Learning the Ropes of Yoga
Scott on 4:24 pm December 11th, 2010 / 1 Comment »
I’m learning to trust in fortunate, unexpected opportunity. Even when we think, “I know what I’m looking for”, experiences richer than we imagine inexplicably find us — often at the right time and in the right place.
While traveling recently in North Carolina and California, I discovered some wonderful teachers at studios that allowed me to sustain my practice on the road. My latest find was a 2-hour workshop (“The Ropes of Yoga“) with Ryan DeMatteo at Yoga Garden in San Francisco.
To the uninitiated, walking into a space and seeing a wall of knotted, suspended ropes might elicit questions such as:
- Is this where they put yoga students who need a time-out?
- Will I earn a merit badge in knot tying?
- Isn’t this room a little sunny to work as a dungeon?
I’ve practiced with ropes on a few occasions in the past, so I knew some of what to expect — intense backbends and time well spent hanging upside down like a bat in Baddha Konasana (“Cobbler’s Pose”).
In certain poses, like Downward Dog, the ropes offer solid assistance, what Ryan described as “unmovable partners”. They provide enough support for you to explore the subtler actions of the muscles and bones in the asana. With this in mind, yoga on the ropes is called “Yoga Karunta”. ”Karunta” is sanskrit (roughly) for “puppet”. You are suspended like a puppet from the wall ropes, though you’re simultaneously puppet and puppeteer — responsible for both release and animation.
Other poses, like Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana), allow intense expression and range. You stand far from the wall, and the rope acts as a tether against which you can more fully extend the side body.
The third variation of rope practice requires strength (and often overcoming the fear of falling on your head). My favorite and the most unnerving pose of the workshop included:
- walking the feet up the wall
- turning upside down and hanging with hands gripped on the rope handles (back body flat against the wall, head suspended several feet above the floor)
- sliding the legs and sit bones down the wall into a full forward bend (arms overhead gripping the ropes, body folded and suspended well above the floor, chest opening into the thighs)
- sliding the legs all the way back up the wall, returning to the original inversion
- then, repeating the sequence several more times
The forward bend in this sequence is a variation of Paschimottanasana – “Intense West Stretch” — but really more of a skyward stretch. It was exhilarating — and a great way to spend a quiet, rainy Saturday in San Francisco.
The new Boundless studio at 13th and U streets will have a yoga wall with ropes. I can’t wait to hang out there.
On January 26th, 2012 at 6:50 pm scuba manufacturers Said:
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