90 minutes are too short

I became stronger during the last months. I got stamina. To interrupt my practice only because 90 minutes are over makes no sense. When I went to Mysore classes a few years ago I practiced 2 1/2 hours. I was one of the first in the yoga room. The teacher was still practicing closing sequence, while I started with the sun salutation. I was one of the last who left the room. Yogini came and left the room, I was always there. The classic approach in Ashtanga Yoga is to add one asana after the other. This makes the practice longer and longer. Every day I practiced the entire primary series in the beginning. After two hours I was exhausted. Then I could finally work on these deep deep back bending asanas like kapotasana.

I altered these strategy. One day I focus on primary, the next day on second series. The back bending asanas come very quickly after the standing asanas when I practice second series on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I feel fresh, I still have strength and will power. I also have the energy to prepare these asanas with extra exercises. I realize that I progress. This strategy makes a difference.

Sometimes I stare at my pictures to find out what exercises could make the back bending asanas more approachable.

I do always splits to stretch the front side of the hips.

I practice kapotasana against a wall to stretch the front side of the upper body.

It’s so important to hold the asanas for minimum 1 minute. One minute can be soooooo long, but it makes sense. I read this advice in many many books on gymnastic i.e..

The very good news is that it’s easier to start with my practice. My practice became again a daily routine that I don’t question every day.

The asanas feel better. It’s no more so uncomfortable and unpleasant to be in a back bending position. It feels even good. (I know that tomorrow I might right the opposite. )

Today I’ll reset my timer. 2 hours of yoga in the morning seems to be a reasonable time without feeling whipped through all these asanas that I want to exercise. I don’t have to rush, I feel as if I have plenty of time for all the exercises.

On Thursdays and Fridays I try to practice as close to the Ashtanga series as possible. Yet during my other practices I work on asanas. I test variations. I stretch parts of the body isolated. Sometimes I even add strength exercises. I hold asanas longer than 5 breaths. I repeat them up to three times. This is very effective. Each time a pose gets easier and I can go deeper.

Multi timer

Sirsasana variation

Finally I found this App called Multi timer.

I was looking for a timer that I hadn’t to switch off after having heard the alarm. Usually the alarm keeps peeping till I switch it off manually. Some pomodoro timer are so loud, that they are distracting.

In order to have an effect on the body one must hold asanas longer than 5 breaths. In some books it’s even recommended to hold sirsasana i.e. for 5 minutes or 10 minutes. At the end of an exhausting yoga practice I often wanted to bring sirsasana behind me. I had no strength anymore. The body started wobbling. Often I moved into that pose and thought: OK, you’re still able to balance. Enough. But it’s not enough. A timer should support my effort to hold sirsasana longer. But I also wanted to get out of the pose slowly. I wanted keep my legs straight and I wanted to stop for five breaths when they were parallel to the ceiling. That’s how sirsasana shall be done for Ashtangis.

Last year I went to the Sivananda yogis. They practice sirsasana at the beginning of the asanas series. They hold this pose rather long. Variations are practiced as well. Often I got out of the pose before the teacher told us to come down. Even though sirsasana was practiced in the beginning, I was wobbling after some time.

My goal was to hold sirsasana for 2 minutes, then 5 minutes. Then I wanted to do at least the Ashtanga variation (see picture) that follows after the classic sirsasana. The peeping alarm usually stopped me from practicing the variation. I had to switch off this intrusive noise.

Multi timer offers a lot of sounds as alarm. There are also alarms that switch off automatically. Wow. That’s what I was looking for.

In addition they record how often I used a timer. It’s possible to give each timer a name. This can give control on how often one practiced i.e., or how often one held urdhva dhanurasana for 1 minute.

When I practice at home I set one of the timer for 90 minutes. I don’t want to check the time during my practice. The timer gives me an orientation. When I set the timer in that App ‘multi timer’ I can see the App during that time. The phone doesn’t switch off. I can set another timer for 1 minute easily therefore. Multi timer has also the possibility to repeat a timer.

It’s so much easier to wait for an external clue than to count. Sometimes I breathe slower, sometimes faster. To have this timer tool is very useful.

This is unpaid advertising. I’m so enthusiastic about this multi timer. I had to share my discovery.

Practicing effectively - the timer

During the last 2 years I had enough time to reflect on my practice. I came to the conclusion that the method of learning the asanas and vinyasas can be improved. It’s not enough and rather ineffective to hold an asana for five breaths only. If one wants to learn an asana one must do more than this.

1. I use a timer. I hold several asanas for 1 minute these days. Today I practiced primary. I held marichyasana B for 1 minute as it’s a good preparation for one of the most difficult asanas of this series, which is supta kurmasana. I also held the twist marichyasana C for one minute to balance all the forward bending asanas and I held the headstand for 1 minute at the end of my practice. One minute can be rather long. Scientific research have found out that the body needs time to relax. 5 breaths is not enough, this can not be repeated often enough. When the body is relaxed stretching is possible. One must also hold the position for a while to make it last.

2. It’s useful to look for external clues. The timer is an auditive external clue. It has much more authority than my inner voice that is counting. The timer is also more precise. Another external visual clue can be the wall. When I stretch I aim for reaching the wall. This will never be possible as the wall is so far away, but the thought alone helps to lengthen the body more than without this external clue. Stretch your body is less effective than trying to reach a wall that is far away, also when it’s only a thought.

3. The timer also tells me when 90 minutes are over. I aim for a daily practice that lasts 90 minutes. It’s so much easier to have a time frame than to practice till all poses are done. It intensifies my practice.I have no orientation how late it got already when I practice. To look at a clock again and again is only distracting.

To practice before breakfast is wonderful. The stomach must be empty in order to get deep into the twists.

The plan when practicing primary:

I want to hold a forward fold, a twist, my most difficult pose and headstand for 1 minute. The goal behind this goal is to get so used to be in asanas that one can finally enjoy these asanas. It must feel good to be in a pose. Breaths must flow easily. It would be good if the face is relaxed, too. If the pose looks as if it’s a piece of cake, if you can sleep in that pose, you’re there.

I wonder how to get stronger again……

Setting a timer

These days I set an end to my practice. Instead of planning to practice primary or second series or half primary and second series asanas, I set a timer. Not the contents, but the time limits my practice. This is somehow easier. Within 90 minutes one can do a lot. Quality over quantity! Might be that I extend the length of my practices again one day again, but right now it seems to be a perfect length. Today my mobile phone wrong when I had finished the back bending asanas. Extra exercises and my slow speed cause that 90 minutes is too short for a full second Ashtanga series. Who cares?

I observe what is possible on a given day. No matter if I felt stiff or weak or flexible and strong, I’m more than happy that I can do this practice.

When discomfort is felt, it’s a sigh that one touched limits. It gives the opportunity to go a tiny step further. It gives the opportunity to breathe and to relax to feel good at the rim of the possibility. Pain tolerance changes every day like everything else, too.

To practice 90 minutes without interruption tells me that my concentration is very good. It’s the illness of the time that people cannot focus anymore. The mobile phones distract most people. I even think that it has the potential to weaken our brain.

In yoga we care for our bodies, but we also take care of our mind. Being able to focus is a skill of the mind. It’s worth to exercise it.

A timer is a useful tool.

1. One can limit the practice without getting nervous about the time. Sometimes half an hour might be enough. The timer helps to allow me to focus within that time frame.

2. It’s a good idea to hold asanas longer than 5 breaths. To get an impulse from the outside is more effective than to tell oneself when to stop. Also here a timer can make sense. It’s easier to set a timer for 1 minute than to count 15 breaths.

3. One can also use a timer to focus i.e. 20 minutes on back bending within the 90 minutes.

I have to timer: my mobile phone and another one.

Getting an impulse from outside helps to free the mind from additional tasks. It intensifies the focus.

What else?

It’s carnival here, it’s the last day and it’s really funny to go downtown to see all the masks. We won’t have much time for carnival today. It’s also not really my circus. We don’t drink, we don’t masquerade, it is as if we just landed from another star. I had a highlight already: My yoga practice. Being a yogi is a life style, I experience this again and again.