'm rusty! If you're new to a class, I think if you're new to a class, do not expect to be able to do all the poses and don't feel pressured. I think the instructor was pretty intimidating. Anyways I hope this helps!
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Reply #1 06/25/08 4:03pm
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Reply #2 07/09/08 11:50pm
Yoga can be intimidating. Stretching your body in new ways and some poses really hurt your arms and things...but it is how you get toned up. I prefer using books, cards and dvds. Some days I am just in to much pain to do a full hour or even half hour, some days am to shaky etc so this works for me. I was discouraged in the beginning because it was so hard and I thought if I couldnt do it as long as it says to then I shouldnt do it but that was the wrong attitude. Practice makes perfect. Now I am better at it and know if I can only do it for 10 or 20 mintues that is good. Sometimes just doing some of the relaxing poses are good for you during a stressful day and it makes you want to come back to it once you feel your body stretching, toning up, it getting easier and calming you down. Used to do it before bed and it really helped me relax. Now I do it once a week at least. Will do it more as my health improves hopefully! -
Reply #3 07/10/08 1:08pm
You are right Sage it can be but isn't intended to be intimidating. 10 min a day is great especially to get a kink out or a boost of evergy, there are lots of ways you can do yoga multitasking in your day. Kinda like a sensory diet for the little kids, a yoga activity that you can incorporate into the day. You are at the best age to get lots out of it. Use the reliance on asana to develop your health. Look for you inner spirit when stretching. It is about a body/mind connecction, so yoga is not about the "perfectly performed postures currently marketed" it is about generating health and healing! You know in your mind and many times the work you need to do is in the mind more than the body.
The most important element of yoga training is learning correct breathing. That is something not really taught much. Most teachers do not get it, and there fore the suffering and intimidation seem apparent. Yoga postures are something to do while you breath. First you breath then you stretch. Your breath will accelerate the posture effortlessly if you aer working correctly! -
Reply #4 07/14/08 8:03am
ANY yoga practice that causes pain is NOT a yoga practice. Yoga is about breath, breath and more breath. Up dog should not have been painful at all. That is a very typical Hatha yoga pose and essential to the classical sun salutation. If they are teaching poor form then someone is going to get hurt and very badly. It sounds like you may have done a classical Hatha class where postures are held longer and then you did vinyasa in between. Breath is everything, bandhas are essential, proper alignment......... PLEASE be very careful with this type of class. If you have a great instructor then they will show you how to build strength in order to go from mountain pose to plank to low pushup to updog to downdog and breathe. Sounds like a dangerous class with a bad teacher. Dabbling in intense practices is a sure way to get hurt. Not your fault, the instructor is at fault here. -
Reply #5 07/14/08 8:08am
I guess to sum it up: it is a very gradual process. I can do 90 minutes of Ashtanga because I had a good teacher who was taught by KP Jois for 10 years, worked with Shiva Rea, Sharon Gannon etc etc She built my practice from the ground up. There was NO WAY I could have completed a big 90 minute intense practice safely 7 years ago, it was only through daily practice that I grew without injury.
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