Workshop with Arjuna, II

Juhu, I am on holiday now! Yesterday was the last working day for this year, it ended with an excessive christmas party at my company. Now two and a half weeks without work are coming and this is just great. So much time just for me and of course my darling. And I really need this time now because I really have to think about how everything will go on at the job and so on.

But I wanted to tell more about the workshop: We started on last saturday with a 3,5 hour session in the morning. We did sun salutations, some of standing positions where Arjuna explained once again the correct alignment and then inserted some extra positions as preparation for back bending. We did a lot of stretching of the M. Iliopsoas and played with splits and handstand variations. Then we came back to the sequence and practiced until Kapotasana. For every pose Arjuna showed variations that were possible for everyone. The first back bends of Intermediate like Shalabasana, Danurasana and Ushtrasana are not so complicated. These are very basic poses, you can find them in many beginner Hatha Yoga classes and I think everyone can practice these. But of course then comes the hard stuff and especially for Kapotasana many people have to work really hard. After Ushtrasana we did some interesting partner exercises for working on the back bend. The practicioner comes in the starting position for Ushtrasana, one helper kneels before him and pushes with his hands against the hip of the practicioner for stabilization. The other helper lies behind the practicioner and puts one foot on the sacrum of the practicioner, the other foot between the bladebones. Then the practicioner arches back and tries to stretch out the arms behind him. The helper who lies behind grabs the hands and slightly pulls. Hm, I hope this is imaginable. This way the back bend could be deepened nicely. But in fact there was only one man who was able to do something that can be named Kapotasana.
One advice Arjuna gave on Kapotasana: Don't bring the head on the floor too soon. If the head is on the floor but is still away from your feet you have almost no chance for getting there, then the pose is over. Instead keep on hanging in the air and try to bring your hands on the floor. Then go on arching and try to walk your hands to your feet. Only if the hands are on the feet you can try to bring down your head. Of course this is much more exhausting, but Arjuna's practice is always exhausting.
Then we had a lunch break, in the afternoon we did a rather relaxing hip-opening practice with tries on Eka Pada Sirsasana.
The other morning we practiced almost complete Intermediate, we only omitted two poses. It was a little bit absurd because again there was only one man who was able to do the positions the way they were intended. Almost all other people had to do variations. But it was interesting to see that there are variations for every position. Of course it does not make much sense to practice it this way, but it was interesting. It was a funny, playful atmosphere, also in the afternoon. Arjuna always wants the people to play with poses and to try things that seem impossible. So we played a lot with Bakasana, Pincha Mayurasana, Karandavasana, Mayurasana and so on. It was fun and I think many people had some highlights. My highlight: I balanced Pincha Mayurasana on my own for several seconds!
Arjuna's practice always brings you to your edge, he takes you out of your comfort zone so that you have the chance to move your limits and make progress. He also wants us to learn a kind of childish attitude towards practice. When we come to difficult poses we often have thoughts like 'I cannot do this', 'I will never learn this' and so on. A child doesn't know these thoughts, a child just tries and sees what will happen. This is the attitude we should also adopt for our practice.
So it was a hard and challenging weekend, but of course very informative and inspiring. And Arjuna is just great, if I had to call someone my Guru it would be him.