I have just begun reading Light on Yoga by the incomparable BKS Iyengar. To give you a feel for the flavor of the book, Appendix I suggests a detailed 300 week plan to hatha yoga mastery... 300 weeks! I thought, "what was the last time I checked out a book by a Western author suggesting that a self-improvement regimen be completed in a duration of longer than 6 months?!!?" Response: um... never!
All the poses list durations, like 2 minutes in plank, 3 minutes in paschimoto, 5 minutes in uttanasana... again, with most every class I've been in (Jivimukti being the singular exception), I can't remember ever having been asked to hold any single pose for more than 45 seconds.
So I followed the 11 minute headstand with a gentle 4 minute vrkasana (tree pose), and *boy* did that give me time to microalign the feet, the center of gravity, *and* to find a place of gentle stillness for breathing and meditation.
For the past 4 months (ever since Burning Man), I have been meditating on how to slow down... yin yoga is the perfect metaphor, and amazingly, I am very very happy with the results, in both life and yoga!
