I completed my first-ever yoga intensive last week. "Intense" is a good word for it. It was a week-long workshop in pushing your body to your limits while uncovering who you were and what you wanted from life. Asana is the physical aspect of yoga, so let's start with the pushing physical limits part.
We had three teachers: Amy, Christina, and Darren. Each of them use mixed forms of yogic branches in their practice, but the main ones they incorporated into our intensive were Iyengar, Bikram, and Anusara. These words might mean something to some of you...
For those of you unfamiliar with a general Iyengar (alignment-focused) or Anusara class, what usually happens is the following:
You warm up. This takes place in the form of lunges, squat jumps, and push ups, otherwise known as Warrior I, II, III and vinyasa (standing to plank to chaturanga dandasana to upward dog/cobra to down dog). The more advanced the class, the more jumping and movement are involved: "I want one movement from tadasana (standing pose) to chaturanga dandasana (bottom of a push up)." Sometimes you'll hold this last one and hover above the ground. The length of the hold depends on how merciful the teacher is. We'll do that sequence several times. "Sticky mats" don't exist after the first 20 minutes of vinyasa; they become "slippery mats" from all the sweating.
After warming up, we then fold into back bends and various twists and splits. Performing these is not all about stretching either. It takes energy to freaking reach your foot as you bend backwards, every part of you - trying breathe - wanting to yell, "I can't do it!" Also, maintaining balance on fractions of your body can take more strength and mental energy than lifting a dumbell. For instance, you could be balancing on the edge of your right foot and right hand, moving your front body forward while holding your left foot. Your left foot will then kick backward, moving you into a sideways backbend. Don't forget you're still balancing on the edge of your foot and your palm. You try to keep from toppling over and it's taking every muscle in your body to keep you from falling on the person next to you.
The instructors were great people, but I admit that after the first two days, fear for what they were going to put me through crept into my body. I named Amy the "cheerleader" of the group, because she had the most cheerful, cute voice. Christina was the "teacher:" she had academic approach to poses and challenged you to do what you didn't want to do (suggesting pros and cons). Darren was the "coach." He's a man of few words and has a calm voice. When he said, "Do XYZ," you did it. No protesting (unless you would hurt yourself). They were all supportive, but while we practiced, I didn't always believe their positivity. For instance, every time we were about to do a difficult pose, Christina would say, "It'll be awesome." "Awesome" became my short-hand word for, "Prepare for total domination. You're going to cry."
I did this type of routine - warm-up then crazy bends - for 3 hours a day, five days in a row. Think of it as going to the gym for a mixed cardio and strength training class for three hours a day. Five days in a row. In the afternoon, they gave us a few hours of restorative and what I call "stretching" yoga...no cardio or strength poses. I was never a fan of restorative yoga until after my first day. Now I think it's one of the best things in the world (that's for you, Tim!).
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