Monday, July 25, 2005

The Obsessive Yoga-Blogger Continues Her Pursuit...

I just bound C and D at home!!!!!!!!!!!!

Albeit, D with a strap - but the thing is: I GET it now. It is all about the twist. If you get the twist, the arms join. I have been focusing so much on the arms that I have forgotten to focus on the twist. Goal oriented = bad.

Here is what I did - I took a hot bath and warmed up with A and B in the bath (I do that a lot...it feels GREAT). Then I came out and sat in C position and just twisted, aiming to get my left ribs to clear my left thigh. THEN I wrapped my arms. Now, binding, I still noticed that my right shoulder was sagging down into my chest. So I took a strap, and I tried the whole thing again, this time not worry about the bind at all, just using the strap for leverage to open my right shoulder away from my chest. Then I repeated on the other side. And again and again until I realized - enough.

For D, I employed much the same concept - twisting as the method, means and end, such that the arms just naturally find a way to meet. But I also placed my lotus knee under the front edge of my living room sofa (the way one would wedge their feed underneath it to do crunches). That way, my lotus knee was grounded as I twisted. Employing this trick, it ALMOST felt easier to do D than C (not surprising, since I felt that B seemed a bit easier than A at the outset).

This is very exciting. It is making me want to self-practice. But is that just "escapism" - in other words, am I feeling discouraged at the shala and needing my own encouragement at home? Moot point for tomorrow, as I am teaching at New York Yoga at 9:15 (don't worry...NOT ashtanga). So, it will either be self-practice or make my way down to see Sarah.

I have to admit though, all this talk about "one teacher" makes me feel really odd about going down to see Sarah tomorrow. I am quite impressionable. I shouldn't feel this way - I only have 14 more days left to practice before I go in for my major-league surgery (breast re-reconstruction, diastasis repair and tummy tuck), and then I am going to be sidelined for as much as six weeks, during which I am going to be observing in Mary-Beth's class, and after which I can regroup and MAYBE decide it is time to commit to one shala.

YC

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my, when you said you were going to be "out" until September, I thought you were going on vacation! Good luck :)

Beth

Yoga Chickie said...

Actually, I will still be teaching my own classes - just won't be practicing! That's why I will have time to observe in M-B's class...should be fun actually!

Lauren

Anonymous said...

Where did you put the strap? I don't get it.

Why would you not want to go see Sarah? (If you want to have one teacher, the internet isn't the one to choose!)

Yoga Chickie said...

I DO want to see Sarah...I just feel really sheepish about the shala-hopping. I have a neurotic-Jewish-guilt complex.

So, the strap:

In both C, I got into position without the bind and laid the strap over my extended leg and brought it around behind my butt. When I went to bind, I picked up the strap with my wrapping hand when I got the hand as far as it was going to go. Then I reached around with the back hand as far as it wanted to go - so basically, my fingertips were touching, and then instead of working my hands together by walking them down the strap, I used the wrapping hand to gently pull the strap so that the back shoulder was being gently opened.

Same basic idea in D.

Anonymous said...

Why the tummy tuck?

Yoga Chickie said...

Have you SEEN my tummy?
8-0

Anonymous said...

I was just asking. No judgment intended. I think it's great when women are honest about their vanity. :o) So good for you.

Yoga Chickie said...

No judgement felt. I don't mind your asking. I did put it out there, and I am very upfront about my vanity (now, come on, that is a BIT of a judgement right? true, but still a judgement...;)).

My answer to you was a bit on the snarky side, so I will just fill in the details a bit now: I have had two kids, and my abdomen grew ENORMOUS with each one. The skin pretty much snapped right back into place afterward, but then after chemo, somehow, all of the elasticity was just gone, and no amount of exercise of dieting is going to help my skin. Thank goodness of plastic surgery...Lauren

Anonymous said...

Nah, the word vanity is pretty much what it is, so that word doesn't necessarily imply judgment. About your tummy, I saw an Oprah show (God bless that woman!) that featured women dealing with similar things. Especially women who have lost a lot of weight and are dealing with an incredible amount of excess skin and sag. Plastic surgery really helped them. As I'm sure it will you. Doesn't it get tiring of having to defend yourself on your own blog?!!!! I know what that's like. :o)

Yoga Chickie said...

OK, let's get something straight...I don't have an "incredible amount of excess skin and sag"...LOL....Actually, I do think I look pretty good - my stomach is pretty flat when I am standing up, and I really do wear a size 2 (zero in some things!). The problem is when I bend over - when I do my Marichis. Yikes - that's when the skin starts to resemble an accordian. But am I a candidate for Extreme Makeover? Nah...this is purely an indulgence in...alright, I'll admit it....vanity.

Yeah - defensive blogging does get a bit exhausting. Have you ever reads Zach Braff's blog? He posts about once a month, and during the period of time in which everyone is waiting for him to post again, the natives get restless, posting all kinds of crazy stuff, attacking each other.

But it's funny - Zach never has to defend HIMself...

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About Me

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Northern Westchester, New York, United States
I live by a duck pond. I used to live by the East River. I don't work. I used to work a lot. Now, not so much. I used to teach a lot of yoga. Now not so much. I still practice a lot of yoga though. A LOT. I love my kids, being outdoors, taking photos, reading magazines, writing and stirring the pot. Enjoy responsibly.

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