I spent the last 3 weeks preparing for this program. I bought all the books and started reading them:

I also put a lot of time into building up my three ring binder and getting everything setup to go. Needless to say I was very excited for the first day of class and it was a lot of fun.

The other students have a wide variety of backgrounds and will bring a lot of interesting viewpoints to the class. There were also a number of touching stories about why people have found Yoga to be so helpful in their life and what motivates them. My story for coming to Yoga is similar to why I am a Vegan. At first I came to it for the physical practice as a way to relieve myself from knee pain, but as I have practiced it I have been able to gain a sense of calmness and relaxation that no other activity has given me before. My progression into teacher training is part of this growth and I look forward to helping others find what I have found.

The first half of class covered a lot of administrative stuff and then we moved into learning about Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutations. Surya signifies the Sun and Namaskara means ‘I bow to you’ so the practice is an honoring of the Sun and the life that it gives and to the life around and inside of us. Traditionally this is practiced early in the morning towards the east to greet the rising of the sun. There are two methods of performing the practice, the A sequence is made up of nine poses The progression of Surya Namaskara leads to movement of every joint in the body and is an excellent way to warm up everything for your day:

Starting off in Samasthiti you move into

Inhale to Urdhva Hastasana by raising your arms over your head.

Exhale to Uttanasana by bending in half bringing your hands to the ground

Inhale into Arda Uttanasana by straightening your arms and back and raising your head so that your back is parallel to the ground.

Exhale and step or jump both feet back 3 to 4 feet and bend your elbows into Chaturanga Dandasana.

Inhale to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana keeping your shoulders pulled back and your stomach pulled in.

Exhale to Adho Mukha Svanasana and hold for 3 breaths.

Inhale and jump or step your feet up to your hands into Arda Uttanasana.

Exhale to Uttanasana.

Inhale to Urdhva Hastasana.

Exhale to Samasthiti.

You can add Virabhadrasana I to the sequence after Adho Mukha Svnasana to make things a bit more intense. Variations go well beyond this adding various movements after Virabhadrasana I.

In Iyengar practice Surya Namaskara is done 5 times. I suggest starting off with 2 or 3 and moving up from there. I prefer doing them outside by the pool in the early morning sunrise for best effect.

The second half of class was about the History of Yoga.

Definition of Yoga which is from the Sanskrit Yuj which means to yolk, unite, bind, bring forth, and/or integrate. Yoga is to bring Mind, Body, and Breath together in unity so that thought is one with movement, movement is one with breath, and breath is one with thought. Another definition of Yoga is that it is the unity of thought in a positive discrimination. Which is to say that practicing yoga results in thinking in a complete manner so that doubts and fears are minimized and a path is more clear to the practitioner.

Yoga has Four Periods of History

The first of this is known as the Vedas philosophy which dates back to 3000BC. Ventanta Philosophy defines itself as “the only knowledge you need”. In the vedas everything is one thing which has a strong correspondence with Yoga. So if there is just one thing then when you are being kind to yourself means you are being kind to the universe. The vis versa is also true. This will show up again in Yoga Philosophy in the himsa which is the practice of non-violence. In the vedic tradition there is not much mention of yoga poses, but there are heiroglyphs showing what look like yoga poses. From this time frame Yoga gains the definition of profound concentration. You can read more about vedas here.

After the Vedas period comes the Upanishads which is also known as Pre-Classical yoga history. The Upanishads date from around 500 BC to 120 BC and are considered to be the core teaching of Vedanta. There are considered to be hundreds of Upanishads and are considered to be authored much in the same way that many look at Shakespeare’s works, meaning that there were probably multiple authors working with or under the main author. The time period that they date back to have evidence of an oral tradition where a guru would live in seclusion with one student who would sit at the masters feet and learn the texts. A definition of Upanishads means to sit at the feet of the master. There is one commonality with what we consider Yoga philosophy being that the focus is on you finding yourself. You can read more on the Upanishads here.

The third period of yoga history is known as Raja Yoga and is closely associated with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This is the foundation of Asthanga Yoga because there are eight aspects to the path. Of these eight paths only one of them is concerned with physical poses. Five of them deal with the external world and the other three are concerned with the internal and are associated most closely with the Veda and Upanishad traditions. Patanjali was considered to be the incarnation of God on earth and the Yoga Sutras which were created to show man how to achieve bliss on earth. Read more on Raja Yoga here.

The fourth and current stage of yoga is attributed to Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya who lived from 1888 to 1989 and is considered to be the grandfather of modern yoga. He invented Vinyasa Yoga which means ‘to place and move the body in a special way’. This is different from the prior incantations of Yoga because this is now focused on the individual and tailoring the practice to fit them. In Vinyasa Yoga you do not force the body into positions it cannot do, instead the student is responsible for finding the edge where a pose is not so easy that it takes no effort, but stops short of being in pain and letting the Ego drive them too far. The teachers job is to encourage the student to find that edge safely with their extra experience in the practice.

Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya taught many of the most influential teachers of today including BKS Iyengar, K Pattabhi Jois, and his son TKV Desikachar. You can read more here.

There are also three kinds of yoga:

Bhakti – devotion, adoration to God/Universe

Jnana – practice of wisdom, self-knowledge, someone who reads texts and studies the mind

Karma – action, to act, you do the act for the sake of the act, not for the desired outcome.

Well have a good night everyone, I am looking forward to tomorrows class. Muscles and Standing Poses!