No Friday advanced practice this week, but next week we are on

The Friday Advanced Practice was tons of fun.

Lots of people from a variety of yoga traditions showed up for the fun filled backward bending sequence.

Anne, Gillian, Rachel, and Devon from Iyengar Land, Terry and Mike and Gigi from Ashtanga land, and Pam, Jeremiah, Jeff from Anusara land. It was really great fun! Just what an advanced practice should be.

No practice this Friday due to Thanksgiving Holidays, but we'll resume the following friday with a backward bending practice largely a Patricia Walden sequence from feathered pipe with a few additional arm balances added in.

I usually am there by 2:45 hanging on the rope wall if you want to come a bit early to "warm up/ prepare yourself as Prashant would say," but the sequence itself will start right at 3:30.

Here it is Patricia sequence from Feathered Pipe aug 1, 2008
AMS
Uttanasana
Ams
cataranga dandasana
urdhva mukha
repeat 2x
ams w/ heels on blocks at wall
vira 1
supta padangustasana
ams middle palm on edge of blocks at wall
vira 1 to 3 w/ pams together
abdomen balanced and up, armpits down, leg up
sirsasana
virasana
eka pada virasana reaching leg back
parivritta eka pada
AMV working w legs together and straight
pinca mayurasana- balance
+++Add in some scorpion poses here and other assorted arm balances
lunge w/ 1 leg in virasana (eka pada raja prep)
resist virasana leg back
viparita dandasana on chair, feet flat on floor, arms over head, legs
straight
ekapada viparita dandasana chair
Urdhva dhanurasana 3x from chair
ekapada u. dhanurasana 2x
down leg hip lifts up and up leg hip draws down
ustrasana drop backs to wall
arms coming to shoulder blade level
ekapada viparita dandasana
sirsasana drop backs and coming up w/ wall
ustrasana drop backs to floor
hanumanasana
ekapada rajakapotasana w/ back leg at wall
ekapada raja II
hanumanasana
sarvangasana
eka pada
parsva eka pada
badda k
padmasana
savasana

Changes at Castle Hill

Hi Everyone,

As many of you know, Heide Grace is moving back to New Orleans. We'll all miss her greatly. She's a great teacher, great student, great person to practice with, and super fun to boot.

Gillian is taking over most of her classes at Castle Hill. I went to Gillian's class for the first time yesterday. I really enjoyed it. Gillian has a very warm teaching presence and uses great imagery, like making yourself into a wine bottle opener to pop up the cork of your chest. I also enjoyed her sequence. She interpersed various standing poses with a return to Adho Mukhasvanasana and Uttanasana and it was a good practice to see how the standing poses influence those poses.

Sequence for Practice on Friday

Hi Everyone, We are practicing this Friday at 3:30.

Here's the sequence we'll be working with.


Adho mukha svanasana 5min
Adho mukha vrksasana
one legged
two bent legs
two straight legs
pincha mayurasana wall and free balancing
prep only for vrschikasana I
vrschikasana II
salamba sirsasana 5 min
variations 5 min
vrschikasana I, full pose, 5-10x
urdhva dhanurasana over chair backs at wall 5x
drop over preparation on chairs at wall 5-10x
urdhva dhanurasana 5-10x
dropping over to urdhva dhanurasana from tadasana 5-10x
dropping over to urdhva dhanurasana from adho mukha vrksasana 5-10x
supta virasana on blocks, going toward kapotasana
kapotasana 5x
eka pada rajakapotasana preparation or full pose with chairs and belted foot and walls 2-3x each side
natarajasana on stools or with help 3x each side
hanumanasana 2-3x each side
upright
forward bending
parsva uttanasana, cooling down
bharadvajasana I
pasasana

supported halasana