Ashtanga yoga has not only improved Suzanne Brennan’s musical performances but has been beneficial to other areas of her life
ON STAGE at the National Concert Hall, it’s important to stay focused on “being in the moment”, says Suzanne Brennan, a freelance clarinettist with the National Symphony Orchestra.
“I noticed that after my yoga practise I wasn’t shaking. Ashtanga has helped my performance nerves and my technique,” she says.
Playing the clarinet is her day job, but her new passion is Ashtanga yoga, which she took up in 2004. In seven years, she has gone from attending a twice-weekly class, to taking a yoga holiday in Crete and, more recently, spending five months in Mysore in India with her guru, Sharath Jois.
Now she is a recognised Ashtanga teacher herself, in Greystones, Co Wicklow. “I used to supplement my income from orchestra performances with clarinet lessons, but now I give yoga classes instead.”
The flexibility she gained from the movements and stretches were not surprising, but what astounded her was the impact the practice of this form of yoga had on different areas of her life.
“Before, when I would approach a load of semi-quavers, I’d be quite anxious. Now I am much more steady with the notes. It gives you more control over your body.” Brennan says she doesn’t suffer from throat infections like she once did either.
Changes in her relationships with others in her life have improved immensely too. “I am much more tolerant now,” she says.
Ashtanga improves not only your general health, but also breathing and the immune system and your stamina and sex life, she claims. Premiership footballers are reputed to be fans of the exercise regime, and the flexibility and stamina it is said to bring.
Brennan’s fiance John Forde says that “one of the big myths in the West is that you have to be some kind of an Olympic athlete to do Ashtanga yoga, but that is not the case. As long as you can breathe, you can do it.”
This is active and not a series of passive postures like the kind of yoga most of us imagine. One movement rolls into the next, with breathing consciously focused and guided in the exercises.
“Downward facing dog”, “chadaranga”, “warrior pose”, are all phrases you will hear in a class. Focusing on breathing in a particular way in each movement is very important to getting it right.
There are six fundamental postures in Ashtanga yoga and together they are designed to strengthen bones and joints. “Because movements are continuous, the blood gets moving round the body and the exercises expand the lungs,” says Forde.
And it’s great for improving flexibility. “If you have a bad back though, you must be very careful with the teacher you choose,” he advises.
There is an easy version of every movement to get you started, according to Brennan. “If you can’t reach your toes or bend forward, there are ‘get-out-of-jail cards’,” she says.
“Patience is part of the practice. It’s not about touching the floor but learning contentment. You move as far as you can. Once you get a stretch going, it gets easier. If one side is easier to move than the other, this is normal.”
Some older people in her beginners’ class look as if they are playing Twister, unsure of where to put which limbs. But all persevere and go home with a warning to expect to feel like they’d been through a good workout next morning.
Over time, yoga has brought other unexpected changes in Brennan’s life. “I am totally vegetarian now. My body no longer craves drink or crap food. I feel so much more alive, aware and lighter. Definitely lighter.”