New Routine

I've turned over so many new leaves and made so many fresh starts lately, taken so many vows of "never again" and "this time I really mean it," and seen all this resolve come to naught so many times that I'll spare anyone who might be reading this the drama.

I spoke with Rachel a little while ago concerning the realm of Ananda Maya, that sort of Xanadu of the spirit beyond the realm of the individual's personality, ego, and "I" consciousness. I told her I can't imagine such a place, even though I've been there. And we both feel my only hope lies in getting back there again. You can drive there from here, but you can't take your car. To put it another way, one can find that place, but "I" can't.

It was in this spirit that I scrapped my old asana routine today, as it was past due for revision, having served me well since last August, and decided to take a ready-made straight from the book as the new routine. This is kind of a standard set of Viniyoga poses in a typical Viniyoga sequence, taken from pages 70-88 of Gary Kraftsow's second book, "Yoga for Transformation.

The first section starts with standing poses, which are great for warming up and entail very little risk of injury.

1. Tadasana, or Mountain pose. Up on your toes, back on your heels (now you're doin' the Varsity Drag), moving the arms up and down all the while. As with all these standing postures, inhale to the up, exhale to the down. No problem.

2. Parsvottanasana, an asymmetrical forward bend with one foot at a time placed out front of the other, knee bent on the bendover. Four times each side, holding the down position for one additional breath each time. No problem here.

3. Trikonasana of the Utthita (conventional) kind. Had a lot of trouble with this due to the sore shoulder. Tomorrow I'll substitute Warrior I.

4. Uttanasana -- forward bend with Padahastasana added in the middle. That's a chest lift/back flattener from the far forward postion. Same "stay" instructions as number 2. As with all these standing poses, inhale up, exhale down.

That's the end of standing poses. A couple of supine postures are next after an interlude of:
5. Down Dog: exhaling up to the pose from table top position. A little confusing because the move up is an exhale; the move out, or down, is on the inhale.

6. Dvipada Pitham -- the good old back bend, or bridge with raised pelvis, with an overhead arm sweep, inhaling up, exhaling down.

7. Urdhva Prasrta Padasana -- a long name for a simple supine leg lift. From a supine position with knees bent over chest, raise legs straight up, heels reaching for the sky. Slightly confusing, as one exhales up and inhales to the down, bent-knees position.

I skipped the next two in Gary's sequence. I'm not ready for a headstand yet. I'll try slipping in the shoulder stand at number 8 tomorrow, however. Following these two inversions, from prone position:

9. Bhujangasana arm and chest lifts. Not a good pose for me at all. Tomorrow I'll try a variation using leg and chest lifts with arms static and hands placed beside the chest. The version pictured in the book really hurt my shoulder, and I was confused by the exhale up/inhale down instruction for this one.

Skipped Dhanurasana, or bow pose. Too hard on the injured spinal portion (L5/S1).

10. Apanasana, that really lovely and therapeutic supine posture in which the bent knees are moved alternately closer to and further from the chest, with assistance from the arms. Exhale into the closed postion, inhale into the more open part of the sequence, which is slightly confusing, but I'll get used to it.

11. Pascimatanasana -- seated forward bend. Just like uttanasana, only sitting down. This would be a bit dangerous if done early in the sequence.

12. Matsyendrasana -- a seated spinal twist. I couldn't do the one shown in the book because the instructions were very complicated, so I'll continue doing the one Ellen taught me.

13. Vajrasana -- the pose with 1,000 variations. This version is the core version, or simplest one -- symmetrical arm lifts from the knees, exhaling into a variation of child's pose with the arms behind, hands resting palms up on the sacrum.

14. Good old Savasana: resting, supine with a pillow under the knees to take any pressure off the lumbar curve.

This is a good, thorough routine. I'll spend some time adapting it to my purposes in the next few days.

Conspicuously absent: Cakravakasana.

One more change I need to make: I've been doing pranayama as a prelude to asana. Today the breath was real ragged, and I counted 32 cycles in 10:30, as opposed to the usual 25 to 27. Starting tomorrow, I'll do pranayama at the end, and chanting at the very end.

Godspeed, everyone.