Weekend workshop

Yesterday night I returned from Arjuna's workshop in Frankfurt. Today my whole body is aching, I had forgotten how exhausting it is to practice with Arjuna. But it was a very, very nice weekend. It was cleansing in every aspect: For the body as we sweated buckets during this weekend and ate only healthy stuff, a lot of fruit and so on. For the mind as there were no distractions, only Ashtanga.
It started on Saturday morning with a Primary lead class. We practiced until Triang Mukha Eka Pada Paschimottanasana. These are not very much poses but now imagine that it took us three hours (!) for these poses and then you know why this practice is sooo exhausting. I think we practiced only Surya Namaskaras for one hour. We had to hold the poses forever, also Chaturanga Dandasana. This is what Arjuna often does: He wants to force you in a state where you cannot rely on your body alone any longer. Your muscles and your body strength have given up but still you can hold the pose and remain there. He wants us to experience that the Ashtanga techniques like breath and Bandhas can give you so much energy that you can remain in a pose though your body would have given up for long. It is an interesting state that you can enter this way: sweat is gushing down the body and you are at the limit of what your body can do but though you don't feel the strain. The breath is calm and deep and your whole body is warm and light. You can clearly feel the energy flow through the body, the energy that makes you stay still longer in the pose. It feels great. This is one reason why I love workshops with Arjuna, you can't push yourself in this state.

Additionally he explained some interesting technical details while we were holding our poses:

• Standing positions: Do not only stand on your legs, but try to activate the legs. Try to rotate the thigh outward, the lower leg inward, the heel outward and the forefoot inward again. Sounds very complicated but it's only the idea of what you should do and if you try it e.g. in Virabadhrasana you will see that standing has a new meaning.
• Adho Mukha Svanasana: the index finger is pointing forward. I had the impression that the neck can be relaxed more this way.
• Vinyasas: What I found very interesting: You can try to separate the jump-through and also the jump-back in two little jumps. E.g. when you want to jump-through you can first jump from Adho Mukha Svanasana in a position where the legs are folded beneath you and you sit on your heels and from there with a second jump to the final sitting position. It is important to keep the body small and compact all the time.
• An advice for my hamstring problems: I should try to strain the muscles at the front of the thigh in all forward bends because this leads to relaxation of the hamstring muscles.

Saturday afternoon we had another lesson which was rather playful, we tried arm balances, headstands, vinyasas ... but of course also exhausting!
The next morning Mysore class, I practiced full Primary and in the afternoon another class, where we worked mainly on backbends. For the first time I tried standing backbends and it felt very good, very intensive, no dropback yet, but this will come one day.

So this was a great weekend, very nice to meet all the Ashtangis. This is also great at such a workshop: you meet only people who are committed Ashtanga practicioners and Ashtanga is really a part of their life. Very nice feeling to be part of that.

Mysore class

Tonight I attended my first regular Mysore class. It takes place in Karin's house, Karin is the teacher. Her Yoga room is not big, there is space for perhaps 8 Yogis, but we were only three. She has just started with her classes and therefore they are still quite empty. One man who is beginner and has just learned Surya Namaskara A, one woman who is similar advanced than me and me of course. I sweated buckets, I don't remember when I have sweated so much during practice. Already in Surya Namaskara B it started dripping on the mat and soon my clothes were soaked. Of course it's also due to the hot and humid weather we have here at the moment but there must have been something else too.
I must say it was a very strange feeling to practice together with other people and under the eye of a teacher. After having practiced on my own for so long it is unfamiliar for me. And of course I worked extra hard because of the feeling of being watched. This might also be an explanation for the sweat gush. I guess it was far more exhausting than any home practice could ever be.
My relationship to Karin was a little bit weird during the class. We didn't know each other before, we just said hello and then it started. Her adjustments were good, they could have been a little bit softer but it felt like she knows what she is doing. But I have the feeling that I haven't accepted her completly yet because sometimes when she said something corrective to me I had some thoughts like "but I learned it this way, I want to do it this way, perhaps you just don't know this way ...". And this is of course bullshit. She definitly knows something about Ashtanga and as another person she has a completly different view of my practice and therefore can see things I perhaps cannot. I think I need a humbler attitude towards my practice. When practicing alone there are always some things you don't pay that much attention or things you always do a little bit wrong and it's very useful to have these things revealed.
Anyway I felt very good after the practice, it was very intensive also very exhausting. Let's see how my hamstrings will feel tomorrow. Tomorrow rest day and then workshop with Arjuna. Juhu!