Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Astanga


I had a fantastic practice this morning! I felt like I was finally ‘settling in’, to the postures, to the intensity and to the routine.

I’ve been pretty lazy in my forward bends recently, so today I stepped it up a notch. By the time I did my last, post-UD Paschimottanasana, my face was resting comfortably between my shins. That was a good feeling! I find the ‘active’ version of that posture monotonous, but when I’m relaxing into it, it’s as good as a restorative pose.

The bind in Supta Kurmasana is sticking around for now. I’ve been feeding it chocolate (shhh! don’t tell anyone!) :-D

I’m trying something new this week in Urdhva Dhanurasana (well, it's new to *me*). After I lift up, I’m walking my hands one hand-step towards the feet, then lifting up and into my hands. I hate it. It feels like shit. And I’m doing it even if I don’t feel especially bendy.

It’s interesting to watch my internal dialogue transition from “Fat chance!” to “Oh, this isn’t SO bad.” during the three repetitions.

I had so much fun this morning, worked so hard, felt so great afterward. And now I’m all bummed that I won’t be doing it again tomorrow. Wednesday is an ‘Astanga lite’ day, Primary only. Theoretically, I *could* do the longer practice, but it’s not a good idea when I’m teaching four classes over the course of the day.

Attachment much?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES to the hand-walk-ins and press-over-the-hands.

That WORKS.

So stick with it through the arrghhh and the blahhhhh :)

Kaivalya said...

@Patrick
Thank you! I'll keep doing it. Already, I'm seeing a difference (check in for the State-of-the-backbend photo on Saturday). Right now, it seems to be opening my shoulders a LOT.