The weekend in LA

First thing - how does anne do this??? this is much harder than writing 'Yum' in facebook :) I knew her blog was the best blog I had read but just the process of having something to say for a paragraph is amazing, and she always has something wonderful to say...oh well here goes

I forgot to say Manouso taught cat/cow on saturday, you heard me, cat/cow, he started by saying here is a pose i bet you never thought you would see me teach, true, it was the hardest cat/cow i have ever experienced ok it was the only hard cat/cow i had ever experienced but wow

sunday was another spectacular class, here are some of my notes

He played Gurujis invocation, i got waves of chills just listening to this beautiful chant in the space, he had asked guruji on a train trip if he would do the invocation and he said yes so he placed his phone down and recorded. We then chanted the invocation.

Pranayama – supine, relax the body, find the chin placement to allow the brain to recede from the skull after the body is relaxed

Sitting – thick rib below the bra line, Guruji gave the analogy of a bird opening its wings to take flight (manouso held his hands together than expanded his fingers out like the wings of a bird) , commence the in-breath with this opening wings of the thick rib to make room, that part of the back does not push in, its barely noticeable on the back if at all

Q&A

Therapeutics program he is beginning – 3yrs and on graduation he wants these people to be therapists, when he asked guruji while planning the program asking how to determine the graduates, guruji said they should have to come to pune and adjust him we all laughed, manouso said they will probably have to adjust him, this takes internal sensitivity it's not for everyone ...i hope some teachers from our region attend!!!

Vertigo – trikonasana with back to pillar, jaw/head way back, top arm wraps behind pillar try to knock pillar down, other side 3x someone asked about nirlamba/halasana at wall he said that would also be good after this, neck to inner ear interaction, at first they may feel its making it worse keep with this (he mentioned seasickness, this would be great for me after a cruise when i still have that rocking at sea feeling)

we then practiced asanas as a direct result of the q&a

Chair sirsasana - 3 people – 2 chairs mat on each chair, chair seats facing each other, roll 2 blankets slightly sit roll at edge of chair seats on mats, head down near wall, shoulders near wall, 2 partners stop chairs from coming apart and help them bring legs up, they stay holding the chairs the whole time

Setu bandha - this was for a question on someone with back surgery whose back fused and has a protusion in the sacrum and finds setu bandha miserable,

chair, nothing on chair seat, no mat, 2 blankets folded into long rectangles (sarvangasana size fold in half) not on mat, sit through chair like dwi pada not legs over like chair sarvangasana, lean back shoulders on blankets (I moved the chair but you can also move shoulder blankets) move to where buttocks hangs off on the head side of chair, thighs on chair seat lower leg/feet straight out in air, hands on back elbows will be in air, press femurs straight down, stretch through inner heels, I really liked this

again: this time move chair to where chair seat is under calves/heels (if you can get both have under calves) this takes the elbows to floor, press calves straight down move side waist up, grip buttocks first then grip back more, these are both to gain strength in the back, this was held for a shorter time if you try it you will understand that!

that was a very quick busy wonderful trip