Explore Posture + Movement in Asana Lab
In a typical yoga practice, individual asana are often linked together to create a sequence. I was taught this way, I enjoy this rhythm, and it is satisfying to experience.
However, there is something about this way of practicing asana that somehow feels like I’m on a motorway driving past a beautiful vista which whizzes by before I can take in what I’m seeing.
When we explore the intricacies of a pose, we get to know it and feel it more deeply. It becomes a familiar experience that holds the promise of revealing something new each time we practice. This really meets my need to understand the pose and also to become even more familiar with how it feels in my body as I practice that pose.
Years ago, back in the early days of leading the Yoga Fundamentals Teacher Training, I noticed something about how we learn to teach others the practice of asana. I call it the ‘kitchen sink’ approach. We throw everything that we know about it into the mix. We use phrases that we’ve heard from our teachers, we use information that we’ve gleaned from books we’ve read, and we include aspects of the asana that we’ve found memorable or useful in our bodies.
This makes sense - it is how we keep the tradition of yoga alive - we share and evolve our learning. However, if you are learning the asana or indeed learning to teach someone else, it can be a lot to take in. There is wisdom from different lineages that can inform our experience. There is also much that other modalities can contribute to our practice. Students (and we are all students, even those of us who teach) can sometimes get a bit lost in the midst of all the information.
In an Asana Lab we slow down to admire the view. We learn the principles of movement that are the building blocks of the asana. We apply this to our practice within the context of a framework. We ask questions as we practice - we savour the experience of getting to know the pose.
I’ll be teaching an Asana Lab community class (free) on Fri 21st Feb 2025 (17:00-17:45 UK time). We’ll be exploring Parsvottanasana and I hope you’ll be able to join us. Here is the link to sign up: https://mailchi.mp/2294c34556c4/asana-lab
