Yoga has always been adpted for the life-span such natural intelliegence is built into this timeless system for self realisation. Reflecting on our life-stage and of course our interests as well as our needs and capacities are continuously evolving. Here's a brief introduction to how yoga is taught through the lifespan.
Srsti krama
Physical yoga (āsana) was taught to children to support their spine and body growing in a healthy and aligned way. Games, animal shapes, stories are used to support the young developing body-mind. Things yoga play ! Don't you wish you got to experience this!
Śiksana krama
Classical /unmodified/as per the text
Young adults in the classical vedic education system would have began practice in childhood as described so the next phase was to offer more rigorous practice to build a strong and flexible body and to master the body. All of this assumes that the body is aligned in its growth and is healthy. Classical unmodified Āsana sequencing (Vinyāsa) were combined with breath work building the physical practice as well as the breath ratios within the practice inhale 10 - hold 10 exhale 10 - hold 10. 10/10/10/10
This is what we mostly see in Yoga land - a demanding physical practice, yet mostly without the addition of counted/focused on the breath. Think astanga vinyāsa or similar.
Rakśana krama
To protect
The main focus here is on the breath, with āsana taught to protect the body of disease, reducing the likelihood of future suffering and chanting to protect the mind from negative patterns. Practice here is less about mastery and more about supporting this life stage of householder duties and family life. Practice is well rounded and holistic in approach, less focused on difficulty and more on stability physical, mental, emotional and energetic.
This is the method we share at Ray of Light. We teach you to modify the postures first, know how to meet those in the room. Understand the function of the āsana it’s energetic effect on our system and then you can design intelligent sequences for anybody. It’s a wonderful skill to have to go beyond form to function. For example generally morning practices have an enlivening quality, evening a cooling, calming releasing quality and sometime we want balance. It’s with these energetic focuses we teach you to share the OG energy management system !
So it's important to find a training that links with your desire to practice and perhaps share.
Adhyātamika krama
Means to go inwards
In this latter stage of life the main focus of practice is is meditation with minimal āsana and prānāyāma (enough to support health and wellbeing) with the objective to deepen contemplation, prayer, ritual and meditation. Here folks might move out to the forests or live with family, they would have less household duties and would spend time connection to the source to prepare for the end of this life. How amazing to develop skills to support "dying well".
Cikitsa krama
Yoga therapy
Yoga therapy is offered when students need to address an imbalance in the system which might manifest physically, psychological or physiologically. A yoga therapist is someone who has completed a yoga teacher training as well as usually an additional over a1000 hours of training going deeper into yoga for healing. Folks can seek the support of a yoga therapist for personal practice, life style coaching and counselling support. See my yoga therapy page for more information. CLICK
We don't need to be fixated on which krama we are in, and of course we can always dedicate ourselves to our practice in our way as our time and desire allows ! Ray of lights teacher training introduces all of these krama's and how to teach them, however we mostly focus on Rakśana krama - teaching you to share a well rounded full spectrum practice suitable for most people. We encourage you to explore sharing the practice on the mat and using props and chairs without you needing to study another method like Yin or restorative. If it's not restoring us, can it really be yoga?
My goal is to empower you to share yoga with anyone you might meet in your community who is interested. There's nothing wrong with a dynamic and flamboyant physical practice. However yoga is always shared in an intelligent way. Let's say goodbye to terms like Yoga injury and reclaim yoga's essence. State of being. I would love to share this method with you.
Ray of lights yoga teacher training is enrolling now !!
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