We began sitting in Sukhasana - preparing for the Invocation to Patanjali. Uday gave us a few instructions to lifting the spine - opening the chest and we chanted together. He implored us to not be egotistical in the chanting - but to try to connect with the vibration of the Invocation within - and then to take that vibration into our practice. As an aside - when Uday tells you to do something he is not critiquing you like a small child, he is not putting you down - he is encouraging you all the time with a smile so you can experience something of the teaching he received from BKS Iyengar.
Tadasana - We stood he observed… Then he began to teach by starting with the feet. He explained with clear demo about the importance of the arch of the foot - the arch of the foot must lift - Then we moved to the inner ankle lifting to the outer ankle - not horizontally through the ankle but over the top of the foot.
He talked about cues or instructions being over done - this was an important theme throughout the workshop. For example the instruction to spread the toes - if this goes on and on and on the arch actually drops - all the cues must have a corresponding action so they don’t cause disturbance - so spread the toes must be accompanied by a lift of the arch with a corresponding action of lifting the inner ankle to the outer ankle.
Back to Tadasana - whole different feel with the arch/ankle work - add a lift from inner knee to sit bones and shift the weight back, broaden thighs, move corners of shoulders back , lengthen arms - bobs your aunty!
Ankle Preparation
Be on all fours , bend knees to floor and tuck toes under, lift knees slightly off the floor, roll back on the feet towards the heels to stretch the ankle. You can do one foot at a time, you can feel the work of the ankle, shin so strongly, extend the heel back as much as possible til you come to malasana and heel comes to the floor ( next lifetime for me - but it still felt like work I so need to do) Lift the trunk, abdomen away from the thighs. Hold, repeat a lot. There is no once or twice repeat with Uday - 5 or 6 repeats is normal.
Trikonasana at the wall
With the right foot up the wall - well up the wall with the heel as close as possible, bending left leg to get in - straighten left leg, straighten right leg, get arch, ankle work from previous, rotation in top thigh - use wall to level up trunk - trikonasana. Repeat.
Tadasana
OmG the difference in the Tadasana - do it you won’t believe it.
Malasana to Utkatasana
Starting form Malasana Prep position - extend heels as before roll back to malasana - , try to do it with no support for the heels, roll over on the floor if you have to - good for ego annihilation. Get the heels down and back and then move inner heel to the outer. Then take the minimum height you need for the heels ( lots for me but I could feel my determination rising to master this action and get my ankles back!) - then lift the trunk off the legs, back is coming to concave but not to over dig in the lumbar - extend the back of the legs as much as possible. Grip in the outer hips. Down with the heels and an inner heel to outer heel action. Push up to Utkatasana - keep the weight in the heels, grip in the hips so back can extend and abdomen can lift. The pose should not just be felt in the quads. Eyes up. Repeat many many times.
Utkatasana to Malasana
Don’t just lower the trunk onto the thighs, get ankle action, shift the body weight back into the heels so much you fall backwards… only 2 people did that! Ha ha we like to play it safe. Extend back thighs.
We then came to the whole talk of which way does the pelvis tilt in Utkatasana. Like many Iyengar students I have been taught to bring the top buttock down and tuck the tailbone in. Uday - and this is why he is my favourite teacher - explains very clearly when to do this and when not to do this. If a student is over dipping in the lumbar - then it is appropriate for that student to bring the top buttock down and lift the abdomen, however if the student is already in a posterior tilted pelvis and has not extension on the back leg ( basically most of us) then that cue makes no logical sense as you are placing that student in a deeper posterior tilt - keeping the natural curves of the spine will always be the way to go. If you doubt me look in light on yoga page 89, plate 42 its very clear that Guruji is not tucking his tailbone under.
Repeat many times, arms up - you shouldn’t see your hands. Weight back. Just go down to where you can, if you can’t get to malasana - stop where you lose the actions. Stiffness in back, knees or ankles will always limit movement in this pose. Without hip grip the lower back cannot lift and the pose is heavy on the quads.
Adho Mukha Svanasana going to Uttanasana
In AMS stretch arms, lift the heels then extend them back as in the Malasana preparation with that ankle work…. get the lift in the arch, the roll of inner ankle to outer. - observe grip in outer hips. Move the outer knee back, move inner knees to sit bones making the inner legs tall, tall tall. Lift sit bones. Move the hands in a few inches, repeat all the actions. Move hands in again a few inches. Repeat all the actions. Move the hands in til you come to Uttanasana with the AMS actions - “does it feel different?” asks Uday - Holy Cow Uday yes it does !
Trikonasana
All the arch, ankle, rotation of the leg work, outer knee back - on both legs simultaneously. We just did the feet many times, without going down, maintaining the back leg thigh back and rotating the front leg as much as possible, from the metatarsals, lifting inner ankle to outer, rotating thigh. When we did go down the aim was to keep the back leg very strong - thigh back. Uday brought us up and showed on a student - a common mistake in Trikonasana is to lose the back leg and let the hips tilt down to front leg - he placed a belt on the student’s back leg upper thigh, supported her outer foot and lifted her inner leg up and back - with this action the left side of the torso should lift away from the right side of the torso, you could see from the shaking of the student’s legs that this was creating a very different muscular action in her body. Repeat
Spreading legs apart.
In this part of the lateral standing Asanas it’s clear the thighs come forward - we worked in partners helping each other to keep the thighs back - if the thighs come forward and the buttocks drop then the hamstring shortens and the knee takes a toll. In Tadasana it’s easier, but as the legs spread wider it becomes way more difficult - practice that. In Tadasana and in all standing poses. Go to the wall and use the wall to understand thighs back not shins back. Broadening the back of the thigh - a cue I always struggle with. Do not tilt the pelvis either posteriorly or anteriorly. Understand that some people will be one way, some another. Cues are individual.
Trikonasana
With back to the wall to get the back leg thigh back - very different, front leg buttock tucked in. Keep left side of the trunk to the left away from the right. Love it. Repeat. If you keep dropping all the weight of the trunk onto the front leg eventually the front leg will complain - Awareness, energy, intention in the back leg and keeping the left side of the torso away from the right - result is not loading hip/knee/ankle joint - feels way more connected. It also really helps to come out of the pose.
Virabhadrasana 2
Same movements - keep left side of torso to the left, keep back leg thigh back and up.
Parsvokonasana
Use a brick if you need to - keep the torso lifted up even as you are going down otherwise your loading the front leg way too much. Don’t collapse down even if you are flexible, supple. From Parsvokonasana go to Trikonasana - feel front leg buttock tuck in - way way more, do the transition twice feel the difference - observe how when you move does the buttock come out - if so catch that and work there. Bingo.
Ardha Chandrasana
The Big One! As you transition from Trikonasana to Parsvokonasana to Ardha Chandrasana observe - where do you lose the grip of the hip of the front leg in Trikonasana and standing leg in Ardha Chandrasana - the tuck- in levels are ridiculously high ! Watch when does the knee come forward and the hip pop out - Use a brick ! Use a wall! Observe and be vigilant on the way in and the way out of the pose - I notice in my desire to reach the floor I neglected the hip and out she popped ! If you maintain the lift of the arch you will maintain the buttock action.
On top of all this brilliance - maintain the raised leg like back leg in Trikonasana - thigh back and inner thigh to outer thigh - inner shin to outer shin. Maintain the left side of the torso lifting away from the right side.
Uday encouraged us to break the pose down into little pieces.
Holy Jemoly on the buttock action! Did I feel that one the next day ! Repeat many times !
Dandasana
Heels down. Same arch action. Try to pull the mat apart - hello outer hips hello groins. Get the lift from the lower back - deep down. But find that lift in successive inhalations, not in one aggressive action. Inner knees to inner groins - make them sharper. Sides of the trunk lift, but shoulder girdle down, spread outer corners of the shoulders.
Paschimottonasana
With the above action in the heels, the hinging of the trunk happened much lower down in the back, the whole spine moved in one direction. Don’t be aggressive. Amazing !
Prasarita Padottonasana
Head down.
Uttanasana
Bharadvajasana
Savasana
Saturday Afternoon
We start with Supta Baddha Konasana
We were flat on the floor. Here Uday got us observing the natural curve of the spine - from lumbar to thoracic. Not to flatten the spine in this pose. Lengthen the spine - move the thoracic away from the lumbar. When you adjust the shoulders don’t puff up the chest or ribs. My hips kill me in SBK so Uday put a block between my feet and told me to keep my buttocks active in SBK.
Savasana
From the above SBK and the focus on the natural curves - it was clear in Savasana that these curves get distorted if you rush in - so very slowly - when you straighten the legs keep them active as in Supta Tadasana for some time keep the toes up and legs active - then in successive breaths and over time release gently the legs - the curves are maintained and it feels like a whole different savasana. Very powerful. Spread and soften the diaphragm. Let the breath spread and percolate. After Uday asked if the floor got hard and uncomfortable - if it did that reflects that you went too fast and didn’t spread the body in savasana - but that the sore part was loaded - he referred to the bed of nails and how the fakir would spread himself on the bed of nails so as not to be narrow and sharp anywhere - but rather to be broad and blunt.
Sitting Breath Observation
Don’t collapse the lower back. Don’t take too much height or the pelvis collapses forward. Just take enough height so the lower back can find the lift without strain. So not knees in line with groins necessarily. Adjust the buttocks and descend the groins. Observe the curve of the back here. The asanas build up the strength to hold sitting for longer. I can’t write about this part as I went deep inside and I have no memory of anything Uday said here. Apologies.
Sunday Morning
Sukhasana
Take the same height you needed yesterday for sitting. Get the lift in the spine from the base - do not be aggressive, go slow and allow the breath to lift the spine and open the chest in successive inhalations. Look at nature - how a flower blossoms, organically, smoothly - in that manner let your asanas bloom. Feel the emotion of the Invocation - take that emotion into your practice. Beautiful.
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Long hold to stretch out the legs. Uday gave very few instructions - allowing us time to perceive our legs, bodies, breath, mind in the AMS.
Uttanasana
Utkatasana to Malasana
Just go as far as you can. Keep the weight back in the heels. Extend the back of the thighs. Tuck the buttock as well - lift the trunk. Don’t posterior tilt the pelvis, it burdens the knees, if the hips are working the trunk willl lift and the lower back will lift.
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Hands on bricks. Get the pelvis lifting. If the pelvis drops the lumbar bulges. Uday gave a great demo of the pelvis lifting in AMS. We worked in partners then, with a belt over pelvic rim coming up between the legs and over the sitting bones, the teacher stands on the head side and draws the belt strongly over the sitting bones diagonally. You can use the forearms on the back to encourage movement there, but don’t over do it. Whenever you make and adjustment or use a prop - ask yourself - what does the classic pose look like - your adjustment should replicate that. So don’t push the forearms too much so the lumber is pushed in. Observe the abdomen and the space there when the pelvis is adjusted in this way. Brilliant adjustment.
Ardha Uttanasana with Bricks
Do the pose, bend the legs a little - get same pelvic action as the AMS partner above. Move the abdomen forward - get that space. Use the top of the thigh. Inner legs tall and sharp.
Parsvottonasana
Get the length on the right back thigh - you can feel such an imprint from the AMS belt work. Along with this move the outer right hip back. Along with this left outer hip has to come forward and do the asana as well. And along with this grip the outer hips in. All of this has to happen simultaneously.
In demonstrating on a student Uday explains so clearly how this pose is difficult as we can’t see our pelvis. The back leg tends to do absolutely as little as possible and the front leg gets completely loaded. He told us to change the alignment of the pose - so move the back leg out to the left and make it shorter in distance from the right. Then press the back leg outer heel down. Mine actually hurt that night.
We all took partners and helped each other to get the hips level. Don’t just level the hips but encourage the greater trochanter to move in on a diagonal.
Don’t turn the back toes in too much or there will be no grip of the outer hip.
Ground the outer edge of the back foot.
Don’t lean on the front leg in any asana - or the joints will suffer ( damn - over 20 years of that) get the back leg doing something, if the back leg was a person she would be sitting in a chair doing nothing. So interesting and so refreshing and so helpful to practice in this way. Uday wasn’t seeing the back leg action - so we backed up and broke the pose down into teeny pieces.
Step the feet apart - from here move the back leg wider and shorter. Find the outer edge of the back foot - get the hips level, get the hips gripped. Stay standing - get the imprint. Spending time here felt very different. Find the lift of the inner groin on the back leg. Observe - use your hands to find the rib to hip connection - get this distance tall. Weight in the back leg. Get the inner lift of both legs - go on blossoming.
This time jump the feet apart - not too wide - allow the misalignment as you would allow a prop. With the jump the hips grip much better ! Without the jump the pose is dull and starting facing the short end of the mat the pose is even duller.
We spent a lot of time turning the feet. Jump pivot on the right heel 90 degrees, lift left toes up and pivot - I don’t know what is wrong with me but I can’t do that at all - practice ! - we repeated the feet turning 3 times - don’t lift the heel - this keep the alignment spread too. You will be stable and turn better. Big improvement in the hip grip.
Finally we can go down! Go up and down quite swiftly 6 times - to find out where the instability is - when the back leg goes, when the hip pops out. Correct that shakiness. My outer foot is actually sore !
Uttanasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Upavista Konasana
To rest the legs - not too wide at first, after a few minutes, widen the legs.
Baddha Konasana
Bharadvajasana
This was so cool and a complete revelation - in partners we worked together to get the base right - a double belt at the top of the right thigh near sitting bone, anchor the top side of the belt with one hand and draw the flesh on the thigh side of the sitting bone outwards and sit down at the same time on a support just supporting the sitting bone. Amazing. I can never get the hips level here or feel grounded - this is why I love Uday - he knows stuff ! The pose is so much more soothing now. No more resting on the outer hip for me or my students.
Sunday Afternoon
Supta Baddha Konasana
Total opposite from yesterday afternoon - now we hold the ankles and really arch the back creating a big curve - great to lengthen the arms and the neck. I do wish I had an extra inch of arm.
Urdhva Hastasana
To lengthen the arms
Prasarita Padottonasana
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
Open the armpits in an upward diagonal direction. My wrist has been hurting - Uday says lift wrist and ground the finger mounds. Don’t come off the wall or you will drop into your wrist a lot more. Go up with the weaker leg.
Pinca Mayurasana
Open the armpits in the diagonal direction.
Sirsasana
Brick behind the head - hold brick with thumbs on top if you can reach. Press the thumb down to open the armpits in the upward diagonal direction. You can do all this just in Sirsasana prep. Gives stability to the upper back and shoulder girdle. Uday compared the slump of the lower back in dandasana to the slump of the neck vertebrae in sirsasana - however the discs of the lower back are much bigger - the neck vertebrae are delicate and small and must therefore be protected from weight bearing. His teaching and demos are so clear.
Paschimottonasana
Fold mat into 6 and sit on the edge . Bend your legs dig in heels. Pull yourself to the front of your sitz bones. Press heels strongly down and straighten the legs. Gives a great lift to the lower back/ pelvic rim.
Make a small loop for the belt and place it on the heels - feet narrower than the hips or it can pinch. Hit out the heels in to the belt. This gives you your hip grip and broadens the back of the thigh.
Lift the arms and begin to go forward but keep the arms up - you should not see your hands. Keep going in a forward action.
Problems in Paschimottonasana come from either dropping the neck spine. Or splitting in the spine so the lower back drops back and down and the lumbar goes convex and bulges. You must move the spine in one direction - in and up.
When you are down go on moving the false ribs forward away from the pelvis. True ribs away from false ribs. If you pull with the arms ( which a lot of people do) you create tension in the neck.
Bharadvajasana
Does the pose feel different ??? Repeat. I never realised Bharadvajasana is such a good meter as to the work done.
Halasana and Parsva Halasana
Keep the same work in the hips. lift the buttocks up. Don’t lose the height as you go for Parsva.
Savasana
We had a teachers class on Monday but its just too difficult to explain the adjustments we learnt so I decided to call it a day. If there is anything that doesn’t seem correct email me - its no reflection on Uday but rather a reflection on my ability to recollect and record and of course perceive. Thank you to Uday for an amazing Convention. This work is dedicated to BKS Iyengar.
