adho mukha vrksasana | Home Yoga Practice

This is the continuation of my last blog post about Mary Obendorfer’s workshop. The intermediate classes I attended were more of a refinement of concepts we learned in the basic level classes.

The one concept that I will take home is how crucial the base is in every pose. We did an exercise in Adho Mukha Vrksasana (upward facing tree pose, or handstand) where the palm of one hand was smoothed along the mat along with each finger. The other hand did not get the “treatment.” The student had a markedly noticeable straightness in the side of the hand that got the “treatment” versus the side that didn’t have the hand manipulation. See the progression of photos below of how to manipulate the base of the right hand:

Now compare the two hands. You may be able to tell my right hand (as seen on your left) it is much flatter. Try on your own for a more dramatic comparison.

Mary uttered Geetaji’s words over and over that “Mother Earth feeds intelligence to the practitioner through the base of each asana.” Very profound to think about when you consider what part of your body is touching the floor and the “quality” of that contact.

As far as the workshop as a whole, we worked intensely on seated poses. As stated in the previous post, Mary imparted Geetaji’s words that regular practice of Upavistha Konasana and Baddha Konasana are extremely important to offset “suffering” in standing poses, and to address “pains that are yet to come” as the the practitioner ages.

There are many more things that she covered that I need to practice on my own before publishing my thoughts. She did a tremendous amount of partner work on Ardha Sirsasana (half head pose) seen below. In the intermediate class she held us in this pose for 30 seconds as per instructions from Light on Yoga before going into full sirasasana. I couldn’t last 15. She stopped and asked “did you come out because you are in pain, or did you come out because of something else?” It was something else I couldn’t describe. That is something I will have to unpack within my practice until she comes back next year.

My teachers are making me an offer that is hard to refuse. They will give me free constructive criticism on my teaching for the next level, Junior Intermediate I. The JI1 syllabus is rife with arm balances. In Iyengar yoga, it’s not just one thing to be able to have complete competency in doing the pose. That’s a given. You have to have complete competency in teaching the pose SAFELY to someone who has little experience or has never tried it before. That changes the way one approaches the asanas. One has to try different ways of doing the pose to make them more accessible in stages. Today, after doing an hour of standing poses, I worked on Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Downward Facing Tree Pose) and Pincha Mayurasana (Tail Feather of the Peacock Pose).

A nice way to approach poses that counter gravity is to first try the actions of the poses taking gravity out of the equation. Here is how I worked the arms and the chest for Adho Mukha Vrksasana.

I used a wall for Tadasana, and extended my arms to urdvha hastasana. The second action was lying on a block with the far edge at the corner of my C7 and T1 and pressing my hands against the wall. This creates a tremendous opening in the chest.

I would not recommend this pose for beginners until you can do Gomukhasana arms without a strap as seen above.

Next, I used wall ropes to take the weight out of the wrists.

Now I try the pose kicking up to a wall with the hand rotated to the side which is the final version for the JI1 syllabus.

I give Pincha Mayurasana a similar treatment.

I wanted to finish my practice with Supta Baddhakonasana (Reclined Bound Angle Pose). I normally practice with a strap, but today I experimented with a blanket which presses the soles of the feet completely together giving a different effect to the groins.

And then I tried classic Supta Baddhakonasana. I was inspired by a blogger earlier today who was lamenting about the use of props in yoga practice. Note there are no props with this variation.

The genius of BKS Iyengar is his ability to take the classic pose apart, work on the individual pieces, then put the pose back together. He did this through experimentation with props. Very few would argue that he does not teach “real yoga.”

The advantage of home practice versus taking yoga in a class, is you have the time to experiment with concepts you are curious about. I would advise to experiment within the scope of your ability.