The Warrior - Friend Virabhadra and the Asanas Origin

Sati was the daughter of the high chief of Gods Daksha and married to Shiva. One day Daksha decided to throw a yagna (ritual sacrifice) and invited except for the couple since he despised Shiva. 

 Sati got word of this and suggested to Shiva that they go anyway however Shiva, not wanting to incite her father’s anger, prefered not to. Sati was hurt by her father’s treatment and decided to go alone.

Arriving there she got into an argument with her father in front of the guests something that made her feel humiliated. When her father tried to provoked her again she remained silent and decided she wanted to relinquish all family ties, telling her father this: “Since you have given me this body I no longer wish to be associated with it.” She walked past him and sat in a meditative seat on the ground, closed her eyes and fell into a trance. Going deep within herself she began to increase her inner fire through yogic exercises until her body burst into flames.

Sun Salutions Literally: Mysore Style Practice Week 1

Photo from Here

I have been meaning to start a Mysore practice for a while now. Unfortunatelythe office I work is located at the other side of the town which takes me more than 1 hour to get there and I have to wake up every morning at 7(plus the yoga studio is about 45-60 minutes away) so  I thought it would not be possible for a while. That is why I chose the led primary series practice in the evenings. However, during the Christmas holidays when the studio was closed some evening and I was supposed to practice at home, I caught a nasty flu and I could not even breathe when I was sitting on my couch so I let practice aside for what I thought it would be a few days. That flu stayed with me for 3 weeks though, really frustrating. Last 2 weekends I attended the 30 hour asana immersion seminar and all this talk about yoga and practicing made me miss it so much that I decided I would give Mysore style practice a try even if I had to squeeze my mornings and wake up at 5 every day.

30-hour Yoga Asana Immersion.

Photo from here.

Lately I have taken some private lessons with my teacher as I am really concerned on learning more about yoga philosophy and history while deepening my asana knowledge: what is the correct alignment for each asana, which muscles are active during each posture, what are the benefits if done correctly, what are the risks if done incorrectly, what modifications can be applied for different needs etc. Although I am not new in yoga and most of the primary series asanas are more than familiar to me, I didn't have a teacher that could provide this kind of  information to me in the past. My teacher not only helped me with all the above but also gave me directions on further book reading and even gave me some of his own material that he used in previous workshops.  

Easy Sun Salutations. Beginners' Tips for Suryanamaskar A & B

Sun Salutation A.
Photo from here.

Sun Salutations can be difficult when you are a beginner but there are some tips my amazing teacher has shared with me that have been valuable to me and helped a lot. It's fun how sometimes just a small tiny modification can make things easier.
As my teacher always says in each and every practice "You must not suffer when practicing Ashtanga. You must feel that your body is working but not too much, you do not want to make your life harder than it already is, you want to make it easier and better. So bring your intelligence in the classroom and modify whatever asana you need to or rest in child's pose whenever appropriate".