These are notes that may be of interest to Iyengar yoga teachers and practitioners- they are from a class that I observed at RIMYI December 2019.
Sunday 1.12.19. Children
My first class at the institute! I had heard a lot about the ‘Pune’ style of teaching children- that it was very militaristic, fast, with a lot of shouting. It was certainly fast; also fun and engaging, and with not much shouting. I need to find out the teacher’s name (will cost here when I have)- I found him to be compassionate, encouraging and demanding. He kept the kids very busy, but when he felt they were flagging would take a small break to explain one or two things in a bit more detail. This allowed them to stay focused. The class lasted one hour, and around30 children of ages approx between 8 and 15 attended. Unless stated, all of the mini sequences listed were repeated many times over.
Little ones at the front, bigger ones at the back. ‘Aum’ and invocations to Patanjali and the Guru standing, in Tadasana.
- Urdvha baddangulyasana – on tip-toes
- Jumping (‘hopping’- on the spot- small and high jumps)
- Chataranga dandasana- AMS- UMS- Uttanasana- Urdvha hastasana- Namasakarasana- jumping in between
- Pascima namaskarasana
- Virasana- parvattasana in virasana
- Child to lead surya namaskar (chanting the 12 verses)
+ nakarasana
+ trikonasana
+virabhadrasana 2
+parsvakonasana
+ ardha chandrasana
- Full arm balance (at the wall)
- AMS- UMS
- AMS- utthita trikonasana diagonal legs (with and without AMS in between)
- Dandasana
- Padmasana- Tolasana and swing (lift from knees side; tight and compact padmasana)
Teacher discussed ‘Sports Week’ coming up in schools, and that ‘the arms and legs should be in a commanding position’ to help with performance in sports
- Urdvha hastasana – Urd. hast. in Dandasana
- Malasana- Uttkatasana- AMS
- Dwi hasta bhujasana
- Eka hasta bhujasana (ankles crossed as in astavakrasana stage 1, then classical)
- Surya namaskar x 1
- AMS- Lolasana- Dandasana
- Bhujapidasana- teacher discussed firm fixing of legs over arms for balance. ‘6 attempts on your own, and we’ll see who is doing it porperly’
- Astavakrasana (pose name means ‘crooked in 8 places’). Teacher had the children look at the picture of BKS in the pose, observing the straightness of the legs. ‘Straight legs makes the body lighter and avoids undue weight on the hands’.
- Surya namaskar
- Sirsasana (3-point head stand)- learn how to roll down if balance is lost. Elbows must form a right-angle
- Sarvangasana- Sethu banda sarvangasana
- Rolling: Sarvangasana- Halasana- Pascimottanasana
- Halasana- Urdvha hastasana
- Savasana ‘eyes wide open’
- Padmasana for the closing invocations
- Choose a pose that you can sustain for the final prayer
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