This week I posted a quick Instagram video of myself in a vocal booth; as the recording session was more than an hour, it was clear as day how anxious and fidgety I was.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like voiceover recordings ─ in fact, I love doing studio work; I’m fascinated by the entire recording process, even the equipment and the sound ─ I just can’t stay (still) in a confined space for too long.
As I was editing the video, I did ask myself: how did I handle being on a yoga mat for 4 hours straight during my teacher-training days?
I would not only perform asanas, I would also run through philosophical details on the history of yoga and learn the anatomy as well as Sanskrit.
I’m pretty sure my mom would never believe how focused I was because my main concern ─ prior to signing up for yoga classes 16 years ago ─ was that yoga might bore me; the idea of performing slow movements on a square mat for a whole hour would simply be the death of me!
What if I had the sudden urge to just scream, or collect my stuff and leave at a moment’s notice?
To my surprise, that didn’t happen.
In fact, I thought the class I was in ended too soon; believe me, Ashtanga was nothing if not slow!
For the uninitiated, Ashtanga Yoga is a vigorous and flowing style of yoga developed in the 20th century that synchronises breathing with progressive and continuous postures.
Also known as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, I fell in love the moment I discovered it; as the practice detoxifies the body and produces internal heat, I was sweating so much that, at times, I mistook my sweat for tears.
As Ashtanga became my preferred practice, my students started to call me Chaturanga freak since I had fused so many of its poses into my own flows.
Chaturanga Dandasana (pronounced chah-tuur-angh-uh dahn-dahs-uh-nuh) is an important part of Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Power Yoga.
Rarely referred to by its English moniker, ‘Four-Limbed Staff Pose’, its more common name of ‘Chaturanga’ (which sounds sexier if you ask me), comes from four Sanskrit words ─ ‘chatur’ meaning ‘four’; the transitions between your right and left are divided by a Chaturanga.
Although my students complain whenever I take double or triple Chaturangas, I would just smile it off because like me, I know they secretly love them.
Chaturanga is often part of a ‘vinyasa’ or ‘flow’ that yogis do on the way back to the Downward Dog pose.
Although they resemble push-ups, they’re more difficult to do, as you want to bring the elbows in closer to the sides of the body.
Let me tell you why I love doing Chaturangas: it helps increase my arm and wrist strength; gives me a flat tummy; improves my posture ─ I feel like Miss World even though I’m only 5 feet tall ─ and my balance
In this week’s video, I’ll show you how to vibe with your Chaturangas with some fast-moving flows to get your cardio in check with some heart-pumping, sweat-dripping moves! ─ The Vibes, 23 December, 2020
