Sunday Day 17

Today was spent relaxing back into a sunday routine after I dropped my little Bro, Ryan off at the airport. The day consisted of catching up on laundry, cleaning up house and of course YOGA.

This evening I rolled out my mat in the T.V. room and followed along as Richard Freeman guided me through the primary series of Ashtanga Yoga on DVD. His voice is so soothing that our dog, Izzy fell asleep on the couch peacefully in a doggie child's pose as I practiced 3 feet away from her. Jumping, balancing and all she didn't budge an inch. I wish I had taken a picture of her, it was priceless.

The primary sequence in Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga is called "Yoga Chikitsa," which means "yoga therapy." The purpose of this sequence is to align the spine and detoxify the body, as well as to build flexibility, strength, and stamina. This is said to be the most demanding style of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, because it consists of so many poses (75! to be exact) and because it is rather time consuming (approximately 2 1/2 hours to complete the entire series). I only made it through 1 hr and 15 minutes last night, but I was happy with that:)

The series begins with Sun Salutations A and B that get the body heated, followed by breath synchronized standing postures. Keeping the awareness of body, mind and breath while moving from standing to 35 seated postures. This seated series goes through active segments, then rests the body with some less complicated postures. Then, it requires the body to work hard once again before finally finishing the series with an ending sequence. This ending sequence is the final step after the seated postures that really allows the body to cool itself down and prepare for savasana.

Savasana should be taken for at least 10 minutes to reap the benefits of your practice.

Namaste, Julie