Last Taj Class will be May 20th
Theme: advanced poses and making them accessible
Handstand – Peacocks – Headstand – Birds – Backbends – Twists – ForwardBends – ShoulderStand- BreathWork – CorpsePose
Handstand – वृक्षासन
In advanced practice, handstand is a great warm up. You can move all the joints. It is energizing and a boost to physical confidence.
Preliminary: Walk up the wall. Until you can stay here for a minute you should not try to jump up even against a wall.
Step 1: Up against a wall. You’ll find it easier on one side but you need to practice until you can come up with either leg first.
Step 2: Once you can come up on either side, work on coming up with both feet together.
Step 3: Balancing. Take one foot off the wall then the other. Eventually you’ll be able to balance. I found it helpful to learn balance by pressing my head on the wall. Don’t let the back sway excessively. Obviously you need some arching in the back but as little as possible. Use a wall until you are comfortable and can drop into a back arch with ease.
Peacock – piñca mayūrāsana
In some ways, this is Handstand’s baby brother. but it’s a great shoulder and core strengthener.
It’s useful to take a block between the hands to keep the wrists apart and a belt round the elbows to stop them slipping outwards.
You can prepare the shoulders by doing down-dog with elbows on the floor before trying to jump up.
Headstand
Use a wall until comfortable with the pose. Then move the arms to improve balance.
Practice dropping from three point headstand to back arch. The secret is rolling the head until the forehead is almost at the floor. This is much easier in three point headstand but these are the best images I have
Balance Poses
Astavakrasana and moving in the pose. These poses are fun to add to your practice. Watch how to move through Astravakrasana just after 1 minute into the video.
Mr Iyengar taught classes like this at least once a week in 1977.
When I learned these poses I always kept butt down and head up.
Backbends
Moving from the basic backbends to the advanced backbends is all about rotating the shoulder.
Twists
maricy I and matsyendra II to relieve our backs. Here’s a picture of Dona Holleman being assisted into the full pose.
I have never achieved the full pose without assistance!
Forward Bends
Kurmasana
ShoulderStand
When stable, start moving mindfully
BreathWork and Relax