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In this Universal Freestyle Vinyasa Yoga class, taught entirely by donation, we work with the sequencing principles ofAndrey Lappa. Recently (2/6/07), we have be focussing specifically on his notion of balancing of mobilities of the joints, stretching evenly through the possible ranges of movement of hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical spine. Most weeks, we start practice with a short exploration of the Dance of Shiva, or Shiva Nata, to begin to warm the body and open the peripheral channels. Shiva Nata is particularly good for the balancing of consciousness and the releasing of addictive patterns. If you find that you particularly like Shiva Nata, Havi Brooks is the only San Francisco-based Shiva Nata instructor of which I am aware who has studied with Andrey intensively, so check her out, and Mark and Ian of Pranamaya produced the only available Dance of Shiva DVD.

Practice continues with progressively more complex mandala-like sequences of postures arranged in three-dimensionalspace on two crossed yoga mats in a way that is unique to Andrey's teaching, organized to create a powerful psycho-energetic effect. Practice usually concludes with Inversions, and occasionally with Pranayama. If you've never tried Andrey's practice before, you are liable to encounter many poses that you've never seen before, so come with an open mind, ready to try something new. Even if you've been doing yoga for decades, you're going to stretch muscles you didn't even know you had! Though one of the foci of practice is creating freedom in all of the joints, this is an extremely vigorous and sweaty practice, and the complexity of the sequencing helps to sharpen the mind, opening up new possibilities of meditative focus. There is no minimumdonation for this class!