This is another sequence for hips opening and Hamstrings stretching.

Keep working on your trouble area and amazing results will come in a few days.

1. Hamstring extreme stretching

• Use 6 blocks
• Step with both feet on 3 blocks
• Bend forward, breathe and stay there for 30 seconds to 1 minute
• Magic will happen

2. Padangusthasana on the wall

• Face your back to the wall, bend down and touch the floor with the palms (use blocks if necessary)
• Bring heels back until they touch the baseboards of the wall (if there is no baseboards, leave some space between the heels and the wall
• With legs stretched and buttocks touching the wall, bend forward. Back straight

3. Utthita Trikonasana on the wall (Triangle)

• Touch the wall with your heels.
• Turn Right foot 90º. Keep Left foot straight
• Bend to the right while keeping your buttocks on the wall. You should feel the hips opening

4. Utthita Parsvakonasana on the wall (Side Angle)

• Legs apart one leg distance.
• Right foot 90º. Left foot straight (0º)
• Left heel should be touching the wall, while Right foot should be apart. Ankle of left foot should be paralell to right foot.
• Keeping buttocks on the wall, bend the left knee as much as possible, but keep the left leg paralell to the hips, don´t let it go inside

5. Prasarita Padottanasana (wide legged forward bend)

Here we have 2 exercises

• Touch wall with toes.
• Bend forward until you can place the back on the wall.
• Stay there for 30 seconds to 1 minute

Second exercise:

• Face the wall with your back
• Bend forward
• Adjust heels to the wall
• Bend forward with straight back, while buttocks touch the wall

On Friday I felt very frustrated.

During the early morning Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practice I felt that my progress is going in extremely little steps, that I am not flexible…

And next to me I saw that everybody were flexible and strong.

Everyone was doing poses better than me, I was the only one using props (block and belt) for every pose.

Really.

In any forward bending, I was the highest one,

While everyone is touching the toes and the floor easily, I am like 30 cm away from them, just looking from up there.

«Who am I trying to tease? Even my little 11-years-old niece is more flexible than me, I will never reach to that level of flexibility, even if I was working on it for years.»

I felt very low.

I felt very discouraged.

On top of that, during Philosophy class the teacher told us that the first part to train (from all 8 limbs of yoga) is Asanas. If you want to master Prayanayama, Pratyahara, Dharana and the rest, first you need to master Asana. Because only when you master Asanas, your body is eligible to master Pranayama.

Which makes sense.

But it felt very discouraging for me.

Because my mastery of Asana is very far from mastery.

So, how to overcome this frustration?

These are 4 thinking processes that I came up with to come out from there.

1. What would you do if not this?

For years I have felt very lost.

I didn´t know what to do.

I felt bored and lonely.

And loneliness was a consequence of not know what to do, of boredom.

All this brought up personal problems, not just my own worries, but it also affected the relationships with my closest ones.

I tried different things to fight boredom, like travelling, volunteering, carpentry, padel,

And they were working fine for some time, they all had their reason to be there in that moment.

But they all finished.

Last October I made a commitment: I would would train yoga in order to become a Yoga Teacher. Or at least, go much deeper into the practice, because I had practiced Yoga here and there for the last 8 years and it always felt good.

So, even with all this frustration,

What could I do if not Yoga?

For years I didn´t know what to do and I had tried many thing, and now, this commitment to Yoga is bringing:

• Clarity of mind, and is taking away most of those spirals of bad thoughts from my mind
• Great Health conditions, I am clearly in my best moment of the body in terms of weight, flexibility and strength I would say in my whole life or at least in the last 23 years, since I was 17.
• Lots of good energy, I feel light, I start the day in good mood

So, even with all frustration, staying on this path deserves continuity.

2. Find out why you are doing what you are doing

Talking to some partner in the school of yoga here in Mysore they told me that they were doing this for themselves and to share with others.

I didn´t feel completely related, but trying to find the original reason why you are doing something can be very helpful in low moments.

First thing that came to my mind is that:

• I am doing this for my daughter

I don´t want that she grows up with a father that is completely lost in life, in bad shape, with low energy and depressed. I want that she sees that it is possible to pursue your dreams, even if they are difficult to reach.

I don´t want to hide my low moments from her, but I also don´t want that she thinks that life is a burden and that there is nothing to dream of.

Since I am practicing yoga, I am more focused, I am enjoying my free time more, because the busy time is interesting and compelling. I want to stay in this way.

Also:

• I am doing this for my wife

She doesn´t deserve a lost husband, a lost soul wandering around not knowing what to do.

Before making that commitment in October I was that lost.

Now I am much better.

Even if I don´t know the end goal of all this, the path is feeling good to our relationship.

Finally

• I am doing this for others and for myself

I am selfish.

I want to have fun, keep practicing, stay healthy and share all this with others in our hostel.

3. The real cause of frustration

Frustration comes from not getting what you want when you want.

We want everything now.

We live in this fast world where satisfaction has to come immediately.

I remember the times when you could be staring at television for hours, even watching just ads, in order to watch a movie. It didn´t matter if the movie was better or worse.

Now we want to find the best movie in few seconds.

We get impatient if we can´t find it online in the first 10 minutes.

And everything is like that.

There was the time when you would make an appointment to meet some friend: a fixed time and a place. And you waited there as long as it was necessary.

Now, if the friend is not there by the time you arrive, you call or text him asking when he is coming.

We are not patient.

I am not patient.

Processes need time.

Becoming a master in yoga (and therefore a teacher) is not something that you can do in a few days.

But my mind tells me the opposite. I want it and I want it now.

The normal consequence?

Frustration.

So be patient.

4. Don´t compare to others

Apart from noticing that my progress was not fast enough, I could see that other people were far ahead of me.

From my point of view it didn´t matter if they have been practicing everyday for the last 10 years, or if their nature is more flexible… or if their minds are struggling while they are doing the perfect pose.

From my point of view they were just better than me,

And I am a failure.

Comparing to others doesn´t bring much.

You can use it to your advantage, to improve, to see what you will be able to do when you practice enough.

Don´t use comparison against you.

Because there will always be someone that does it better than you.

Be gentle with yourself, accept your own process and keep working on it.

5. What is the whole point of yoga?

All this frustration and discouragement are far away from the main goals of yoga, which are:

1. Having a strong mind
2. Having a peaceful mind

There are other further goals, but these two are main and come up from the beginning.

Enjoy the process, relax your mind and keep showing up.

Conclusions

Any process of learning implies the realization that you know very little about the topic.

The more you learn, the more you realize that you don´t know.

So frustration is common.

How to deal with it?

1. Find out why you are doing it. Finding the real reason to what you are doing brings back all the meaning, all the sense, the end goal
2. Realize that you are on the right path. You chose this path for some reasons. There were many options and you chose this one. If no better option arose and you just feel frustrated, keep going, keep showing up. Important is that you stay on the path.
3. Be patient. Processes need time. Especially the meaningful ones. Easy things are not worthy. Important things are not easy. Give yourself the time to improve.
4. Don´t compare to others, it doesn´t bring anything and you actually don´t know what their processes have been, what they are struggling with and what their plans are. Just focus on your practice.
5. Stay calm. Keep practicing. Constant, daily practice will bring a strong and peaceful mind. Remember that.

Basically, as a summary, keep practicing.

Only practice is important.

In order to work on the trouble area,

Here is a sequence of poses for hips and pelvic opening, learnt at the TTC Nirvana Yoga Shala.

1. Adho Mukha Mandukasana (Down Frog)

Face down frog

2. Kailashasana (Mountain)

Mountain Pose

• Open your legs around one leg apart
• Right 90º
• Left 90º
• Low your hips down, tail bone pointing down.

3. Supta Virasana (Reclined Hero)

Reclined hero pose

With bolsters for beginners.

• Kneel down
• Separate your legs
• Seat down in between the legs
• Bend back

4. Ustrasana (Camel)

Camel Pose

Better with blocks for beginners

5. Anjaneyasana (Low Lunge)

Low Lunge Pose o luna creciente

• From downward facing dog, bring Right foot forward in between hands
• Place right knee on the floor
• Stretch arms up, gaze to the fingertips
• Push hips down and front

6. Parivrtta Anjaneyasana (Revolved Low Lunge)

Revolved Low Lunge Pose

7. Virabhadrasana B, adjusted on the wall (Warrior B)

 Warrior B pose

• Separate feet about one 2/3 of your body
• Left straight, Right 90º
• Left heel touching the wall, Right foot separate from wall
• Touch the wall with both buttocks
• Bend right knee, trying to keep buttocks on the wall

8. Baddha Konasana (Butterfly)

Butterfly Pose

9. Malasana (Garland)

Garland Pose

• Open your legs around shoulders distance apart
• Right and Left open 45º
• Go down with hips, tail bone pointing down, spine straight, chin up gaze forward

When I read about the 8 limbs in The Illustrated Light on Yoga the biggest conflict that jumped up and stayed was that we shouldn´t save.

A yogi must have just enough to live today, maybe also tomorrow, but not much more than that.

Because a yogi trusts on his current and future abilities to get enough food to survive.

So you don´t need to save.

And that collapses with my western mindset, where it is important to save, because we don´t know what the future will bring.

You need to save

Why do I need to save?

Because I am not elevated enough.

Only an enlightened yogi, who doesn´t depend on eating for many days straight, who doesn´t need clothing and is detatched from physical necessities can skip saving.

For the rest of us, saving is normal.

And it is recommended.

Especially if you have a family, if you have people that are depending on you.

Because the purpose of life is double:

1. Liberate yourself
2. Help others get liberated

Therefore it is your responsibility to save money and food to feed yourself and the people depending on you.

Saving and donating

During our Philosophy class in the Yoga TTC in Nirvana Shala, the teacher told us that the best option was saving a part of your income and donating the rest that you might not need soon.

«But I never know who to donate to» – I said.

That is also fine.

It´s your responsibility to chose:

1. The right person
2. The right time
3. The right place

You cannot just make your donation to anyone and on anytime, because there is big chance of misuse.

It is also recommended to give hand to hand, not through any intermediaries, because you don´t know what is going to happen to the donated resources.

Also it is important to not keep donating forever, because you create a bad habit and don´t help other people grow. Better follow the chinese proverb:

Don´t just give them fish. Teach them how to fish.

So donating once (and more times) is okay. Donating forever is not okay. 

Therefore, if you can´t find the right person, right time and right place to donate, it is okay to look for it and wait until you find it.

It is also okay to wait until you can develop your own project, your own donation, your own mission.

Find your trouble area and work on it.
You will see amazing improvements in a few days.
(Dr. Shashirekha C.K.)

Yesterday during the practice I experienced 5 minutes of freedom in my hips.

It´s like my hips were not mine.

Like there was not the normal resistance.

It was as if my hips were full of air, and I could move freely, without effort.

Really, Vinyasa was fluent like a breeze.

It all came after these last 2 weeks of intensive practice at the Yoga TTC in Mysore, and especially after the last 2 days of focused work on the hips opening and hamstring stretching.

Following the advice of Dr. Shashirehka, I found my trouble area, worked on it and saw amazing improvements in just a couple of days.

We´ve been in Mysore (India) for less than 2 weeks and this culture is starting to be surprisingly captivating in subtle ways.

Here are just 3 simple things that I have experienced in that sense.

1. Honesty

A taxi picked us up at International Airport of Bangalore to take us during 2.5 hours to Mysore at night.

After one hour our driver asked my wife:

• Madam, my daughter also goes to Mysore. Can she join us in the car?

We agreed.

But I immediately thought that it wouldn´t be his daughter; that it would be some client and that way he would make more money in one trip.

And a couple minutes later I thought to myself:

• Maybe it´s really his daughter. Why should I think bad of him? Just because we do this kind of things in my country?

Finally it was his daughter.

He was an honest man.

And I have seen it once and again. Indians are honest.

Despite how much money they have, despite how they live, despite what we think of them from our very-developed countries, you can trust indians.

2. Energy

A couple days ago, a partner from the course of yoga asked me:

• Don´t you feel lighter in India? Don´t you feel a better energy here than in Europe? Like everything flows easier?

I replied no to everything.

I said I am not that sensitive.

But then, I thought again.

When we just left the airport of Bangalore and saw our taxi driver, he welcomed us with a smile even if it was 4:30 am, even if we had left the airport more than 1.5 hours after the landing because of all the passport and visa controls,.

Two minutes later, I told Marta:

• I feel that this is not the last time that we are coming to India

That was after our first 2 minutes walking in India, just in the car park of the airport.

She said: «Let´s wait and see the country».

And I replied: «It´s only a feeling»

Maybe there is some captivating energy in this country, and maybe I am not that insensitive.

3. Happiness

Whenever there is a conflict, I can see that the principle of indians is:

I prefer to be happy than to be right.

They don´t discuss.

I haven´t seen any of them nervous, histeric.

And they don´t try to be right.

If you say something that they did wrong, that you don´t agree with something or if you say something that they don´t understand, they will smile very kindly and go on with their happy lives.

They don´t care who is right.

They are happy.

The early morning sets the mood for the day.

1. Go to bed early the previous night
2. Wake up before the sunrise, you get all the energy in the atmosphere for the new day
3. Go to the washroom and get rid of all the waste from the day before
4. Practice yoga, 45-90 minutes, including pranayama and meditation
5. Get a warm shower
6. Have your breakfast

Traditionally my morning routine was very similar.

I had 40 minutes reading and less physical exercise, about 10 minutes, but for the rest it was quite similar.

I still like reading 5 minutes of philosophy of yoga before practicing asanas, because it sets the right attitude for the practice.

When you show yourself vulnerable,

People connect with you immediately,

They connect with your soul.

Share your fears, your frustrations, your emotions….

Not only will people give you their advice to your doubts / problem / question,

But also you will receive support, sometimes from people you didn´t expect, usually much bigger than you could imagine.

Practice of asanas without the backing of yama and niyama (ethics and individual discipline) is mere acrobatics.

The Illustrated Light on Yoga (Iyengar)

I came to Mysore to do a Yoga Teacher´s Traing Course, in order to become a Yoga teacher.

From the beginning, I feel almost retarded because I am not as flexible as most of the people.

I know: I am a trunk.

But Yoga is not about being flexible.

It is also not about making postures.

Yoga is a way of living, a way to keep your mind clear.

Asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing) and meditation are the necessary techniques to keep your body healthy and energetic, and to clear your mind and let it focus on here and now.

Life can be stressful.

Our minds run aroud like a wild animal and can make our lives miserable.

Yoga is the tool that helps us calm our minds down and connect body, mind and soul.

It´s not about being flexible or making the best asanas.

I still have to interiorize this, believe it for real.

Because I still believe that I cannot be a good Yoga teacher if I am not flexible.

When you are the last one in the group,

There´s is one sure thing:

You have a lot of room to improve.

I tend to judge myself and hate me when everybody around does things better than I do.

It´s much better to treat myself gently, accept that I am in my own process of learning, appreciate that I have people around with better skills, keep going on with my process and  learn from them, kindly.

This is no competition.