|
Lois McEwan is a freelance writer and editor who works for The Sunday Times and The Times, among others. She has practised yoga for more than a decade. Here she picks the top five aids for one of the world's oldest exercise systems Click to view Top 5 Yoga Equipment.
|
Best CD (The Primary Series with Derek Ireland) |
|
 Derek Ireland trained many of today's great Ashtanga teachers - and he can teach you. This double CD of a 100-minute taught class is not for beginners, but is ideal for intermediate students familiar with the primary series who want to work at home or make the transition to self-practice. |
| |
It’s a rainy February morning - you’ve got a hangover and a cold. The yoga mat has never looked less inviting. You need Derek, a teacher of such explosive energy that he would welcome a new batch of students to his studio by performing the 90-minute primary series in 25 minutes - and this after having chemotherapy for secondary cancer.
Derek was a pioneer of Ashtanga, and first brought it to Europe from India. He drew and inspired students from all over the world and trained many great Ashtanga teachers, including John Scott, Hamish Hendry, Brian Cooper and Liz Lark.
Listening to Derek on CD isn’t the same as the hands-on experience in yoga studio on Crete, known as the oven, where he would cook students until floppy, then bend them into position, even if they nearly passed out in the process.
|
Deeper Practice |
It can be easier to practise using a CD than a video or DVD because you are not distracted by trying to look at the screen when you are upside down or twisted in the opposite direction. Derek’s talk-through of each posture includes breathing, awareness and detailed instruction which will deepen your practice.
The CD is a recording of a real class, not one specially made for sale, so it has mistakes, jokes and, eerily, the sound of Derek's students’ ujjayi breathing, particularly in more intense postures. If you close your eyes, you can almost forget you’re at home and not in a yoga class. I’ve even apologised to the CD player for messing up a posture or flaking out. It’s very difficult not to do what Derek says, even when he’s on a CD.
|
Gung-ho Yoga |
 An unusually charismatic and dedicated teacher, Derek’s approach to Ashtanga was full-on. In Mysore, while being taught by Pattabhi Jois, he once reportedly coated his whole body in tiger balm to see if that improved his performance.
He said: “I used to do it with weights on my wrists, which upset a few purists. And I had a weighted jacket, but I got rid of that after I did a handstand and nearly killed myself when it slipped down and hit me on the back of the head.” Peter Guttridge, who wrote Derek’s obituary, said: “He didn’t care how good you were at yoga, just that you were willing to try.” That comes through on the recording, loud and clear.
The CD does include a couple of postures, such as the splits, which have since been taken out of the primary series to make it easier - if you don’t want to try them you can always have a little rest. At least with a CD you can stop for a while, or miss out sections, instead of having to wait until Derek looked the other way - and he can’t make you do the whole warrior sequence again if he catches you.
|
| |
Click here for a glossary of yoga terms
TYPICAL PRICES - £13.00-£16.00
For currency converter click here
|
|
Other great reviews in Sport:
|
|
RELATED PAGES
USEFUL LINKS
|
Could this