Prabhu Yoga after several months. Slowly, restarting yoga

The Prabhu Yoga classes, which had been on hiatus since June, have resumed. It was my first Prabhu Yoga session in several months.

...Actually, this summer, the lower back pain I suffered in January returned. I would wake up in pain every time I turned over in the middle of the night. On top of that, I sprained my right wrist (tears). Although I went to a chiropractor and used compresses for both, they wouldn't heal easily. Even though I was told to rest, these are parts of the body I use in daily life, so it hurt every time I used them (tears). Since the yoga classes were canceled consecutively, it was lucky for me, but I used that as an excuse to not get on my yoga mat all summer, making it a few months where I took three steps forward only to take five steps back.

Because of that, I participated in my first Prabhu Yoga session in months feeling inwardly nervous, only to find a class with a completely different group of people than usual. Out of eight participants, six were first-timers. Moreover, it was my first time experiencing a class where four of them were young men.

Perhaps because of that, Prabhu-ji started slowly with gentle movements. That served as a warm-up for me, which was a huge help (laughs).
*If it were a class full of people who had taken the Prabhu Yoga teacher training, Prabhu-ji's demands would be higher, and it would be a breathless time for me (laughs).
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The reason it was a slow start despite having many young male participants seems to be that there were some who were prone to lower back pain or had blockages in their bodies, so he started slowly to check their bodies without putting too much strain on them from the beginning.

What's amazing about Prabhu-ji is that he can grasp the state of a person's body just by looking at them once. He says he can't explain it, but it's like he scans them. That's why there was someone he told immediately upon meeting, 'You are very healthy, but you are sleep-deprived. You need to sleep more properly,' which really surprised the person.

It was a class of only eight people, but Prabhu-ji said he would divide us into three groups based on differences in skeletal structure, flexibility, and muscle quality, and provide different guidance. In fact, even when given the same movement, he would change instructions endlessly, saying things like, 'You guys do it this many times. These people do it this many times... You do this more difficult version...' Of course, I was on the 'don't push yourself team,' where I would rest a little after doing it a few times (laughs).

In the middle, we did the bow pose several times, and there was someone very flexible whose legs and head went up high. From my perspective, it was an enviable level of flexibility, but Prabhu-ji pointed out, 'Your way of doing the bow is wrong.'

To give you an idea of what it was like, it was like this.

I'd like to say it was a very beautiful bow pose! But according to Prabhu-ji, the important thing about the 'bow pose' is not bending the back, but needing to make the approach effective for the parts of the body you want to target by doing the bow.

And you need to synchronize your breathing, movements, and mind.

In their case, because they were flexible, they were cautioned for lifting their upper bodies too much and for holding their breath.

Even those who have been yoga instructors for a long time are sometimes told by Prabhu-ji when participating in Prabhu Yoga, 'You are not breathing properly.' Since it only becomes 'yoga' when the synchronization of breath, movement, and mind occurs, those who tend to hold their breath while doing poses should be especially careful.

*I wrote in detail about the 'bow pose' in my April 2022 blog, so if you are interested, please read that.

By the way, we also did the bridge pose, but I was also cautioned for that, being told, 'That's wrong.'

Here is the bridge pose. ↓↓

It is a very simple pose, so anyone who has done yoga has probably done it at least once, but unfortunately, the above is an 'incorrect bridge pose.' I searched online for images that could serve as examples of the 'bridge pose,' but I couldn't find a single one (surprise!)

And it was written that it is a pose to train the 'psoas muscle,' but the purpose of yoga is not to train muscles~ (laughs). This is an example of what happens when you think of it as just a pose to lift your hips high without being conscious of Prana, Bandhas, or energy at all.

...As I was doing yoga while being pointed out these things by Prabhu-ji, those young first-time members were suddenly fired up about Prabhu Yoga (laughs).

After the class ended, when we talked again, it turned out they were actually people who had received their yoga teacher certification by taking RYT200 at other yoga classes. Because they were completely schooled by Prabhu-ji (laughs), they immediately requested that a Prabhu Yoga 200 course be held so they could learn more Prabhu Yoga.

That's great.
The birth of young and energetic Prabhu Yoga teachers is near! I'm looking forward to it~!