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Communications - February, 2006.
Here you will find regular
communications from Vikasa Yoga that Ash sends out. Weekly emails include a recap
of what we did in the day's class. If you are new to Yoga, you are advised
to seek advise from a medical professional and learn from an experienced
yoga teacher before attempting any routines you find herein or on this site.
Use it at your own risk. You will find most of the routines gentle,
refreshing and rejuvenating. Read
precautions
before you start a practice. The purpose of making available these letters
on the web is for the convenience of those attending classes at Vikasa
Yoga and as a service to others who come across it. Names, where
applicable, are changed to respect privacy.
To Download Audio Files, right-click on links in the
weekly messages at the top-right corner of the message and choose 'Save
Target as' to save the file to a location on your computer. Then play the
file with your favorite media player installed on your computer or
download it to your portable MP3 player.
Click
subscribe to subscribe to weekly communications.
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February 16th, 2006
Class Audio
Files 02/11/2006 9:00 AM
10:30 AM
Namaste,
Yoga Sadhana
(pronounced saw-duh-naa) is defined as the sustained practice of
Yoga. Some writings solely refer Sadhana as the practice of Hatha
Yoga (postures, breath control); but sadhana is a way of life
itself. Raja Yoga (or the King of Yogas) describes eight steps for
Yoga (or Self-realization). These are
-
Yama or
Restraints (non-violence, truth, non-stealing, continence,
non-greed)
-
Niyamas or
principles (purity of thought/action, contentment,
austerities/discipline, Self-study of sacred/spiritual texts,
Surrender to the Almighty.
-
Asanas (Postures)
-
Pranayama (Breath
control)
-
Pratyahara
(Restraint of the senses)
-
Dharana
(Concentration)
-
Dhyana
(meditation)
-
Samadhi (super
conscious state or full awareness)
The practice or sadhana of the above eight steps
leads one to Yoga or Self-realization. A sustained effort at
incorporating all of the above in one's life is also Sadhana. So if
you thought last weekend's storm kept you away from Yoga practice,
that may not be necessarily true.
Pick a day this week to practice one of Yamas or Niyamas
and evaluate your state of mind at the end of day.
This week's sequence:
The sequence below is similar to the one we practiced last week at
the center. We spent a lot of time, about 20 mins, practicing
Pranayama and the rest in simple postures, many of which we
repeated.
|
Sequence |
Remarks |
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Focused Breathing |
Remember, keep the thoughts away; the more
you relax the easier it becomes to still the mind |
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Alternante Nostril Breathing |
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1:2 Pranayama |
Inhale:Exhale ratio; Start with the aim of
increasing your exhalation to be more than inhalation |
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Breath of Fire |
Do 2-3 rounds of 10-15 rapid inhalations and
exhalations |
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Seated Mountain |
Twice |
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Seated side bend |
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Yoga Mudra |
To the sides and front |
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Seated back-arch |
With hands to the back |
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Simple twist |
Twice; vary the position of the wrist on the
outside knee |
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Simple twist variation |
With one leg extended; other folded |
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Seated Bound angle |
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Seated Hero/Diamond |
Try to keep the feet apart and sit on the mat
if possible |
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Child's posture |
Keep the knees a bit separate so as to breath
more easily |
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Sphinx |
Keep lowest ribs in touch with mat; elbows on
the mat |
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Full Cobra |
Keep hands ahead if they tire early |
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Locust variation |
Rest the hands on the mat if necessary |
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Bow |
Hold as long as comfortable |
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Knee-to-chest |
Keep both feet pointing up; alternante with
each leg |
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roll on back with head up, side-to-side and
front-to-back |
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Corpse |
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End with Namaste |
See you all this weekend,
Regards,
Ash Aragam, RYT
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February
9th, 2006
Class Audio
files 02/04/2006 10:30 AM;
Plymouth
Balvihar 02/05/2006 3:00 PM
Namaste,
Inclement weather this weekend:
The
forecast is that it will snow this Saturday. Depending on the
forecast tomorrow evening, we will decide on center closure. Please
call 215-514-3089 for center closing after
8 PM
tomorrow.
Technology can be a boon:
Many of
you have asked for a recorded session of classes at the center.
Great news! Yoga classes at the center and other places where I
teach are now available as audio podcasts and available for your
listening on any Podcast client - iTunes, RadioRSS, Juice, etc. (See
http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html for a
list of podcast clients).. I found RadioRSS to be great; iTunes is
very popular and you may be already familiar if you use an iPod.
Once you have any of these free clients
installed, you need to specify the podcast publisher's url (called
RSS feed), which would be http://www.vikasayoga.com/podcasts.rss. On
iTunes, just search/browse for 'vikasa yoga'.
Each
of these podcasts are about an hour of class I teach at different
places and beware, each is approximately 20MB is size!. It is FREE
until my host's server starts to crash!
If you have questions or need help, please call
me any weekday evening after 8 PM and I can help you setup your
computer to get you started listening to these podcasts.
Sequence of the week:
Below,
please find a sequence that covers pretty much all parts of the
body. This sequence is similar to the one we practiced last week.
|
Sequence |
Remarks |
|
Focused Breathing |
Remember, with each and every breath you want
to get as much 'Saransh' as possible |
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Yoga Mudra |
To the sides and front |
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Seated back-arch |
With hands to the back |
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Simple twist |
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Cow-Cat Stretch |
Swing your legs alternatively, bent at the
knees as you stretch the spine |
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Seated Hero/Diamond |
Try to keep the feet apart and sit on the mat
if possible |
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Child's posture |
Keep the knees a bit separate so as to breath
more easily |
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Intermediate Sun salutation |
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Wide-legged forward bend |
Keep back lengthened |
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Wide-legged Spinal Twist |
Keep back parallel to mat |
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Line posture |
Try to keep the entire trunk and the back leg
in as straight a line as possible; look down |
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Full Cobra |
Keep hands ahead if they tire early |
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Locust variation |
Rest the hands on the mat if necessary |
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Bow |
Hold as long as comfortable |
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Supine bound angle |
Arch the lower back up |
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Knee-to-chest |
Keep both feet pointing up; alternate with
each leg |
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roll on back with head up, side-to-side and
front-to-back |
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Corpse |
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End with Namaste |
See you all soon.
Regards,
Ash Aragam, RYT
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February 2nd,
2006
Class Audio Files:
Plymouth
Balvihar 01/29/2006 3:00 PM
Namaste,
Did you know that by
practicing Yoga, that you are making a sustained effort in raising
your consciousness level? In describing the Patanjali's sutra 1.2
(The cessation of the fluctuations of the mind is Yoga), sage Vyasa
names five states of mind -
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Disturbed
-
Dull
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Distracted
-
One-pointed
-
Mastered
For an excellent
discussion of the different states, please visit swamiji.
Sequence of the week:
Below, please find a sequence that covers pretty much
all parts of the body. This sequence is similar to the one we
practiced last week. If you recall, there was a lot more Pranayama
techniques we practiced. Remember, however, that an asana session
isn't just about the body. Once you reach a position/stance of
comfort, the mind can keep itself free of thoughts and
just become the Seer.
|
Sequence |
Remarks |
|
Warm up |
Stretch arms up/down; front/back; rotate, etc |
|
Intermediate Sun Salutation |
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Hero variation |
Legs bent, arms parallel to mat; try relaxing the legs |
|
Wide-legged forward bend |
Keep back lengthened |
|
Wide-legged Spinal Twist |
Keep back parallel to mat |
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Wide-legged side bend |
Lengthen the back; release the head |
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One-legged Bird |
Eyes on the ground |
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Half Camel |
Keep thighs straight |
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Diamond |
Try to sit on the floor instead of the heels |
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Extended Camel |
Keep thighs straight |
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Diamond |
Try to sit on the floor instead of the heels |
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Full Cobra |
Keep hands ahead if they tire early |
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Locust variation |
Rest the hands on the mat if necessary |
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Bow |
Hold as long as comfortable |
|
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Supine bound angle |
Arch the lower back up |
|
Knee-to-chest |
Keep both feet pointing up; alternate with each leg |
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roll on back with head up, side-to-side and front-to-back |
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Corpse |
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Focused Breathing |
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Alternate Nostril Breathing |
Keep the breath complete |
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Shitali |
Tongue curled up |
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Sitkari |
Tongue flat between slightly open teeth |
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Suryabedhana |
Inhale through right nostril; exhale through left |
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Chandrabendhana |
Inhale through left nostril; exhale through right |
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Kapalabathi - breath of fire |
Try 2-3 rounds of 10-50 breaths each |
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Jalandhara Bandha |
Throat lock |
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End with Namaste |
Keep up your
personal practice. Yoga is a way of living and your life itself is
its continued practice. See you all next week.
Regards,
Ash Aragam, RYT
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Copyright (c) Vikasa Yoga 2004. All rights reserved. |
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