But in the process of practicing postural method, how many people can think of it? It took me many years to do this in practice, and I witnessed with my own eyes that the failure to do letgo made countless “Heroes” of a Tang suffer countless pains
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Although the fame of Ashtanga Yoga comes more from the development of physical strength, deep concentration, and steel self-discipline, which sounds “hard”, Ashtanga Yoga practice is more about the development of “softness”
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At the beginning of practice, pay attention to the rhythm and fluidity of breathing, pay attention to the space of mind, and make clear that the space should be clear and strengthened
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It can develop the strength of the body
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Furthermore, Ashtanga Yoga practice is not only a physical exercise, when the practice becomes more and more gentle on the physical level, the practitioner’s inner will also change accordingly; the practitioner will also become very quiet in life, and quiet, like a great water, can accommodate everything, can also be accommodated by everything, can bend and stretch, good as water
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Here are some specific suggestions to make the practice more flexible: 1
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Ashtanga Yoga, like other yoga practice methods, is just a tool – we can use this tool to improve our life, or we can use this tool to whip ourselves
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Expand your listening ability
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On the way to Ashtanga Yoga, I have witnessed many practitioners’ lives have undergone profound changes in the way of practice, and I have also seen many people still practice pure postural method with self-discipline and strength for a long time, even without change for several years (not the body position has no progress, but the head has no progress)
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Spend time on activities that can cultivate quiet temperament..
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Maybe you have countless excuses to say that you can’t do all of the above (“in fact, the excuses are not because you can’t do it, but because your dog ego doesn’t want you to do it and makes up all kinds of statements); then at least you can do the easiest thing: don’t chat with people before and after entering the classroom, after you spread the mat, breathe quietly for a few rounds, let your heart sink down and make it clear in silence Practice intention
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“Quiet” is a kind of concentration
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You may even turn meditation into a major practice, and Ashtanga Yoga practice into a bedding and support – which is definitely worth it, because meditation is the joy that comes with life
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The softness I mentioned certainly does not mean what we do or how we do it, or even how we practice it
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When I mentioned “softness”, I didn’t suggest that Ashtanga Yoga should be ambiguous and frivolous like “dance rhyme”
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We use free breathing as a tool to bind our consciousness with the sound of breathing
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A very helpful way is to be aware of when the inhalation starts, when it ends, when the exhalation starts, when it ends..
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It’s a kind of “softness of the heart”
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At the same time, be aware of the tiny precise pause between the inhalation and exhalation; when we listen to and pay attention to this small pause, our connection with our own breathing goes a step further
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To tell the truth, only when the practice of Ashtanga Yoga practitioners becomes soft, can we awaken our bodies and germinate all kinds of subtle awareness, can we feel innumerable tiny processes inside; just like with the softness of spring breeze, we can germinate the earth’s fresh green and flowers of all colors; and the strong storm of pure physical strength can only be used to sweep and destroy
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But practitioners should not regard Ashtanga Yoga as a kind of strength practice
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Many postural movements and tandem movements also need the practitioners to have coordinated body strength
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In this way, we can develop a broader and softer way to listen and experience more complete breathing; it can also help us nourish the body and better realize the rhythm of Vinyasa’s position conversion – very clearly aware of the conversion from one position to the next
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Let go and write down the suggestion of letgo, which must be very familiar to everyone
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Start from cultivating “Quietness”, cultivate “Quietness” in life, stay away from noisy social activities and noisy friends, limit the time of reading and replying to “two wechat and one little red book” on mobile phone, quit most of the circle of wechat friends without real significance..
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For example Tea, reading, outdoor walking, Go to art museums, listen to academic lectures, and talk about really meaningful topics with people who can speak quietly..
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Softness first comes from an open mind, an adjustment of practice intention: we use practice to listen to the body, and discover the inner delicacy of the body
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Practice again
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I didn’t suggest that Ashtanga Yoga practice should give up to make the body stronger, make the practice simple and direct, and make the mind focused
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But at the same time, I also want to help practitioners to find the same feeling of water in the traditional astigo practice of the sequential body position series
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The world has the same destination but different ways, and the same destination but different ways
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Although strength is important, it is not the focus of practice, nor is it the physical condition standard to judge whether Ashtanga Yoga can be practiced
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But to awaken the practitioner’s body, so that the practitioner’s body and mind are open to all kinds of possibilities that were limited in the past
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An important foundation of Ashtanga Yoga practice is free breathing (click here to read the topic article)
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If you can cultivate the habit of regular meditation, and even the daily time of meditation is equal to the time of posture practice, your practice and life will be greatly changed, and you will be happy Have the ability to turn practice into a process of inner exploration
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This sense of space, combined with the consciousness of breathing, can inject softness into your practice and make your practice become organically soft
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Many articles have strong self-discipline and strong concentration in propaganda exercises
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Such practice has no end point, because there are unlimited possibilities in the process of practicing breathing to wake up the body and change the mind
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I have introduced such a typical soup maker and teacher a Tang in previous articles (review here)
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Remember: yoga practice is a long process, a lifetime effort.
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Click “the road of Ashtanga Yoga” above to subscribe! As we all know, Ashtanga Yoga practice is a very challenging exercise for the body
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When you clearly feel the rhythm of breathing, including the “slightly suspended” bar beat, you are cultivating a larger space through practice
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I wrote a lot of articles about astha yoga in this official account
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It’s about intention, deep inner listening and believing in the inner wisdom of our body
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So although it’s a cliche, it’s still necessary to write it down: put it down! What to put down? Of course, what we should put down on the yoga mat is the idea of “making the body position to a certain position…”; don’t force the body into a certain expected shape or position
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The most powerful practice tool to cultivate concentration is meditation
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Under the guidance of such a mentality and intention, practice becomes a process of discovery
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Soft practice is not to push the position as far as possible on the boundary of the body, but to find a way to nourish your practice
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Lao Tzu said, “to be the softest in the world, to be the strongest in the world.” Li Xiaolong said, “be water, my friend” is the same as boiling soup
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A Tang practice is still, and must be, a kind of physical challenging practice, but the main purpose of the practice is not to unlock all kinds of postures, sequence evolution..
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