yogalila: Donna Rossana (a.k.a. dhanurasana)

bibliothèque

Richard Freeman: Yoga Chants
Richard Freeman Chants - its a 2 cd set. The first CD is instructional, he explains some of the history and technique, and you sing along by repeating first a word, then a line, of each chant. I think there are 3-4 chants he teaches in this way -including the ashtanga invocation, which I've always liked. He explains things very clearly. The second cd is him chanting and playing the harmonium. He has a good voice, not a great voice, but there is something incredibly soothing about listening to him. -Jane
Cindy Dollar: Yoga Your Way : Customizing Your Home Practice
This is a great book for home practice. It's spiral bound and the pages are split so that on the left the pages are practice sequences and on the right each page is one of 44 asanas. The 31 practice sequences range from 10 to 90 minutes. On the back of each asana page are several modifications with various props. The author is an Iyengar teacher and the instructions are very detailed. What I like most about it is that the variety of sequences will prevent me from doing the same practice all the time which is what usually happens when I do yoga on my own. -Danielle
Andrea Olsen: Bodystories: A Guide To Experiential Anatomy
This book is the most accesible of all the more touchy-feely anatomy books I have - daily exercises of body exploration. -Lianne

June 22, 2009

Donna Rossana (a.k.a. dhanurasana)

Unlike most (all?) of my yogalila friends, I've never taken the time to learn the Sanskrit names of yoga poses. I mean, I've picked some up over the years just through osmosis, but just a few, really. In a recent Iyengar class, the teacher asked me to demo a pose. Well, I know now that the Sanskrit name of bow pose is dhanurasana.

There is another woman named Elisa in my class. We have had conversations before about how funny that we have the same name, blah blah blah. In this recent class, she was my partner for something and after we'd assisted each other, she asked me my name, and I thought, okay, I am bad with names, but I always remember when someone has the same slightly-unusual name as me! So I was already slightly peeved, and then the teacher came over and asked me to demo a pose, and I thought he addressed me as "Donna Rossana." Which, honestly, is kind of plausible as a name that someone in Long Island might have, and I assumed he'd confused me with another student.

I said, sort of irritably, "Do you mean me?" thinking, why am I so forgettable that no one can remember my name? And he said, "Yes, Donna Rossana, can you demonstrate the pose?" So I said, "okay, what do you want me to do?" Honestly, it is a Level 1 class, I doubt anyone else there knows much Sanskrit either. But we did finally reach an understanding, and later I had a moment of enlightenment and realized that he was probably saying the name of the pose rather than confusing me with someone named Donna.

Later in class, the teacher said, "I'm sorry, what is your name again?" so I told him, and he said, "Oh, now I have two Elisas in class! This will be easy to remember!" which is exactly the same thing he said last time he asked me my name.

But at least now I know the proper name of bow pose.

Posted by Elisa in elisa, practice | Permalink