Yoga course
starts.
Day three
of the course and stretching into it nicely.
The Himalayan Iyanger yoga center here in Arambol is off the beach in a
shady tree grove. The yoga shalla is a mud floor encased in mosquito netting; accommodation
is bamboo huts with palm frond roofs. Basic, is the only way to describe the
place but it does have a very peaceful atmosphere and the people all are very friendly.
The center also has another place in Dharamkot near Dharamsala in Himachal
Pradesh which is a much nicer and well established facility.
Our teacher is a
young lass from Israeli who has been teaching for some time. Iyanger style of
yoga I am discovering is precise and very focused on getting alignment correct.
So each class is slow paced and we use blankets, bolster, straps even chairs to
prop us up and ease into a pose rather than forcing muscle and twisting spines
into places they just do not want to go. It is completely different for the Ashtanga
yoga which I have been practicing and yet I can see that a more in depth understanding
of how the body is better placed in poses will only enhance the Ashtanga
practice. What is nice about the Iyanger is that it goes deeper into poses and
by using the breath, relaxing into a pose and lots of patience old emotional habits,
or old blocked emotional pain can be unlocked and transformed. The weird thing
is that after 3 hours of slow Iyanger I am more exhausted then 1 ½ hours of Ashtanga.
I think I have a lot to learn from this
deep, focused yet relaxation technique.
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