Yoking the Internal Wind
Courses and Training in Shadow Yoga, with Andrew Daunis
A Practical Method for an Advancing Practice
Shadow Yoga is a method of traditional Hatha Yoga that emphasizes foundational preparatory work to establish the conditions of a fruitful and advancing practice. Preparatory activities (vyayamas) improve the power and function of the legs to affect the bones, blood, and breath, and clarify the sinking energy of apana vayu (downward moving wind). The actions and principles learned through the dynamic and spiraling karanas of the Shadow Yoga preludes include placement and positioning, rooting and sinking, and raising and lowering the energy of the body.
The understanding one gains is that entering into a shape is the result of proper movement of vayu (inner wind.). “Alignment” is not a product of some type of mental and muscular imposition on the body” but rather a condition of the body/mind that is the inevitable result of vayu moving in space (Akash).
The Prelude Forms of Shadow Yoga
There are 3 primary training tools, fixed forms that are taught in a course format, that are known as the prelude forms of Shadow Yoga. The forms are a “prelude”, or the “set-up" that precedes the practice of seated asana activity in yoga sadhana.
These 3 fixed forms contain the seeds of basic and advanced asanas, and so through their practice over time the practitioner prepares the body and mind for an advanced practice.
Every lesson prepares one for what is to follow, so that progression through Shadow Yoga is characterized by “fulfillment upon arrival.”
Bala Krama: Stepping into Strength
Chaya Yoddha Sancalanam: Churning of the Shadow Warrior
Karttikeya Mandala: Garland of Light
“Throughout the ages, the cultivation of power has always been achieved through very simple and uncomplicated movements. The prelude forms of the Shadow School of yoga are not a new invention but a resurrection of what is an age-old method of preparing the body, mind, and spirit.” (Shandor Remete, from the preface of Shadow Yoga, Chaya Yoga: The Principles of Hatha Yoga, 2006)
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Group classes and private sessions available Nevada City, CA & Maui, HI