The Yoga Central Blog

January 31, 2006

A Road Map to Urdhva Dhanurasana

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

Here’s an excerpt from a great email I just received from a new Daily Yoga Tip reader, Peggy:

Other than all the good goals like better, healthier living etc. my “intention” is to someday achieve a totally unassisted backbend from a standing position — something I have never been able to do. It’s interesting that none of the videos nor the books I have give a “roadmap” such as first work on opening the shoulders, develop stronger abdominal muscles, do this, do that, and then try a backbend. Will I one day just be able to do a backbend?

Wow. Great question, Peggy.

Peggy brings to light a wonderful mystery. If I practice yoga, will I one day “just be able to” ______________? You fill in the blank.

You might want to bend over and touch your toes. Or, you might want to ride in the car pain-free. You might desire to balance on your head or sit in lotus position for meditation. You might want to look or feel younger.

The truth is, if you practice yoga, you might “just be able to” achieve your desire.

But, you might not.

What Peggy has done, however, is wise. She’s started by declaring an intention. She wants to stand in mountain pose, tadasana, and drop over backwards into upward facing bow pose, urdhva dhanurasana.

And more, once she declared her intention, she started looking for a way to get from where she is to where she wants to be. She calls it a road map.

I call it a teaching progression.

When I train teachers, we spend a lot of time working on how to take people just as they are, build progessively over time by giving them experiences, and get them to where they want to be (or even to a place they don’t know they want to be…yet).

Sequencing experiences, stringing together a series of small, intentional accomplishments that add up to an enormous breakthrough in performance, is an art. It’s a skill that is honed by good teachers.

Want to accomplish something great? Declare an intention and find a guide. Find a great teacher who can give you a sequence to follow, a roadmap.

Peggy’s right. A book can’t do it. A DVD can’t do it. They’re not interactive enough. But a teacher can.

If you don’t have a teacher, start looking today. Hopefully you’ll pick one who teaches progressively, with intention and sequence.

If no teachers are available to you, don’t stop practicing! But keep looking for your teacher. He or she is easiest to find when you’ve declared your intention to find a teacher.

Don’t just read about it. Get up. Experience it. Experience yoga!

Kevin Perry

www.ExperienceYoga.org

p.s., We’re leaving early Friday morning, flying to Philadelphia. The Experience Sanskrit workshop is on the road again this Saturday morning (February 4th) at 9:00 am at the Twisted Guru in Downingtown, PA. It’s a fun, four-hour workshop that makes learning and remembering the Sanskrit yoga pose names unforgettable. Register
here
. You get a 100+ page manual to use and keep.

After the Experience Paradise yoga vacation in Yelapa, Mexico we’ll be on the road again doing the Experience Sanskrit workshop in Annapolis, Maryland on March 4th. On Sunday March 5th, we’re staying over an extra day at the Golden Heart yoga studio in Annapolis for an Anusara-inspired asana workshop. Don’t miss these great opportunities to deepen your practice of yoga. Register here.

p.p.s., Yelapa is calling you. Experience Paradise in sunny Yelapa Mexico. If you’ve enjoyed these Daily Yoga Tips, you’ll really enjoy the live yoga training you’ll receive from me and Sallie Keeney when we return to Yelapa February 18-25. Register
here
. Space is still available.

p.p.p.s., Imagine that! Several days ago I announced the Sanskrit word of the day is angustha, my favorite Sanskrit word. But I didn’t tell you what it means, even though I promised I would.

And none of you wrote to rant about it!?! How kind of you. Angustha means ‘big toe.’ Pad
angustha
sana has the word root angustha in it.

That’s a pic of Rusty Wells doing padangusthasana. He’s grabbing his big toes on the ends of his pada. (Pada means foot or leg.)

p.p.p.p.s., Today’s Sanskrit word of the day is dhanu. It’s a word root found in the name of the yoga pose that Daily Yoga Tip reader, Peggy, wants to do. I’ll tell you next time what it means.

Copyright 2006.

All rights reserved, Mo Yoga LLC.

Kevin Perry

Mo Yoga LLC

905 Eastland Plaza Suite B, #106

Jefferson City, MO 65101

(573) 680-6737

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Re: question about yogi bhajan’s training / teaching…

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

Mark

Hi Roxanne,

I don’t know all the people Yogi Bhajan tought, but one of his key teachings was that “If you can’t see God in All, you Can’t see God at all.” I have a friend who tought Kundalini Yogi on a military base in Okinawa. Everyone needs access to tools to increase their awareness. Military people might find they choose a career switch, or that they follow their profession from a more heartful and noble place if they do Yoga.

BTW, the roots of Yoga are connected to martial disciplines. The warrior caste of Indian (Ksatriya) were the one’s who pioneered some of th early yoga training which was connected to their martial art heritage. THere is a long standing relationship between “Warriors” and “Saints” in the history of Asian and European spirituality(Knights Templar, Khalsa, Shaolin Monks, ect…).

Yogi Bhajan himself was in the military, and was a police officer for immigration services in Indian prior to coming to the US. Thought he stood for universal peace and love, he also value self defense and the honor and courage it took to stand for what’s right. As such, he often said those on the left should reevaluate some of their negative aspersions on those who serve in the military or law enforcement.

Sat Nam,

Mark

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New Yoga Journal Publisher

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

I did a little heavy lifting this weekend (our clothes dryer died, so we had to move the old one out and a new one in), and I’m feeling the pain these past two days. That means a less vigorous yoga practice for me. Last night, I did a nice, slow Kripalu yoga flow courtesy of YogaBasics.com. This morning it was a bit of Kundalini yoga mixed with a short vinyasa flow. Ahhhhhhh…my body is liking the slower pace.

And speaking of change of pace, Bill Harper is replacing Lynn Lehmukuhl as publisher of Yoga Journal. Lynn is leaving to become senior VP, Sales at the Newspaper National Network. You can read more about the change here.

Namaste!

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New Yoga Journal Publisher

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

I did a little heavy lifting this weekend (our clothes dryer died, so we had to move the old one out and a new one in), and I’m feeling the pain these past two days. That means a less vigorous yoga practice for me. Last night, I did a nice, slow Kripalu yoga flow courtesy of YogaBasics.com. This morning it was a bit of Kundalini yoga mixed with a short vinyasa flow. Ahhhhhhh…my body is liking the slower pace.

And speaking of change of pace, Bill Harper is replacing Lynn Lehmukuhl as publisher of Yoga Journal. Lynn is leaving to become senior VP, Sales at the Newspaper National Network. You can read more about the change here.

Namaste!

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Re: 108?

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

Dancing

Hi on 108 there is a complete list available at

www.salagram.net/108meaning.html

check it out….

:-)

Dancing Mind

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a truth in verse?

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

malcolm

thought some of you may enjoy this:

When the circle met the line (by mj_mcewen@hotmail.com)

When the circle met the line

And heralded Loves first arrival

For in circles space entwined lines time

And together they created the Spiral

And as they danced so spiral grew

First the Neutron

Then the Proton too

And as they danced on and on

So they entwined now one not two

Now dancing on Spirals own

Spiral first shone all colours from red to blue

Then dancing fast and hard turned into stone

Until finally dancing so as to become you!

Now you must dance hard and fast

As stone and spiral danced for thee

Now you must now dance for you are not the last

Dance and dance so it can be!

the poem was written in Tarfaya (where Antoine de Saint Avery wrote ‘The Little Prince’) and inspired by the dance of the two beings of light that visited me at 2.00am at lake Pushkar on the full moon of Feb 2005.

regards,

greenman-23

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question about yogi bhajan’s training / teaching…

January 31st 2006 Posted to Main

Roxanne

Traditionally, you have to follow a teacher around for a long time to prove that you really wanted to learn and that you would honor the tradition of Kundalini before you were accepted as a student.

Yogi Bhajan took on a lot of burden by opening up Kundalini to the general public, as this was, er, “against the rules”…

But I also heard that before Yogi Bhajan came to the States, he taught Kundalini to the military, and that Kundalini had actually been traditionally for army members. It seems that there is some sort of disconnect here. Did all of the army follow teachers around? Was there an exception for the military? Was it only some army members that he taught it to, but the practice was intended not only for home keepers, but military laypeople? Please help me out. I am confused.

Sat Nam

Rai Kaur

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