Very thrilled that this week’s practice is Yin Yoga with Paul Grilley.  I love this guy and he’s my favorite Yin instructor (with no offense to Sarah Powers).  The video’s from the geniuses at Pranamaya.  I’ve practiced this one a couple of times before, but I can’t wait to do it again.

Duncan Wong.  Gong fu practitioner.  Massage therapist.  Aerial ninja with the ability to press effortless into a handstand from crow and then back into boat pose without touching the ground.  And the only person I know who can make the word “padangusthasana” sound so damn gay.  Not that I think that he is, but it’s the most incongruous thing.

Yogic Arts is Duncan Wong’s personal style of yoga that combines gong fu, yoga, and massage therapy.  The practice on Awakening Level is a basic vinyasa flow combined with Wong’s integration of gong fu energy exercises, and massage-influenced shoulder and wrist stretches.  Shot in dramatic black-and-white, the sequence begins with pranayama and bandha work, and then moves into shoulder and wrist stretches.  The energy work is fascinating, but the instructional is minimal, and so it’s imperative to watch what he’s doing.  Much like with Matthew Cohen’s DVD, Wong uses martial arts inspired movement, but it happens so quickly that you easily get lost in the sequence.  Once I got the hang of it, it was definitely fun (and going to be stolen for my classes).  He also includes an interesting variation of Downward Scorpion (down dog with a leg up and open) done on the forearms.  I found it awkward as I felt a little bit pongu (wounded) while doing it, but I can see it being a great intro for students.

The main standing sets are short and not really a huge event.  Consisting of warrior poses and some stretches, it’s a pretty basic flow.  That having been said, the prior sequences prepared you so nicely for them, that I felt very open and ready to get into them.  His core work is fantastic, including a twisting plow variation that I really liked.  He also includes this wicked yummy twist variation where you include a quad stretch, which was just heavenly.  The whole sequence ends with shavasana.  Interestingly, the video during this point shows 360 panning of Wong in a meditation pose and in shavasana — pretty, but not sure why it’s there.  Then again, most videos show pictures of someone lying in shavasana, which I suppose is there to ensure that people know how to lie down.

So what about my padangusthasana comment above?  He has this weird lisp when he says it.  It comes completely out of the blue, and I remember pausing before coming into the pose and saying to myself “Huh?”  It was momentary, but disconcerting.

All in all, I enjoyed Awakening Level.  I practiced it the least of all the sequences, mostly because I was having a week from hell at work, and just didn’t have the energy or desire to practice.  However, I know that his Source Power level is somewhere in the bag, so he and I will cross paths again.

On to next week!

First of all, Duncan Wong is short.  Really short.  But that mofo can do things with his body that I would kill to be able to do.  See below.

Yogic Arts for this week — I love these DVDs and this practice.  It’s gonna kick my ass, but I’m going to enjoy it!

More about Duncan Wong

You know, qi gong is da bomb.

After a week with Cyndi Lee, Patrick pulled Matthew Cohen’s qi gong practice out of the big blue bag.  I was, admittedly, thrilled.  I was hoping that I would have a chance of page from yoga at some point in the 52 weeks of movement, and it arrived.  I believe that I’ve done this one before at one point, because I suddenly remembered stealing some of his stuff and putting it into my Sacramento yoga class at the incomparable Rise Yoga.  However, I don’t remember doing both the Fire and Water practices, so I did get a very different experience this time around.

Let’s start with Matthew Cohen himself.  He’s definitely attractive, but probably not in the traditional sense.  He has the rugged good lucks of someone who has probably had his nose broken a couple of times.  He also looks sometimes vaguely simian, which made me feel like I might be watching Qi Gong from the Planet of the Apes.  However, he definitely has got the qi gong mojo going, so I would do horse stance all day long for him.  His good looks aside, his practice definitely made me interested in attending one of his classes in the LA area.  He is one of those synergists that I’d like to think I am.

The segments on the DVD are sometimes really short (like, less than a minute).  His instruction is excellent — clear and concise.  One of my personal gripes with qi gong and tai chi videos is that they are so often difficult to follow.  I’m pulling horses’ manes while parting the wild sea of ephemeral fire clouds.  Let’s keep it simple people.  Qi gong and tai chi are different disciplines, so that probably helps.  Luckily, there is limited foot movement in this one, and most of the arm, leg, and torso movements are easy to follow.  There are a couple of sequences where it’s unclear how the breathing is supposed to be done, so I just tried to breathe normally, because hypoxia doesn’t look good on me.  The Fire sequence included on the DVD is heating and power — it was my favorite of the two.  My new favorite exercise is “Taming the Tiger.”  You squat and hold your hands as if you were pressing onto a tiger’s back.  The thing I really like about it is that you have to tame the tiger through your heart.  There was definitely a feeling of steady energy as a I practiced the Fire sequence.  I also liked the various energy “throwing” practices, particularly Burmese qi gong.  I should practice it at work to release stress and tension…

The Water sequence didn’t resonate with me as much as the fire sequence, but I did enjoy the “Hawk” meditation.  You literally stand like a hawk, with your wrists crossed (like a hawk with its wings closed).  It also had a nice variation of arm swings, and Matthew’s direction was great in terms of making me feel like I was standing in water and gently moving it around me.  It also had mean horse stance meditation.  Maybe I just wasn’t in a very watery mood last week…

This is one of those DVDs that I would actually recommend to people who are interested in trying qi gong.  The production value is incredibly high (thanks to YTC and James Wvinner), and the instruction is clear.  The movements can be challenging, but are easily modified down.  Thanks so much, Matt, for putting a great product out into this space.  So, I bade adieu to the Floating Mountain Parting Wild Cloudy Manes on Moonlit Seas of Happy Families and head into my next week’s movement adventure…

And Patrick pulls from the big blue bag of movement loving the following anomaly: Qi Gong! Oh, and he’s a kinda cute guy teacher too.  (Bonus!)

More on Matthew Cohen.

This week has been challenging from  a work and movement perspective.  When I started this idea of 52 weeks of movements, I went all gung-ho with the following plan:

1. 3 physically intense workouts a week
2. 3-4 cardio sessions a week
3. Practicing my selected yoga video at least 3 times a week
4. 1 yoga class that I teach, and
5. My yoga teacher training two nights a week.

Needless to say, I’ve quickly become physically exhausted.  This week was a doozy at work, as well, so I just didn’t find as much time to practice.  I got my three hits at Om Yoga in, so I definitely kept my commitment, but I hoped to get more exposure.  That having been said the three practices that I did have were definitely enjoyable.

I have an interesting connection to Cyndi Lee — she has one of my Bhakti shirts.  During my first opening of the Bhakti Warrior Yoga brand, I had a set of 4, mythically-inspired t-shirts.  Cyndi bought a Laskhmi one at Yoga Journal in 2007 (I think).  So I feel that she and I are connected on a spiritual (and commercial) level.  It seems only appropriate that I should own one of her videos.  I had never practiced this video before (to the best of my knowledge), so I happily popped in the DVD on Sunday of this week and selected the 80 minute full beginning/intermediate sequence.

First and foremost, Cyndi is a wonderful presenter, with a combination of clear and humor-tinged instruction that reminds me a lot of the way that I teach. The Om Yoga style is a combination of vinyasa-based asana practices with Buddhism, so there are some instructional references to Buddhist meditation concepts.  The DVD has a full class, and then various variations based on interest (beginner beginner, beginner, relaxing, strengthening, etc.).  I assume that the variations are just slicing and dicing of the 80-minute full sequence.  The full sequence consists of warm-ups, sun salute variations, standing poses, forearm balance prep, backbends, forward bends, shoulderstand, and relaxation.  I would say that it pegs itself fairly accurately in terms of level — there are definitely some challenges for beginners, and intermediate vinyasa/power students will feel right at home.  If anything, it errs more on the side towards being about starting as a beginner and progressing, since there are rarely any options for intensifying poses past their initial stages.  For example, there is a build-up to chaturanga, but no really additional modifications for poses like tree or pigeon.

So, with the sequence being very doable and perhaps even a little “generic” (standard vinyasa fare), I had an opportunity to focus on her language.  During the very nice warm-up sequence, she instruct students to roll the wrists while in a seated lateral bend.  All of a sudden she says, “Very sexy,” and almost purrs.  Alright, Cyndi!  This was followed by direction later about pointing my nipples forward in poses (like a yoga fem-bot) and telling me that “non-orgasmic trembling” was allowed in a standing split.  I assumed that orgasmic trembling was optional, but certainly not guaranteed.  Her instruction and setup for Forearm Balance prep was great, and I appreciated all the extra instruction on setting up shoulderstand (a setup I will use into the future).  Overall, I left her class feel balanced in terms of strength and flexibility, and I appreciated the Buddhist invocation at the end.

So, it is with a difficult week and some fun yoga cues behind me that I say farewell to Cyndi and Om Yoga and head into my next week of movement.  Let’s see what the blue bag brings us!

And Patrick pulled an oldie, but a goodie.  Cyndi Lee’s Om Yoga practice.  Never really done this one, so I’m excited to see what it’s like.  I don’t even know if this is still available.

More about Om Yoga.

So this week I had Maya Fiennes’s Kundalini Yoga to Detox and Destress.  For those who know me, you know that I have a verbal love/hate relationship with Kundalini Yoga.  In truth, I deeply love the practice of Kundalini Yoga.  It’s eccentric, energetic, and it’s unabashedly concerned with the achievement of God consciousness within the constraints of the householder life.  When I’m practicing it, I hate every moment of flapping like a crazed Muppet attempting to put out a fire; when I’m done, I feel empty and full simultaneously.  So it was with both revulsion and eagerness that I sat down to “flap my crap.”

The DVD is lead by Maya Fiennes, who I assumed was mostly famous because of the last name.  She’s dressed in white in the video, in a white “room” with a white sheepskin underneath her.  You could just imagine the set catering being fettuccine alfredo with a sauvignon blanc.  Her voice is incredibly soothing and somehow Macedonian sounding, so it makes the whole video a lovely experience which really should end with baklava.

The practice was actually pretty mild compared to the kriyas that the wonderful Ann DaPrato used to throw at us on Sunday mornings.  The first part of the video starts with a basic warm-up consisting of spinal movements and life nerve stretching.  Spinal flex is followed by sufi grind and then an upper body twist.  She ends with neck rolls and life nerve stretch.  After each exercise she has you pull up on the “mulabhand” which she describes as squeezing the anus, the sex organs, and the abdomen.  This is an interesting cue, as it is biologically impossible to squeeze the anus and the perineum simultaneously (it’s because of the way the nervous system is wired).  However, she also encourages you to smile and enjoy.  Personally, I know that whenever I’m squeezing my bunghole, it’s a rocking good time, so I relaxed my shoulders and smiled broadly.

After the warm-up, we went into the main sequence.  The first pose involves reach the arms open wide and then bringing the hands back to the heart.  It’s one of the those shoulder achers that kundalini yoga just loves to have in it.  You feel like one of those crazed monkeys with cymbals banging away at your karma.  Maya continously exhorts the practitioner to break through the pain barrier and make the choice to continue.  To be honest, it wasn’t that challenging, but the shoulders definitely got warm and achy and I felt ooey-gooey after finishing it.  We then went into breath of fire, cannon breath, and “Har” chanting to cleans the adrenals and kidneys.  This breathing and sound sequence was very doable, and I always love a good breath of fire through pursed lips (cannon breath).  I felt like a chimp attempting to signal my interest in a banana — or a Japanese sex doll.

The second half of the sequences proceeds in rapid order, beginning with body drops.  Basically you lift your butt up and drop it to the floor.  It’s meant to raise the energy in the body and refuel the adrenals.  I was sincerely worried about the people below us when I did that.  One of the exercise was sitting in staff pose and then reach forward and then rocking back on to the sacrum.  I realized as I was doing this that I was slowly starting to depants myself and my underwear was doing what the body drops couldn’t — making contact with my kundalini.  The last time I did the practice (January 21) my underwear was pretty far up there.  Luckily my kundalini had risen, otherwise I would have been flossing its teeth.

At the end of the practice, Maya ends with a Sat Nam chant three times (no Sunshine song).  She then finishes the practice by saying “Thank you God.”  I think that’s a wonderful way to end the practice.  I felt awesome and recharged after most of the practices.  This week I had some really heavy lifting in my workouts, along with strenuous poses in my yoga class, so I was pretty wiped by the end of the week.  Thank you, though, to Maya for creating a great and accessible Kundalini workout and for helping me flap out my crap.

On to Week 4!

And guess what Patrick pulled for me?

Here we go with flapping my crap!

More on Kundalini Yoga.