why not wipe away sadhanasweat

[Guest guest]

1. sweat is indiscrminate, bearing minerals as

well as toxins to the skin. wiping sweat equals losing

minerals.<br><br>2. sweat acts as a wet suit, keeping heat on the

inside where it is required. wipe it off and you waste

energy and/or lessen the transformative effect of the

bandhas.

[Guest guest]

furthermore, copious sweating is a sign of 1.

excess liquid 2. too much external heat 3. excessive

toxins.<br>1. vegetarians, esepcially those who dont eat

refined sugar, need far less liquid than carnivores, so

it becomes very easy to drink more than required.

then it pours out in practice.<br>2. external heat

draws out liquid, even if there is not excess liquid.

internal heat does not have the same effect as it is

regulated by the same metabolic controls that monitor

internal liquid levels.<br>3. we live in a toxic world, in

air water plants etc. we can minimise by drinking

spring water, preferably from source with long

time&space gap bewteen rainfall and surfacing for better

filtering. and by eating organic vegetable quality food and

not taking ANY drugs. grass/hash is very toxic to the

body and produces deep muscle and joint pain in yoga

practitioners.

[Guest guest]

So what happens with postures that require the

grip of skin on skin, like some arm

balances?<br><br>Most of them I can easily achieve if dry but when

sweating profusely during practice, they are near

impossible to achieve.<br><br>In some arm balances you get

the time to arrange yourself but in others...For

example even with just a light coat of pespiration

covering my upper arms and legs, jumping into bakasana

(2nd series) is suicidal! But If I am dry I can

achieve the hop into a pretty decent,high, straight armed

asana even if my body has had no warm up

whatsoever.Titivasana presents me with the same kind of problems : very

easily done when not sweating and damn tough when

sweating.Have you seen people directly hop from down dog into

garbaha pindasana in the first series?Very hard for me to

do when sweating. Well, I have seen David Swenson

hop straight legged from down dog into titivasana in

order to land ,with control and in one smooth motion,

directly into kurmasana.Let me repeat myself : Suicidal!

(For me that is, David didn't bat an eyelid).<br><br>I

find it hard to imagine that my sweat will in the

future be so reduced or it's quality so altered that

this situation will change.(Maybe there is a potion I

can drink that will produce sticky sweat )<br>I am

,of course, trying all the time to use my muscles and

locks to stay up instead of leaning on my other limbs

for support.<br><br>However, just yesterday I did

slip and fall from galavasana , an asana I can

normally achieve just fine, except when I practice it as

part of the whole series!It never ceases to amaze me

how you can fall from so low (just forearm length

height from the floor) and hurt so much.

[Guest guest]

I use a t-shirt that I put on for postures that

would be too slipery with skin on skin... bujapidasana,

supta kurmasana, bakasana, for example. It works well

for me. Once you get over the initial feeling of

putting on a shirt when you're really sweaty, it keeps

the practice flowing while allowing you to do these

postures more satisfactorilly.

[Guest guest]

The question of who sweats, how much, and why is

an interesting one. A friend of mine saw Richard

Freeman demonstrating some postures of an advanced

series. My friend said Richard was absolutely *pouring*

sweat in these postures!<br><br>This being so, I'm not

sure copious sweating is a factor of one's physical

condition. It may be to some degree, but there are no doubt

other factors as well. Heredity, as usual, plays a

greater role than is generally considered.<br><br>Anyway,

Freeman's perspiration demonstration makes me feel better

about me alter identity as the super hero "Slimeman"!

Most every session I pour sweat. It's especially

impressive when I'm doing one of those arms-behind-the-back

postures, and the water flows down my arms to the mat like

I've got a spigot on my head...<br><br>But then . . .

there's the women of astanga. <br><br>I've yet to see a

woman sweat anything like most men. Hey, this is in no

way a commentary on expenditure of effort in one's

practice between the genders -- I have no doubts that the

women are working just as hard as the men. Still, they

don't sweat nearly as much as the men do, and that's a

fact. It's a nice fact too, if you ask me.<br><br>What

I find truly astounding is the sound of women using

water spray bottles at garbha pindasana time! How can

some women go through first series in an 85* room and

not be sufficiently sweaty at that point?? Our bodies

are a real mystery sometimes.

[Guest guest]

trayam, id be more interested to know how much

richard sweats doing primary practice. for me there is a

huge difference between the accessibility of the

primary and advanced series postures, that correlates

very closely with my sweat levels. but when i first

did primary i sweated like i do now on advanced.

factor four then is the challenge represented by the

postures. why are we so hot on sweating while mr. iyengar

appears to be so cool in saying that sweating is a bad

sign. i have this genetic defect of always wanting to

harmonise apparently conflicting positions by trying to

penetrate their core. my respect for the vinyasa practice

is no less nor more than my respect for the lion of

pune, whose words, while never mistaking them for the

roar of truth, i would never dismiss simply because

they appear to contradict my predelictions. how could

anyone ever find yoga boring? namaste, may we sweat

together in laughter someday

[Guest guest]

i used to wear thick wristbands on my biceps to stop me slipping in 3rd series

armbalances, easier than a shirt....

[Guest guest]

Good points Godfrey, thanx..<br><br>And that Mr. (BKS) Iyengar guy -- I respect

him too. I wonder how he does it all without sweating . . . I really need the

heat.

[Guest guest]

Hi all,<br><br>I know I'm replying to a very old

message, but firstly, I just joined the club/started

Ashtanga, and secondly, I was very amused by that turn of

phrase, "the women of Ashtanga"! <br><br>It sounds like

some kind of risque magazine pictorial, no?

<br><br>Anyhow, I'm female and I sweat like you would not believe

during Ashtanga (I"m learning primary series now). Just

astonishing, copious amounts of sweat. But then, I was always

a sweaty one .. I sweat during aerobics classes,

kickboxing, weightlifting, if I don't let too much time lapse

between sets ... you name it. By the end of any given

class, I appear to have been standing in a downpour.

<br><br>As I go in Ashtanga, I'm learning, though, that

bringing a towel to practice is key ... I've started to

slide in downward dog towards the end of class before.

Grabbing my foot from behind or clasping hands either

around the foot or in the standing poses (sorry, still

learning names of asanas!) gets tricky when extra sweaty.

I've had a couple of giggly moments as I achieve a

pose and then feel myself steadily slllliiiiddddding

out of it.<br><br>I like that coating of sweat, but

drying my hands off as often as possible is necessary

for me.<br><br>Christina

[Guest guest]

Hey Christina, <br>Ihope with all that sweating

you do that you know to repleniish your fluids. Drink

alot of water...<br>I sweat too during class , my

towel is always handy. Sometimes during the dancer I

have to grab my foot with my towel so I can hold the

pose.<br>I also have stopped wearing body cream, I find that

I slide all over when I do..<br>~Rose

[Guest guest]

> Ihope with all that sweating you do that you

know to repleniish your fluids. Drink alot of

water...<br><br>Yeah, I do drink a couple of liters of water a day, I'd

say. I've been doing that for a good while, so my body

is used to all the fluid (meaning my bladder isn't

in over drive the way it was when I first started

drinking lots of water). <br><br>> I sweat too during

class , my towel is always handy.

<br><br>Check...<br><br>>I also have stopped wearing body cream, I find that

I slide all over when I do..<br><br>.. and check

again. Learned this one the hard

way.<br><br>Christina<br><br>PS what's "dancer" ? Is that an asana I'm not

familiar with?

[Guest guest]

Hey Chris, <br>The dancer is a slang name for the Standing bow pulling pose

[Guest guest]

.... and I'm guessing that "the standing bow pulling pose" is a slang name for

natarajasana, on account of natarajasana being named after the dancing

incarnation of Shiva?

[Guest guest]

Hey Alan, <br>Thaty is so interesting. It never

dawned on me to think where the names originated. Im

sure there is an explanation for each asana somewhere.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Im on a mission. : )<br>~Rose