Day 3. KrishnamacharyaGeneral Practice #3

See the Guidelines for Practice page at the top of the blog.

Basically, the breathing is long and  slow, the eyes closed, bandhas engaged, Jalandhara bandha in particular. After each asana, mudra,and pranayama ( unless indicated otherwise, usually by "followed by") we are directed to lie down and rest for one to two minutes to notice the effect. See the guidelines post for more on this most important element of the practice.

In future practice sessions, points of concentration will be introduced for different asana, mudra and/or pranayama. I will be including the chart below with each post, the concentration post mentioned in the session highlighted in bold.

Points of concentration: 16 vital points. (No concentration points in todays practice)

sirsa - the fontanel

murdhna - middle of forehead

bhrumadhya - between eyebrows

nasagra - extremity of the nose

talu mula - back of the palate

lalata - root of the uvula

kantha - throat

kantha kupa - back of the throat

hrdaya - middle of the heart

nabhi - navel

sroni - centre of the pelvis

mula - perineum

jangha- point at top of thighs

janu - point at middle of knees 

gulpha - point at middle of ankles 

pada angusta - point of the big toes.

Also of note...

Murdhna: the point located in front of the nose

Divya Chakshush: Point behind the head (occipital)

Aditya (the sun) is the disk of the sun, black and shiny,

The star: lying on his back to look as far as possible on the sky 

Taraka: the horizon point,

Kumbhaka

A.K. = Antah Kumbhaka (holding of breath after inhalation ) 

B.K = Bhaya Kumbhaka (holding of breath after exhalation )

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NOTES

Supta Pada Angusta Asana ( A note from my friend Andrea Panzer, a student of Sribhashyam's)

"Supta Pada Angusta Asana is a key posture...Sacrum has to touch the floor...thats super important...why...because first its your check for your "real" capacity for paschimottanasana...its surprising for the most...that not even arms straight would be the real one..because "straight back" is the one of 4 basic principles in KM Yoga...Sir Sribhashyam would often give tbe advice to "keep your belly completely inside" while breathing ...for in- and exhaling...and thats again the most simple approach and test and explanation for your "bandha"...when we keep the belly inside...the energy will move the spine upward while inhaling...kind of automatically."

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Notice in the Pascimatana asana on today’s practice sheet that there is no deep forward fold. It starts from dandasana ( that we saw in general practice #1) than a slight fold to hold the toes or backs or sides of the feet then the shoulders and chin comes down and that’s it. After six breaths it’s back to dandasana. 

Sribhashyam's Pranayama article