Day 16: Week III begins

                        

(Image courtesy : hom yoga) 

Date : 16 October 2013, Wednesday
Day : 16

My second class for Wednesday was Anton's Hatha. After loads of twists and turns and ups and downs in a flow, Hatha, looks like a breeze. Haha. I know loads of folks in the studio who shy away from turning a flow class or an ashtanga and religiously go only for Hatha and Hom. Mostly because they are "Bikram" classes and assist in weight loss. :) I don't know about schools of yoga too much, but  I know that yoga is universal and no one can claim to own it. But that's my opinion and I might be wrong. But if weight loss is your objective, I can guarantee you, a flow or an ashtanga is 10X more intense than Hatha. So i try telling as many people as I can to try flow, I love the uncertainty it brings and how each teacher has their own different style. But to each his own, as long as you enjoy your practice, it doesn't matter what you are doing ! 

So week III has started, (yay!) and the theme for this week is Restoration.

"This week we explore the multifaceted theme of restoration. As we pass the halfway mark, your body may start to show signs of fatigue and soreness as it adjusts to the demands of your physical yoga practice. This is time to really honor the signals of the body in class and to take care of you with plenty of rest, sleep and nourishment. From a broader perspective our yoga practice also serves tp highlight those areas in our lives that drain and deplete, or that no longer serves us. Take time to reflect on how you might start to move away from these habits, to free up your time for activities that instead restore, energize and heal."

The class today was as refreshing as always. And my big achievement from the class was being able to do the toe-stand. Well, only for like 30 seconds, but hey! it's a start ok! So today I'll talk about Padangustasana or the toe stand. It looks like this: 



This asana helps in strengthening you stomach, hips, stomach, ankles and knees. It is known to be a very tough posture. And it indeed is.

Here are the brief steps to get in to the padangustasana (thanks to this awesome site!)

1) Stand straight and put your feet together. Keep your arms on your sides and relax

2) Put all your weight on your  left leg.  Lift your right foot up to your left thigh. Put your hands together in front of you like in prayer position.

3) Still with your right leg crossed to your left thigh, move both your hands down 4 feet in front of your  for support and  bend forward as far as you can.

4) Continue to move forward until your behind is slightly touching your left heel. Your left feet is not flat on the ground, you are balancing on the balls of your left foot. Keep your spine straight and suck in your stomach. Get your hands back to the sides of your body.

5) Maintain your balance and move your left hand up to your chest. Keep your balance and move your right hand to meet your left hand in prayer.

Now repeat all this on the right side :)

So I manage to usually sit down and raise one hand but never the other. But today I was able to bring the other hand up in prayer and maintain my balance for 30 seconds. Anton says the trick is to not sit on your heels, just let it slightly touch. Now that I have managed get my hands up in prayer, I will try staying there for longer. Let's see how that works out. 

Namaste.