Vinyasa Yoga workshop

Yesterday Juliana taught a three hour Vinyasa Yoga workshop at The Yoga Source. Vinyasa Yoga is a form of "flow" yoga where you are in almost constant motion. Each asana flows into the next one. It is definitely a challenging form of yoga not to be done by beginners.

I have been practicing for 10 years so when I asked Juliana if I was ready for this class she said "absolutely". I met up with my yoga friend Ruthie before class started and at 12:30 we were sitting on our mats waiting for the class to begin. I was a little apprehensive knowing that this was going to be a very difficult class.

We started with breath of fire and pranayama which are forms of controlled breathing. It helps to warm you up and also quiet the mind. Once we were all warmed up the "flow" started. We flowed for about two and a half hours doing sun salutations, down dogs, cobras, planks, pigeons, wheels, backbends and all the other poses that were required. I was glad I had brought my towel. I was so sweaty that my hands were slipping all over my mat. It was a hard workout.

Triangle pose

Wheel pose

Downward Facing Dog

We were in the last half hour of the three hour class when we started doing inverted postures. I find inversions very difficult. I have a hard time relaxing in inverted poses but Juliana puts them in every class. She says they help the whole body including the central nervous system. Usually we do plow pose into shoulder stands. In plow pose you roll on your back and put your feet behind your head with your legs as straight as possible. From there you tuck your shoulders under your body, put your hands on your back for support and kick your legs up so that your are balancing on your shoulders with your feet up in the air. Well, yesterday Juliana wanted to kick it up a notch so we started doing forearm stands which led to head stands which led to hand stands and scorpion pose. It's all very involved but suffice it to say it was hard. Really hard. I have done head stands before but forearm stands, hand stands and scorpion pose were new to my practice. I had seen them done before but always thought that they were beyond my abilities. I guess I was wrong because before I knew it there I was standing on my hands with my feet up against the wall. From there I bend my legs and lowered them into scorpion pose. OMG!!

We ended the class with a nice long meditation and chanting session. I was completely whipped. I told Ruthie that I felt like a quivering ball of sweat but I was a very happy quivering ball of sweat. I did things that I never thought I could do. It sure feels good when you can accomplish something that before you could only dream of doing. I guess my yoga practice is a work in progress. I am progressing and that is a good thing.