Chronicles of an Old Loose Ashtangi

Ashtanga is a very demanding and potentially hurting practice. We literally entrust our bodies to our teachers. So, how far should we trust them? Perhaps a wrong question with no right answers. Think of it - do we always trust our instinct or judgment? Let’s see, first things first: we do not trust people, we trust our opinion on them. Talking bad, we don't know shit about anyone (a semi-laundered but weaker quote of and old friend's motto: "we don't know shit about fuck"), so there should be no rationale or logical reason to trust others or not. All this may seem overly harsh and cynical. But, in reality trust is something that springs from us, it is our projection, like a transfer process. Because, trust is basically expectations hoping to be fulfilled - nothing less, nothing more. And when expectations are not satisfied our ego aches and swears. So, trust originally and primarily depends on our disposition more than arising from other people's facts and dee...

On days of discomfort, unease or anxiety, practicing is extremely difficult for me because my mind won't calm down and the whole sequence suffers from that situation. When I used to run it was different: during those taxing days I literally kept running on empty until I got myself exhausted and all the released endorphins were able to appease or at least deceive my mind. With ashtanga, on the other hand, I won't get that tired no matter what, there is always something holding me back and therefore I don't get the same effect because I just can't fool the mind. But yesterday, by strictly controlling my breath and focusing on its flow from start to finish, I finally managed, perhaps for the first time since practicing Ashtanga, to soften my mind and soothe, or at least silence, an overly anxious state. The good news is that this was achieved not by exhaustion but through a controlled state. I started by saying to myself "just a few sun salutations and ...

El viernes pasado @ashtangayogaprem y un servidor asistimos a una led class, como siempre de @mariadimasso Disfrutamos y sufrimos a la vez 😅😁😎 Las clases guiadas son un excelente complemento de la autopráctica. Sin lugar a duda constituyen una gran oportunidad de asegurarnos que practicamos correctamente los vinyasas. Además, al tener que ceder el ritmo de nuestra respiración al profesor para seguir su recuento, nuestro ritual de cada día estará bajo los mandos de otra persona. De esa manera se incrementa la disciplina y mejoran nuestra fuerza y resistencia, tanto mental como física – tanto interna como externa – ya que las posturas más desafiantes se cuentan al mismo ritmo que las posturas más sencillas.    En realidad creo que la “guiada” es una fuente de autoconocimiento y autoenseñanza. Todos tenemos unas posturas que no nos gustan (o que nos gustan menos y donde sufrimos más) y en las cuales, en nuestra práctica diaria, nos apresuramos para salir “lo antes posible”. E...

Dristhi Por mi personal y limitada experiencia creo que el Ashtanga no va ni de posturas ni de formas (y tampoco de nuestras queridas fotos de las mismas 😉 ). De hecho las posturas serían lo que menos importa en este método compuesto por asana, respiración y mirada, casi una excusa o justificación plástica para introducir otros aspectos. En primer lugar va de disciplina. Tanto física como mental, siendo ambas facetas interdependientes. De hecho si pensamos que nació para entretener y "mantener a raya" a un grupo de niños (y niñas!) y adolescentes del entorno del maharajá de Mysore, es bastante lógico: la diversión a través del esfuerzo físico servía para, o tenía la función primaria de, disciplinar y aplacar a esa panda de pequeños monstruos. Hay unas fotos grupales de Krishnamacharya con su pelotón de chiquillos y chavales que dan claramente cuenta de ello. Krishnamacharya con un grupo de alumnos Así que vamos despejando dudas sobre sus supuestos orígenes perdidos en el...

  Karnapidasana Properly performing some asanas may seem like bending spoons. But what does "properly" actually mean, as opposed to awkwardly or wrongly? And what’s more, what does it mean to your body (right now)? It may seem a silly question, but postures are challenging in many ways - just by themselves or depending on our mood, fit, nerves, hours of sleep, emotions, as well as on the weather, the actual hour (early morning vs. afternoon practice), the time of the year, and a large etcetera. Too many factors to then being actually able to keep everything under control. It should be obvious, but it's not that obvious to everyone. In these times when experts are mushrooming and sold by the scores, and everyone can claim scot-free to be an expert of anything, I must admit I am far from being an authority on the subject. But, and it's a big but, I keep on practicing five to six days a week, so perhaps I do have some food for thought I can share. Perfectioning has never...