Day 5 - The 84 Asanas

During this morning's practice Tony included 5 extra Pranayama exercises throughout the series. One in Gas Removing, one in Cobra, one in Full Locust, one in Tortoise, and one in the Seated Spinal Twist. These Pranayama are meant to generate heat, and they fully live up to it. I had a moderate sweat going from the practice in general, but whenever we began a Pranayama exercise sweat began pouring from my body. These exercises are related to the Niyama Tapas, which can mean generating heat. Tony has said that generating heat is a profound and important power of the yogi, and this was my first real encounter with it. (It is strange to think of this heat generation in relationship to something like a hot room.)

Apparently we are a little ahead of schedule, so during the afternoon session, we did a brief review of the postures we've learned so far and then Tony led us through the 84 Asanas (also known as the Bikram advanced series). It was quite an exciting treat and an honor. A lot of the more advanced students are here because "Tony IS the advanced series." He can still do every one of the postures, so he demonstrated as he instructed us. Here is a picture of him demonstrating Lotus Peacock.

After class, a handful of us stayed behind and did some wall walking backbends. Intense.