Video: Parsvottanasana like twisted triangle
April 25, 2012
This video from David Garrigues’ “Asana Kitchen” series caught my eye because at the Ashtanga Yoga Confluence, I got adjustments in Parsvottanasana twice. Once was by Nancy Gilgoff, who pushed back/spread my shoulders — as David talks about about :54 into the video — as I was folded down over my leg. The other was by one of the assistants, and I never saw which one it was.
A few thoughts:
- At about 24 seconds, David talks about jumping out to the right. I’ve seen other videos of his and he’s definitely a “jumper.” I’m not, really. I don’t know where folks come down on this, although I’d hazard a guess that this is one of the “small things” we don’t really need to stress about too much.
- About 1:05 is where he talks about Parsvottanasana as being liked revolving or twisted triangle. “There’s this spinning action that happens.” Interesting. It gets you down over the front leg, I reckon. Not sure I’ve heard that description before.
- 1:52: Nice monkey toes!
- About 2:20 he dives into what to do if you can’t join your palms behind you. Amazingly, I more or less can join my palms. But still, it is a good reminder of the real focus: Keeping your front “broad and open.”
- 2:45 is what Nancy adjusted on me. I’ve been cognizant of it ever since.
- 3:29: If I had a dime for every time I heard “straighten your leg,” I’d be the billionaire setting up Ashtanga studios everywhere.
- At about 4:10 or so, he talks about the internal rotation of the leg and its root in the inner part of the foot. That seems to make sense to me; we’ll see.
This video, like I think all of his I’ve viewed, seems very helpful. But, I can’t refrain from asking this question: What do people make of these types of videos? Kino MacGregor has them, too, among others. I know it’s good — spreading the word and the teaching — but does it feel like it upsets the student-teacher relationship at all? Or is the answer: It’s 2012, dude, c’mon!
Posted by Steve
6 Comments
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Richard Freeman calls this posture the crowning jewel of the first series. He says the theme of the second series is this crossing over, the subtle twist (all the seated forward folds, Utita Hasta, etc.). So yes, this posture is very much like revolved triangle.
As for the work that DG and Kino are doing, I am grateful…I don’t live in a place where I can have access to an ashtanga teacher on a daily basis, so I appreciate the extra help.
I think the online resources are a huge help. My teacher provides the initial instruction, but I think it can be helpful to have a number of takes on a pose. Each person’s perspective can shed new light on some aspect of a posture and hopefully make things a little more clear for the practitioner. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched videos of poses I’m struggling with!
Interesting timing for me with this one. I recently watched a Kino video on Kapotasana and questioned my own way of getting into the pose. When my teacher saw me doing it differently this morning, she quickly questioned why I was doing it that way and explained why it wasn’t suited for me. After class I confessed about the video and we laughed but I realize that there is so much information available but sometimes we just need to trust our teacher who has taken us this far on our path. It’s not about learning every detail of a pose all at once, it’s about going through the process of practicing the pose day after day and letting the practice reveal itself to you gradually. Only then can you fully understand it when you do read a book (Gregor Maehle’s in my case) or watch a video.
We may have just posted on that Kino video — a different take on things. One thing that leaped out at us was how long she had the student in the pose or preparing.
And — yes to everything else you say!
S
I’m happy to report — for what it’s worth — that I’ve had a good series of teachers. I’ve been doing the little twist. Good teaching is important, is our lesson!
S