u/andorodo

I practice mostly on my own and attend a Mysore shala only a couple of times a week. At home I usually begin with pranayama and japa — currently Om Hreem Dum Durgayai Namaha, 108 times — and I’ve recently started using the traditional opening and closing chants around my asana practice 🙏

I find the practice feels more stable when I start this way. Pranayama seems to warm up my lungs, and japa gives me a more centred focus in the asana practice following.

The shala is a different world. The opening chant is quite early, around 6:30, so I usually arrive after it, and the closing chant isn’t done collectively. The room stays very quiet during practice.

I once got a firm correction for doing pranayama while we were sitting and waiting for led primary to start 😄 In retrospect I understood that it was disruptive to the room, although at the time I assumed the time before the formal start was fair game.

So I’m curious how others navigate the difference between home practice and the shala.

When you practice at a shala, do you silently do the opening and closing chants yourself, or simply follow the rhythm of the room? And do you keep pranayama, japa or meditation practice as a separate home practice, or do you bring any of it with you into the Mysore room?

I’ve been practising Ashtanga almost daily for three years, but I still struggle to find the right energetic balance.

My teachers have told me that “running is the best way to ruin your Ashtanga practice,” but my body seems to tell a different story. My sleep, HRV, resting heart rate, energy levels and mood all improve when I include running or cross-country skiing. This may partly be because I come from an endurance-sports background, but the difference is significant.

Over the past six months, my Ashtanga practice has often felt flat and heavy. It barely raises my heart rate or makes me sweat anymore, and when Ashtanga is my only form of training, I gradually lose the feeling of being fit, quick on my feet and physically alive. At times, practising Ashtanga exclusively even affected my mood negatively and it gradually became something I did out of spite and resilience, but stopped enjoying. Eventually, I decided to listen to that and started running again. This seems to make my practice more light and enjoyable again.

The problem is that running tightens my hips very quickly. I quicly lost access to Padmasana and the Marichyasanas, and my backbends and progressing towards Second Series seems more difficult.

I also have an anterior pelvic tilt that seems related to the shape and alignment of my spine. My hip flexors do a lot of the work of supporting my posture and have become very dominant. In Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, I can experience intense pain and a compressed or pinching sensation at the front of the hip, regardless if I run or not.

I don’t want to stop running, because it has such a positive effect on my overall health and wellbeing. But I also don’t want to continually lose the mobility required for my Ashtanga practice.

Has anyone here successfully balanced regular running, skiing or other endurance training with maintaining the hip mobility needed for Primary and Second Series? Did adjusting your running volume, strength work, mobility routine or approach to Ashtanga make a difference?