I don't think it's the backbends...

I think it is the twisting. I am working so hard now in Parivritta Parsvakonasana, seeing it as a gateway to Mari C and, especially, Mari D, and I am really going deep in Mari C and D every day now, getting adjusted deeper, holding longer. As I was practicing at home today, it occurred to me that the lower back tightness I am feeling originates in exactly the place where I am aiming to originate all of my spinal twists. My spinal flexibility has been a top-down progression, literally, and now I am at the way bottom - the last couple of vertebrae of the lumbar spine and even a loosening up of the sacro-illiac joint. There was a time several years ago when I scoffed at the notion that the s-i even WAS a joint. Now at least there is some movement there.

So, I am not sure what to do about the soreness and stiffness I am feeling down in my lumbar spine now. I have to assume that it is leading to increased flexibility. But for the moment, I am sitting with my back pressed against an electric heating pad, which seems to really, really help to relax my spasming back muscles.

My home practice was a Swenson sandwich. I tried it as an experiment, and I ended up feeling like I was missing something - namely the last three poses of Standing Series: Uttka, Vira I and Vira II and the first few poses of Primary: the three Paschimo's and Purvotana. I think that when time is limited and I am feeling fatigued, the solution is not a sandwich but simply stopping earlier.

I do have to say that I quite enjoy practicing Uttitha Hasta Padangusthasana at home using the wall as my "assist". I get really deep, and I can work on grounding through the standing leg even better than when my teacher is supporting my lifing leg. And pressing my back up against my sofa is a nice assist in Mari D - it helped me to understand that I need to bend my non-lotus leg really, really sharply, really squeezing my hams and calf together. Well, duh, right? But sometimes you have to really FEEL it happening in order to realize that it needs to happen.

I might take Erika's half led primary tomorrow because it is only an hour, and next week my ability to practice with a teacher is going to be sharply curtailed by a variety of elementary school events: two separate Winter Solstice celebrations (no, they are not wiccan - it's the best they can do to accomodate the many religious groups and cultures at the school), two separate "end of the semester parties"...it's going to be a busy week, with no option to practice early (i.e., before 8:45 a.m.) because that is when the Husband leaves for work and/or goes to the gym. When the kids are on vacation, I will have to set up some babysitting so that I can make it into the shala. I can only take so much self-practice at this point...

YC