Ashtanga my love! - starting from this thought which is in my mind and soul every day, I couldn't pass by an Ashtanga workshop, which was in my city and with the yoga teacher who made my brain and body understand for the first time how to jump back and through - Ty Landrum.
I discovered Ty Landrum on Omstars, pretty obviously. He has some short videos on jumps. Up to his videos, I've watched tens of tutorials about jumps from tens of teachers. I couldn't do them. I watched Ty's videos, and puf! I jumped back and through for the first time. I was amazed. I felt like I could never pick my butt of the ground and now it happened! After this, I started to look more into Ty Landrum. And, to my surprise, I found him to be a great philosopher and an expert on yoga philosophy. You can see immediately that yoga philosophy is his passion and he makes you fall in love with it also. I personally learned from Ty speeches a lot about yoga philosophy, hindu philosophy and history, hindu myths and legends, which are the foundation of all yoga practices and stand behind all the movements, sequencing and all tiny details which we often we pass by in our yoga practice.
In September 2018, in Bucharest took place the Wellness Festival between 28 and 30 of the month and the main guest and teacher was Ty Landrum. I was like OMG! Of course I wanted to meet him and practice with him sometime in my life, but to be in my city and so soon? Wow! I couldn't not take this chance. So I bought a full pass instantly. This was in June. So I waited and waited till the time came!
The workshop was structured in eight classes, during the three days of festival. The classes were:
Surya Namaskar, Backbending, Opening the hips, Philosophy: tasting the poison, Led Primary, Pranayama and guided meditation, Thread of breath, Philosophy: the feminine sublime.
Lets start with the beginning, Surya Namaskar. I was thinking that we will do Sun Salutation for two hours continuously, and I didn't looked forward to this class. Well, I couldn't be more wrong. At that first class with Ty Landrum I understood how everything he talks about he puts into his practice. All the philosophy, all the working principles of Prana and Apana, he incorporates in each part of the body and every tiny little movement. I never did the Ashtanga Sun Salutation like that before and it deeply changed my view on how every posture, movement and transition should be done, felt, perceived. I will not give any more details and I will not give details on the other classes because I want you to try it! You can find pretty much all the classes from the workshop on Omstars, if you don't get the chance to meet him in person. A new series with Ty Landrum was released last month on Omstars, on Ashtanga. But I strongly advise you, that if you have the chance to meet him in person, go for it! Is definitely something worth experiencing.
Backbending and Opening the hips classes, were on the same page as the first class and so were all the other classes. A strong connection between yoga philosophy and physical practice in every movement. A continuous flow between the movement of Prana and Apana in the body and around. Each movement done in the most aware and awaken way. Backbends and hip openers workshops and classes are always eye opening, for me at least. There are so many way to do them, so many tips and tricks and each yoga teacher approaches them differently. And because they work with the most sensitive parts of the body, physically, spiritually and emotionally, the spine and the hips, there is never nothing left to learn. Ty's approach, was enlightening by incorporating all the yogic philosophy into the smallest movements, making them deeper and with great effects.
The led primary class, was the first more physically intense class from the workshop. Well, it was the First Series, it should've been intense. LOL. What made it special, was the fact that we could now incorporate all the information received and practiced during the other classes. So, I tried to fallow the movement of Prana and Apana in my body through each pose and each flow. I focused better on each part of my body, being more conscious about every muscle and the opposite forces working in the body in every posture. Since that workshop my Primary Series practice changed very much. This is all I can say.
Thread of breath class was nothing anyone expected to be. We all thought it is going to be a pranayama class. No, it wasn't. It was a class on jumps. Which pretty much killed us, after the Primary Series. But hey, who can say "Stop" while doing yoga? I can't. LOL. Even though I tried, and all of us tried, the stuff Ty tried to teach us was pretty advanced. I found the information very useful, but in the same time pretty discouraging being so advanced and I could see that everyone was discouraged. But as he said, you have to know what you are aiming to! And he is right. You have to try it hundreds and hundreds of times and some day you will get to it! I remembered when I first started doing yoga, I thought I could never do a chaturanga without the feeling of my arms falling apart. Now is like walking. :)
Pranayama and guided meditation class was very interesting. We did Nadi Shodhana and Viloma Pranayama. The first one I knew and practiced, but the second one I only did it once and not for too long. I loved how he took us gradually to the full Viloma breath. This type of pranayama it is not an easy one for beginners. So taking us step by step to the full Viloma felt so good, on the body and mind. That class also woke up my appetite for Pranayama and since then I started practicing regularly pranayama, after meditation. It clears and calms my mind, helping me be more focused and tune into my body better.
Now, Philosophy: tasting the poison and Philosophy: the feminine sublime classes were obviously philosophy classes. I love this type of classes. I think that there are so so soooo many classes focused on asanas and to few classes where the philosophy behind all those asanas is discussed. I could never learn anything word by word, I always had to understand the hole process behind to learn something. And yoga philosophy does that for me. Makes me understand and integrate all the healthy and ancient principles behind asanas, giving me a strong foundation. You can find philosophy classes on Omstars from Ty Landrum and many other teachers. If you really like yoga, you should check one of Ty's classes on philosophy on any channel you like. He also has his own website https://www.yogaworkshoponline.com/ You can find there his teachings. If you ever liked philosophy even a little bit, he will make you fall in love with Shiva and Shakti, the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine.
That being said, I really enjoyed Ty Landrum's Ashtanga Workshop from Welness Festival. As I said, my practice changed a lot due to what I learned there and honestly every time I do Sun Salutation I think of what I've learned from Ty. If you are an ashtangi or a yoga lover, don't miss the chance to practice with Ty Landrum, in real life or online.
The Welness Festival was pretty big, with lots of great yoga teachers, nutrition classes, technology workshops and a great place to connect with like minded people: yogis, ashtangis, nutrition lovers, technology lovers, conscious business and brands. But given that I love Ashtanga a little bit too much, I couldn't experience classes with other teachers. But maybe next year!
Least but not last, I would like to thank very much to Welness Festival who gave us, ashtangis from this part of the world, the chance to study with such a great teacher! Congratulations for the hole event! And also, thanks to Ty Landrum! Hope to practice with him again some time. :)
P.S.: At the end of the weekend I went and talked a little bit with Ty and also took some pics. I leave them here: