July 2025 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Vinyasakrama Yoga TT Programs

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

July 2025 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami–Vinyasakrama Yoga  TT programs

My Samkhyakarika book published by Innertraditions  is being released in Europe from July–3rd . it can be obtained from Amazon UK

 Vinyasakrama Yoga TT program-

I am now teaching a 100 hr Vinyasakrama yoga program organized by Atmayogashala Chennai. The course consists of 60 hrs of Asanas, vinyasas, pranayama and dharana meditation. The remaining 40 hrs were allotted to text studies. The texts chosen were Sri Krshnamacharya’s Yoga Rahasya of Nathamuni and balance 20 hrs were assigned to study of Yoga yajnavalkya. The program will be completed on July 4, 2025.This program was made available both in person and online by Atmayogashala. In Chennai

The asana portion consisted of 10 major sequences and a few special sequences, The main sequences consisted of three standing sequences, four seated sequences, two lying down ones and Sirsasana, the master inversion. Each major sequence consisted of many individual subsequences with a number of vinyasa movements built around individual asanas. The standing sequences were Tadasana or tree pose, ekapad asanas or one legged asanas and trikonasana or triangle pose. The two lying down sequences would have supine and prone postures. The four  seated sequences were built around Padmasana or lotus pose, Vajrasana and other seated poses for meditation, Paschimatanasana or posterior stretch pose with counterposes and several asymmetric seated asanas. Then the king asana the headstand or sirsasana with many vinyasas to enhance the effectiveness of the yoga masterpiece. In all, hundreds of breath oriented vinyasas and scores of asanas woven with vinyasas were covered during the program.

Here are some interesting subroutines practiced in the course of the program

 

The participants performed 32, 12 step or vinyasa and breath oriented suryanamaskaras or sun salutations at the end of  chanting each of the 32 anuvakas or sections of Arunam or suryanamaskara mantras from the yajur veda. Here is the picture of the participants on and off line

My Guru Sri Krishnamacharya taught scores of asanas and hundreds of breath oriented vinyasas in his Viyasakram method of teaching yogasanas. One was bhujangasana or cobra pose. Cobra is called bhujanga as the armless cobra uses the body as we use arms.

So while teaching asanas he would ask the student to place the palms near the chest and raise the trunk up to the belly button. Later after a few days of practice he would ask the student to keep the hands off the floor and keep them stretched together behind the back and do the posture on inhalation. He would say this is correct bhujangasana as the cobra has no hands

 

Why is Padmasana called a lotus pose . Does it look like a lotus when you sit in lotus pose?

Here is a picture of urdhwa padmasana or upright lotus It could be seen that the legs in this pose look like a lotus with a slight depression in the middle and two petals hanging  In this picture Jyoshna Ramakrishna beautifully performs Urdhva Padmasana. Many people who have not been able to get to Padmasana while seated, manage to get the posture in headstand  as the hips and legs are free to move without having to carry the body wright. 

 

Here is a lovely headstand sub routine. As mentioned, one can learn to get to do padmasana in headstand. Here in this video Joshna Ramakrishnan beautifully gets to seated padmasana from urdhva padmasan vis aakunchita padma sirsasana. While slowly doing recaka. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/90wPJ8PXD9c?feature=share

Here is a video of Indra Varun nicely performing a subroutine in uttita parsvakonasana while in bahya kumbhaka during the 100 hr vinyasakrama yoga program organized by Atmayogashala in Chennai.

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 Well. This is a subroutine in a major asana in triangle base sequence in Vinyasakrama Yoga called uttita parsva konasana. This movement is said to improve the lateral movement of the rather stubborn hip joints. Further if practiced a few times every day in bahyakumbhaka (breath holding after exhalation), it would help reduce the truck tyre around the waist to the width of a cycle tyre and eventually it would disappear like the waist of the demonstrator

The program also included learning a variety of pranayamas such as ujjayi nadishodhana sitali, surya and chandra bheda. bhastrika, and viloma ujjayi. On an occasion the participants practiced upto 80 viloma ujjayi pranayamas running for about 45 minutes in one sitting. Other special features included mantra oriented 12 vinyasa suryanamaskara, dingnamaskara or salutations to the directions as East South etc with appropriate mantras. There was practice of pratyahara in the form of shanmukhi mudra daily so also dharana meditation as per Patanjali’s yoga sutra

The evening two hour sessions included two sanskrit yoga texts. One was Nathamuni’s yoga Rahasya written by my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. This 20 hour study included sloka by sloka explanation. The second 20 hours are being used to study a yoga classic Yoga Yagnyavalkya taught to me by Sri Krishnamacharya.

I am scheduled to repeat the program at Salt Lake City Utah from September 22, 2025 for 20 days five hrs. each day, organized by Yogasoul, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA The texts however will be different They would be Samkhya Karika of Iswarakrishna and as a companion volume Yogasutras of Patanjali. We would study sloka by sloka and suyta  by sutra

Here is the link to register

https://www.yogasoul.org/yoga-teacher-training/srivatsa-ramaswami