Advanced Asanaas Presentation by Sri Suresh Balepur

Advanced Asanaas Presentation by Sri Suresh Balepur, hosted by Yoga Bharati (www.yogabharati.org)
For immediate release - September 21st 2002
Prepared by - Uday Kiran

It was such scintillating and inspiring demonstration of more than 50 Advanced Asanas by Sri Suresh Balepur at Sunnyvale Temple on Saturday, Sept 21, 2002. It was quite a packed audience of about 40 people, at 7.30AM, on a chilly morning !

The programme started with an Introduction of Sri Suresh Balepur. Sri Suresh has been practicing Yogasanas for the last 15-20 years EVERY DAY. He is from Karnataka and is a Software Engineer by profession. He learnt the B.K.S. Iyengar style of yoga and made it a part of his life. The effect is there to see. A perfect body, completely in control !

Sri Suresh started off by explaining the advantages of the Asanas. The Asanas help to keep the correct posture, maintain proper blood circulation, avoid problems like excess fat, constipation etc, in short, to keep the whole body fit and fine.

First in the sequence of asanas was Standing type.

A few of the asanas demonstrated were:

tAdAsana - Mountain Pose
utthAnAsana / pAda hastAsana / pAdangushtAsana - Hands by the side of feet / catching the fingers
utthita hasta pAdangushtAsana - holding the toe with the leg straight
trikOnAsana - triangle posture with vinyAsAs or variations
vIrabhadrAsana - Types 1, 2, 3 and 4
utkatAsana - making an imaginary chair, good for cutting down fat at the hips and the thighs
vrikshAsana - Tree pose - balancing on one leg
garudAsana - Pose of Garuda, very good for cutting down fat at the waist
pArsvakOnAsana - with vinyAsAs or variations

After this sequence, the participants started the basic level yoga session, conducted by Sri Uday. Starting with the Prayer, Breathing practices, Loosening Practices and then moving on to Suryanamaskaaras, and some basic Asanas like sethubandhAsana, bhujangAsana, shalabhAsana. The session concluded with Quick Relaxation Technique, and the closing prayer.

Sri Suresh then continued with the asanas, this time choosing the seated and the balancing Asanas.

baddha kOnAsana - locked angle pose good for pregnant ladies
gOmukAsana - cow face pose dhanurAsana - Bow pose
upavishta kOnAsana - seated angle pose
pUrNa nAvAsana - boat pose
vimAnAsana - plane pose
bharadwajaAsana - Sage Bharadwaja's pose
vashishtAsana - Sage Vashishta's pose
ashtAvakrAsana - Sage ashtAvakrA's pose
paschimottAnAsana - back stretching / seated forward bend pose
ardha baddha padma paschimottAnAsana - variation of forward bend pose
ardha matsendrAsana - a nice twisting pose of Matsendra, the lord of fishes, the first one to learn Yoga.
hanumAnAsana - bhagawAn Hanuman's pose
mayUrAsana - peacock pose
padma mayUrAsana - padmasana with mayurAsana
hamsAsana - swan pose
shIrshAsana - Head stand, with vinyAsAs(salamba, dandAsana, eka pAda etc..) or variations
bakAsana / ekapAda parsva bakAsana - crow pose, one leg lateral crow pose
sarvAngAsana - Shoulder stand
karna pIda sarvAngAsana - Ear pain shoulder stand
halAsana - plough/plow pose
chakrAsana - wheel pose from standing
The demonstration was capped by presenting
kUrmAsana - For practicing PratyAhAra, the fifth limb of Ashtanga Yoga

The audience participated wholeheartedly, with some of them simultaneously trying out asanas being done by Sri Suresh, and probably appreciating the practice that went into doing the perfect poses.

Sri Suresh's humility and his eagerness to be part of the crowd, endeared him to all and many participants approached Sri Suresh to enquire about various practices that can help them to alleviate medical conditions like back pain, neck pain, obesity, etc.

It was a wonderful session organized by the Sunnyvale Chapter of Yogabharati ( http://www.yogabharati.org) to introduce everyone to this enchanting world of Yogasanas, with some participants vowing to start learning these asanas under Sri Suresh. YogabhArati plans to start Advanced classes by Sri Suresh in near future. For more information, please send a mail to info@yogabharati.org