Astanga

I’m back on the Chakrasana train. Sort of.

This morning, Teacher P asked if I wanted to know how to roll Chakrasana without hurting my neck. Well...HELL YEAH!!! Bottom line seems to be that I need to stop worrying about landing in Chaturanga (any old landing is fine for now, including bent knees) and I need to PUSH with my arms. My arms need to push to straight as I roll. This will help to lift my head, so the neck remains neutral.

P helped me roll one and Teacher R helped me with another. I tried one on my own but I could feel the pain in my neck so I stopped, took regular vinyasa. Baby steps!

I had a pretty good practice today. I think the 7 a.m. start time may be the big winner. It’s early enough that the Shala is not *too* crowded, the temperature is perfect and it’s just busy enough to be interesting. Best of all, I didn’t feel like I’m getting up in the middle of the night to go. In fact, I woke before the alarm this morning, after going to bed at a reasonable hour last night.

My practice wasn’t flakey at all today. I remembered all the poses and didn’t get rattled when the teachers stopped by to make suggestions. It’s certainly been an adjustment for me, moving from a home practice to a Shala, but I’ve come to love the sound of a teacher’s voice floating across the room: “Kai, blah-blah-blah...driste....blah-blah...big breath!”

Given the sad, crazy couple of weeks I’ve had, it’s nice to know that someone cares, even if it’s only to tell me to look at my nose. Or to breath.


(Princess Fur likes to do this a LOT!)

Astanga

Inhale...Chakrasana!

It only took one day of Mysore style practice to ditch the capris and fancy-schmancy yoga top in favour of my usual: spandex shorts and a sports bra (covered with a tank top, of course - no one needs to see my belly rolls). I thought I would be shy wearing those shorts in public, but no one is watching me (except the teacher and he’s just watching my transitions).

Besides, the whole Internet has seen me in my yoga shorts (via my weekly State-of-the-Backbend photos) so what am I being so shy about? Silly ego!

I was SO much more comfortable yesterday with less clothing to deal with. My Garba Pindasana was 100% better. Today I was grateful not to be wearing that heavy cotton-blend top because I was sweating buckets. This afternoon, I’ll stop by Old Navy and buy a few more of those tanks. I’m not a fashion plate yogini - I really don’t give a hoot what I look like. I just want to feel comfortable and be able to MOVE.

Today was the first day with the substitute teacher, M. He’s a friendly guy and I immediately felt at ease with him. His adjustments are different - some of them are more forceful and others are less. I like the fact that he offers some direction while assisting. I’ve never had some of these adjustments prior to this week, so I’m sometimes unsure where I’m supposed to be moving or releasing. The cues are very helpful to me.

He also told me: “You’re strong and flexible and light.” The last adjective was very satisfying. Bandhas are a bit ephemeral to me. I’m never sure if I’m doing them right or I’m doing them at all. It’s nice to get some feedback that my Bandhas are progressing. Yay, Bandhas!

I did some strategic eavesdropping while M was assisting another student with Chakrasana. The key points I picked up:
-The transition does require a bit of momentum. If your hips are up and you’re still not going over, you’re probably not going to.
-Legs come up at the same time as the arms come back; one movement!
-Even though it feels counterintuitive, it’s very important to inhale into the roll.

With these tips, I managed to complete all of my Chakrasanas (there were four) without assistance and on the last one, I landed in a very, very sloppy Chaturanga, balls of the feet on the floor. Hurrah!

I found that it was easier if I laid down, exhaled completely and then inhaled deeply as I lifted my legs and brought my arms back. And then, I visualized my bum filling with helium. Float, bum, float! And roll! :-D

I asked about the soreness in my neck and M laughed: “The soreness will move somewhere else” That’s so true! My neck already feels better today.

M also gave me some feedback on my jump-throughs. So far, I’ve been jumping into a seated position, crossed legs. He showed me how far my feet are actually off the ground and suggested that I maintain the lift, straighten my legs, and *then* lower to Dandasana. Yes! I can do this!

It’s such a relief to have a teacher offer feedback on where I *should* be, given my strength and flexibility. One of the tough things about home practice is all the guess work.

My jump-backs are also coming along. Of course, the blocks are history because there is no way I would be allowed to use them in the Shala (no party favours allowed!). But I’m now lifting as high without the blocks as I was when I was using them. Today, just once, I managed to bring my feet through my hands and jump back with just a little brush of the toes along my towel!

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.

Astanga

(photo credit: Yoga Dogs 2010 Calendar)

I powered through my full practice this morning, added 10 minutes of shoulder stretches and spent a minute holding Bakasana. Then I realised that it’s Wednesday and I still have four classes ahead of me to teach (and four tomorrow; the noon just confirmed). I’ll probably be tired tonight!

I’m still amazed at how ‘routine’ my longer practice has become. I’m not exhausted afterward and I really enjoy it.

There are no big changes in my practice this week. A while ago, I backed off of the bind in Marichyasana D when my SI joints started complaining, so I’m gradually phasing that back in (I was able to bind to fingers on the right side - my easier side - today).

I bind to a facecloth in Pasasana, but from the non-binding side, the pose looks great! :-D The pose is final feeling stable and strong to me. I’m working on alignment first - the finger bind will come with a deeper twist and shoulder flexibility. A wrist bind in Pasasana feels like pure fantasy, but I used to feel that way about Marichyasana C.

My headstand has been wacky lately, very unstable. I would have crashed yesterday if I hadn’t been at the wall. Upon closer examination, I’m just getting lazy with my Bandhas. Today, I set up, walked the toes in (Bandhas!), walked the toes in some more (Bandhas!), lifted up (Bandhas!) and so on. And I felt stronger in the pose.

I’ll work at the wall again tomorrow and if I’m feeling okay, I'll take it back to the middle the room. I hate working at the wall in that pose - it makes me feel like I’m regressing.

Recently, I’ve had some trouble getting to sleep at night. I’m usually an asleep-as-soon-as-the-head-hits-the-pillow kinda girl, so this insominia thing is a puzzle. An eye pillow and pranayama knocked me out in about 10 minutes last night. Because sleep is so hard, I've had very low motivation to go to bed at night.

Last night, I stayed up late investigating yoga classes. My plan for March is to go to one class a week, but it’s hard to find a good class that doesn’t fall into one of my teaching timeslots.

But last night I hit the jackpot! Teacher IM (a senior teacher who use to teach at my home studio) has a Wednesday morning Astanga II. It will be a race to my noon class afterward, but the studio is close enough that it's do-able.

I actually flirted with the idea of going to Shala Central for the month, but I think I’ll accomplish more if I practice on my own. I doubt they would let me keep my Intermediate poses (look how possessive I am of those poses - I’ve been doing them all of, what...three weeks? *grin*). I don’t think the timing is right for the shala.

I'm really excited. March is going to be an awesome month for my practice! My mind is whirling with ideas and goals for the month.