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Purpose

Thursday, December 14, 2017
What is the purpose of this blog?

To give me something to report to daily
To help me track and catalog my practice
To help spread interest about yoga

That's it.  Simple.

Information about Ashtanga can be found here but it follows a sequence of movements (that I've modified to suit my own needs and daily mood).

Vinyasa A
Vinyasa B

These are the Vinyasas I refer to and are the formalized "warm-up" to the rest of the practice.  I do a non-formalized warm up on my mat just to get myself slightly heated before I actually start.

The sequence I follow next goes as follows:

Padanguthsthasana: This is the first forward bend that I execute after my Vinyasa series.  It's a good moment to "releax" and catch my breath after the strain of the warm-up.  This is also a good time to re-measure myself; where am I with forward bending/how deep into this bend and I naturally going/how deep into this bend can I mindfully push myself while still maintaining focus and breath contorl? etc.  This is also an excellent time to get back in touch with my Bhanda system and determine how "engaged" my core has been while I went through my Vinyasa Serires
Padanguthstasana












Padahasthasana:  Looks identical to the first one right?!?! Wrong!  It's the next forward bend which moves you deeper into the stretch.  The main difference here is the position of the hands.  The first poses's name, "Padangustasana" means "hand to big toe", "Pada HAsthasana means, "hand under foot", or "hand to foot", from what I understand.

The hands are completely flattened against the ground and placed underneath the feet.  This deepens the stretch, as I said, but it acts as a wonderful counter-stretch and decompression to the wrists after all of the Vinyasas and Chattarangas (the push-up poses).
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Not feeling as lit and purposeful as I was yesterday morning pre-practice but feelings don't really matter (something I was writing a year ago).

How you feel on any given day should be made note of but, beyond that, how you feel shouldn't dictate how you act.

Thursday, December 14, 2017 (Part II)
I'm writing this on my mat, having just come out of Savasana. 

I feel good after my practice and I'm happy that my physical progress didn't disappear much from a hiatus.  My arms and chest can still support my weight in any pose that they need to, and my legs and back are still supportive when I backbend.

I'm going to go into my day today looking forward with no fear and no anxiety. 

I'll post more about my sequence tomorrow.

Namaste

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