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Workshop Review Arm Balances & Backbends Workshop Karen Lam Free arm balances and backbends are as inspirational as they are scary. But for participants of Peter Scott’s workshop on Arm Balances & Backbends at Yoga Central, the big shock was no food was permitted before the workshop and only carrot soup in between the sessions! We all worried what would be in store for us! Fortunately for the 16 of us, Peter, a Senior Intermediate II Iyengar certified yoga teacher from Melbourne, blended the technicalities and sequencing with watchful time control in the workshop management. None of us starved nor felt exhausted afterwards. One participant, CP Yu, commented “I am always cautious about doing backbends for fear of awakening old injuries or opening new injuries. The backbend workshop was the best I have ever encountered. Three hours of non-stop intense work and a systematic approach to many deep poses didn’t leave me sore at all.” LILIAN WONG LOVED THE ARM BALANCING AT PETER SCOTT’S WORKSHOP AT YOGA CENTRAL (Balance on upper arms with horizontal body), Eka Pada Sirsasana II (Forearm balance with one bent and one straight leg), Hamasana (Swan), and more arm balance variations to prepare for the final poses. head). The highlight of the day was Salamba Sirsasana II (Tripod Headstand) dropping back to Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel), then up to Samasthithi (Mountain with palms folded on chest). Maggie Tan said “the class was a piece of art in that the poses were built up from more simple postures. Just like the brush strokes of an artist – first a few dabs of paint to begin with and eventually the picture emerges. He began by awakening our awareness with simple poses. The awareness and intelligence of the body and mind is primed and from this platform we were able to access the more challenging poses.” Peter specified upfront his purpose was to build our knowledge to handle advanced Arm Balances and Backbends. He started with simple poses like Elbow Uttanasana, Kurmasanas on a chair, Pincha Mayurasana preparation with wrists on a block against the wall to awaken the forearms, tailbone and wrists/shoulder before Vasisthasana (Side Plank with hand holding big toe up), Kasyapasana (Side plank with arm holding one foot in lotus). After our bodies had warmed up, Peter included standing poses like Uttanasana, Trikonasana, Parsvakonasana, Padasana and arm balances like Bakasana Although Peter’s said he would focus on the technicalities of advanced Arm Balances and Backbends, he also took care of our energy progression, by varying the sequence of learning, timing and muscle work of particular anchors for each pose, so we were all able to attempt the advanced poses. At the very least, we felt we knew how to get our body ready with an d understanding of how our muscles work to support the more elementary standing and seated poses. We were hungry after the morning session but not starving and a couple of us commented that we actually felt energized rather than tired. We started the Backbend session with Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Hand stand) so it was no wonder just carrot soup was recommended for lunch! Peter shared a similar approach in sequencing, timing and sharing of technicalities by doing backbends on the floor like Salabhasana (Locust), Bhujangasana (Snake), then more advanced preparation with Sirsa Padasana on Chair (Headstand with arched back and feet on By the end of the workshop, we had all completed our share of drop-backs, whether it was practicing with hands to the wall, doing just Standing Ustrasana (Camel) to awaken the spine, or a free standing drop back. All students felt so elated after the workshop that they started to ask if Peter would have a second teacher training program in Hong Kong. I felt honored to have Peter host this technical workshop and to have been one of his first batch of teacher training students in Hong Kong. I hope more experienced teachers will ‘break down’ advanced poses for yoga students so that we can understand how to physically achieve the final pose and to overcome our fear of progressing both body and mind. Guruji (Mr. Iyengar) once said, “Yoga is an art”. Peter Scott embodies this and communicates it to all his students so they can experience the art of asana practise in their own bodies. Karen owns at teaches at Yoga Central. 35