Yoga Chicago by Lisa Weber

July - August 2001

At Moksha Yoga over Memorial Day Weekend Chicago's yoga community had the opportunity to experience Duncan Wong first hand. Duncan is a protege of the renowned Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City. I was thrilled to attend his workshop because he is known for his awesome, powerful and intelligent hands-on adjustments. Duncan has been teaching yoga for over a decade and has studied with Pattabhi Jois, Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, Danny Paradise and Rodney Yee, among others. He began studying martial arts as a child and at the age of 18 discovered yoga. He saw beauty and impact in both disciplines, and his background in both practices is apparent in his teaching today. His style is one of intensity and compassion, sensibility and wisdom, work and play. The workshop started on Friday night with a demonstration and meditation. On Saturday, Duncan led a four-hour ashtanga class. Duncan's teaching method is a blend of classic ashtanga and Iyengar-style yoga, which he calls "taste and go." During the class he would stop and explain alignment in detail. Those who took the class said it was a true test of their determination and endurance; virtually everyone felt a sense of accomplishment when it was over. For me it was the kind of ashtanga class that I dream about--long and sweaty! The highlight of the weekend came on Sunday and Monday, when Duncan presented his Yogic Arts workshop. Here Duncan showcased his strong background in martial arts and vinyasa yoga. He artfully blended these two practices together for a powerful mind-body experience. He continually thread an awareness of both the energetic and physical planes throughout the practice. The focus of Yogic Arts is on intensive conditioning of the core and lower body, while remaining connected to your breath. Where else but in Duncan's class would we hear about the caveman who stomped his feet saying, "I go nowhere without my core."? Duncan's frequent interludes of humor helped take the edge off this otherwise hard- core practice. We began class lying supine on our yoga mats and moved into an intense version of navasana (boat pose). Duncan instructed us to cross our ankles while in navasana and slowly draw our knees into our core by bending and extending at the knee joint. This posture flow was repeated several times, as Duncan reminded us to be aware of our core and the sensation of engaging uddhiyana bandha (in which the diaphragm is lifted high and the abdominal organs are pulled back toward the spine) throughout the asana practice. (For several days after the workshop my very tender abdominal muscles reminded me of this vinyasa.) After a pranayama (breath work) practice unique to martial arts, we progressed into surya namaskar (sun salutation). From there, Duncan led us through a sequence of martial arts knee lifts and kicks combined with squat-like circuits. Each circuit was repeated 10 to 20 times. One of my favorite vinyasas included a martial arts knee lift extending into virabhadrasana (warrior) 3. After the last cycle of this vinyasa, Duncan had us hold the pose while squeezing the raised leg to engage the glut and bending and straightening the supporting leg. The result was tremendous gains in strength, stability and balance. After the standing sequence, Duncan took us down to our mats again. He instructed us through various versions of eka pada rajakapotasana (pigeon). As Duncan held us in a restorative version of this pose, he performed his deep hands-on adjustments on every student. For me this felt like a massage that allowed for the deep release of energy blocks in my hips. I was impressed by Duncan's attention to every student in the class. This intense core and lower body workout would be ideal for anyone looking to target those areas of the body. I see it as a perfect cross-training yoga workout. As a yoga instructor, I know many of my students would love this experience, and I'm looking forward to learning more from Duncan so I can share it with them.