Astanga

Moon Day, so no Mysore practice, as the Shala was closed.

I had big plans to sleep in, but only managed to sleep until about 7 a.m. I did lay in bed for a while though, and enjoyed the novelty of not getting up to rush around.

Moon Days are on Wednesdays this month, so I’ll be able to use up the last two classes on my studio pass, attending Teacher IM’s Astanga I/II classes in the mornings. This is such a treat for me, a ‘teaching development opportunity’ as much as a practice.

IM is one of the best teachers I’ve ever studied with - he was a senior teacher long before I had even contemplated applying for YTT. It’s a pleasure to listen to him lead a class and I always pick up things that I can apply to my own classes. He’s been very inspiring to me as a teacher.

Poor guy had his hands full this morning! He works hard! He offered me several suggestions for postures (Wider stance and square those hips in Parvottanasana and he gently encouraged me to lift up, lift up, lift up! in jumpbacks). I got that terrific adjustment in Marichyasana C, on both sides.

Then I watched him work compassionately with a student who was brand-new to Astanga. Talk about teaching multiple-levels! There were many ‘middling’ students, bookended by two more advanced, with a raw beginner in the mix.

I enjoyed the class and I really like this studio. I always set up by the window where I can see the sky (and there are no Driste police to stop me from gazing at the clouds drifting by!)

Urdhva Dhanurasana was good this morning. I only had two opportunities to do the pose, but I was able to hold it for a long time. 15 long breaths for the first hold, at least 10 for the second. I even experimented with rocking my body a bit, making sure to rock forward on the inhale, back on the exhale. I’ll need to do this if I’m ever going to stand up from that backbend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wouldn’t mind ‘smuggling years off my figure’. I might need to after Friday!

Maybe I should buy one of these to wear at the Shala! It will go great with my dorky headband!

Astanga

Today, I went to the class again and it was nice, but I have to admit, the fun is starting to wear off. Now that Teacher IM has seen my practice and ironed out some of the more obvious wrinkles, he’s making fewer suggestions. I must have tapped out my Fabulous Squishy Adjustment Quota because I didn’t get a single deep adjustment in this class.

Still, I didn’t leave empty handed. Here’s what I learned:

1) In Parivritta Trikonasana, the hips need to be squared to the end of the mat AND the sacrum should be level to the floor. Both! The action of the legs keeps the pelvis stable. I’ve been doing (and teaching!) this differently for years, so I’ll need to experiment with it.

2) I’m still pulling my shoulders up and over-utilizing my rhomboids in Chaturanga. Darn it! I thought I had solved this problem, but no. Teacher IM observed it last week and forgot to mention it. He must have seen my look of dismay because he asked: “You’ve heard this before?” and I nodded. Teacher D pointed it out last summer. When two teachers notice the same thing, it’s definitely a problem.

I think part of the problem is that I don’t roll over my toes coming in and out of Chaturanga. I’m contra-indicated for roll-overs because of nerve damage in my feet (a legacy of my first career, archaeology). As a result, I don’t track my shoulders far enough over my wrists. When I lower down, it’s harder to lengthen the spine and draw the shoulder blades down the back. Also, my latissimus dorsi is probably a bit wimpy - need to work on that!

3) This action of drawing the shoulder blades down the back is something I need to work on in other contexts too, like Parsvakonasana and Parivritta Parsvakonasana (my top shoulder, with the extended arm, never seems to be positioned correctly in these poses).

4) I received more tips for my jumps. I tried to go without blocks today. It was difficult, but I think I may need to move forward in this fashion or I’m never going to get anywhere. For jump-throughs, Teacher IM suggested that I draw back and lengthen my front body before lifting up into the jump (this makes sense; it creates space for the legs to go through).

Funny moment in Marichyasana C:
When I bind to my wrist, I briefly lift my back sitbone as I make the bind. Teacher IM came over as I was doing this.

Teacher IM: You need to drop your sitbone! Why do you keep lifting it? (tone implied: You’re brighter than this, what’s going on?!)
Me: You always come over and say that when in the process of grabbing my wrist! I’ll get there! (tone implied: Be patient! God isn’t finished with me yet!)
Teacher IM: *sheepish* Sorry. Next time I’ll wait until you’re in the pose.
Me: *grin*

I’m nothing but grateful for all of the help he’s given me, particularly in the Marichyasana poses where I’ve seen my greatest improvement this month. Still, when my class pass runs out, I don’t think I’ll be continuing this particular class. There are a few reasons for this.

The biggest issue is that I teach a class right afterward and the commute is very tight. Today I arrived late to my class, which I HATE doing. I was held up in public transit, but that’s no excuse. My own students take priority.

Also - and I hesitate to say this because I don’t want to sound like I’m full of myself - but I think I may be too advanced for this class. No one else is coming into the full expression of the poses, just me. I can’t expect Teacher IM to stop the world to adjust me in an advanced pose when the rest of the class is trying to get half-Lotus. He always tells me to go ahead with Urdhva Dhanurasana, but’ I’m on my own’, which is fine; he’s busy, as he should be, helping the other students come into Setu Bandha Sarvangasana safely.

But, boy, would I *love* some help with my Urdhva Dhanurasana.

So the ‘Shala idea’ has once again percolated, particularly now that the weather is pretty and I could cycle down there in a little over 10 minutes. I’m pretty sure that I’ll get LOTS of feedback and good instruction. And the early morning time slot works perfectly with my teaching schedule.

I’m thinking of doing a ‘trial week’ of Mysore before the month is up. Then I’ll decide if it’s something I want to do in April. Keep in mind, I’m just rolling the idea around in my brain; no decision yet.

On to more important topics. I know you’re all wondering how I fared with my Orangutan Hair today. I’m happy to report that I’ve come up with a solution to tame it. It requires a bit of time, but not too much. And it’s simple: dry the hair straight and apply hair product before I head to class. It’s naturally curly, but the blow dryer seems to tame it enough that it doesn’t go completely crazy in class:


Thank goodness! I thought I was going to have to start going to yoga classes at the zoo!

Astanga

All week, I’ve been looking forward to the class with Teacher IM. In the morning, I took a hot bath and did Erich Schiffmann’s shoulder opener series while I drank my chai. I had plenty of time to loaf around - I didn’t want to feel rushed like I was last week. I arrived early and did a supine backbend over some blocks with a strap around my arms. Bliss!

I enjoyed the class! It’s such a relief to have a teacher’s eyes on my practice once a week. He picks things apart and puts them back together. This morning, he tried to tackle my arms in Adho Mukha Svanasana, but immediately backed off from that mission impossible: “Oh, you REALLY hyperextend. Go back as you were.” Yup! The expression “It is what it is” definitely applies to my arms in Downward Dog!

I got another great adjustment in Marichyasana C. I wish I had a better idea of what he does to me in that pose; it’s fantastic. It makes me feel like a spring that’s been wound up very snug. Then, ZING! Oh, to be a fly on the wall to see that!

I need a wider stance in Parivritta Trikonasana and I need to keep my hips square. Until I adjust to this change, I’ll need to come up onto my fingers to provide some height. In retrospect, I’m not sure if he meant keeping the hips square to the front of the mat, or the pelvis square to the floor. I’ll ask next week.

The class size was smaller this week so we covered more ground, including poses beyond half-Primary: Navasana, Upavista Konasana, Supta Konasana (I had the space to land it properly too!), Supta Padangushtasana, Ubhaya Padangushtasana, and Urdhva Mukha Pascimottanasana (Very nice adjustment on this pose; I understand it much better now). We also did the full shoulderstand series in closing, but no Sirsasana :-(

I had adequate time for experimentation in Urdhva Dhanurasana while the rest of the class did Bridge Pose. I worked on coming down to the crown of my head and walking the hands in (rinse, repeat). I think I did 5 backbends, though I didn’t hold all of them for a five breath count.

Teacher IM also gave me some advice and encouragement for my jump-backs. He says my lift-ups are very good. He suggested hugging the knees tighter to the chest, as if I was going to tuck the knees into the armpits and rounding my back a bit. This does give me more height.

My major hurdle with jump-backs at the moment is swinging the feet between my arms so I can shoot them back. Where does the strength for this come from? Bandhas? How? I DON'T GET IT! (but I’ll continue working diligently; ‘all is coming’).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have just one complaint about this morning’s class: I left the class with Orangutan Hair. I know, I know: It’s dire!


Since I was teaching a class right after, I brought my Orangutan Hair with me to class, to the sweet amusement of my students (and my own horror whenever I happen to glance in a mirror).

I’m not sure how to solve this dilemma, short of going back to the Grumpy Russian Guy and cutting it all off again. That’s probably what I’ll have to do. I definitely need tackle this before Kino’s workshop - it’s terrifying! I’ll scare all the other Ashtangis!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An update on my Sanskrit/Devanagari studies:

I’m having so much fun! I’ve progressed into the long vowels now and I’m starting to practise writing the skaras in a little notebook. I feel like I’m about seven years old, practising my penmanship and it’s such a hoot!


Last night, I took out one of my Yoga books and started looking at the Devangari script, picking out familiar shapes in the words. I felt like a kindergartener looking through her big sister’s chapter books for the A, B, C’s. Reading is one of my great joys and was a hard-earned skill. This new project has unearthed sweet memories of learning to read as a child. It’s a joyful journey for me.

Astanga, Vinyasa

(Duke, one of dogs from the Yoga Dogs calendar.
Photo credit: YogaDogs/Barcroft Media
Find it at: Yoga Dogs 2010 Calendar)

Wow, being on a reduced scheduled is kind of awesome!

Today felt a little bit self-indulgent, like “it’s all about me” and “now, how about a bit more about me” and “let’s wrap this up with more ME!” MEEEEEEE!

I’ve been having a ball! I guess did get *some* work done, if you define the word ‘work’ very loosely. I taught one class. I did three loads of laundry. I walked the dog and ran errands in the neighbourhood. I wrestled a new cover onto my made-famous-by-Urdhva-Dhanurasana futon (which will debut in the weekly State-of-the-Backbend photo).

Then I had some fun. With all this time on my hands, I practised twice today. I wasn’t kidding about the Month of Tapas!

This morning I went to an actual Astanga class, taught by an old favourite teacher of mine. It was fun, if a bit periolous getting out the door. I’m good at propelling myself to my *own* classes on time, but with my routine disrupted I was floundering around and ended up running late. In my rush, I slammed my right foot into Princess Fur’s condominium and hopped around squeaking in pain.

Two and a half hours of yoga and what hurts? I have Dog Condominium Foot!

Hi, welcome to Kai’s House of Stupid. Can I place your order? *eye roll*

The class was fun. It’s an Astanga I/II and technically it’s too ‘easy’ for me, in terms of pace. We did the Primary Series to Mari C, then cut to closing. But Teacher IM encouraged me to come into the full expression of the poses and even walked over and gave me fantastic adjustments in Parvottanasana and Marichyasana C.

I’m still struggling with the reverse namaste thing in Parvottasana, but he did something with my arms and shoulders that brought my palms together and it felt wonderful! I was binding to wrist in Mari C, but he brought me even deeper and leveled out my shoulders. I thought my body was going to turn 360 degrees! Nifty!

And there were lots of suggestions and tweaks. My feet need to be still wider in Virabhadrasana I. Knee is directly over ankle in Marichyasana B. This suggestion brought a ‘two steps forward one step back’ element into that pose because I’m used to folding all the way forward and melting into a happy puddle (it’s my favourite ‘vacation’ pose). Now, I’m working harder. Drat! ;-)

After class, I ran to the subway and made it to my noon class with ten minutes to spare. Perfect timing, so I can keep attending this class. The adjustments are great, and it’s just fun to practice in a big room full of other people. I really enjoy this teacher - his cues and instruction are excellent. Listening to him and watching him work is good professional development for me as a teacher.

In the evening, I hit the mat a second time just for fun. I did a YogaDownload class: Power Yoga #5, 60 minutes with Jamie. Good sequence, though I hated the abdominal work. This is a good clue that I should probably be doing more of it. The apartment was warm and humid from drying laundry, which made for a sweaty hour.