Put on your ice skates, get out those parkas....

because Hell just froze over: I dropped back. Unassisted.

And I dropped again. UNASSISTED. And I did it again, and again and again and again because even I did not think it was possible. After about 20 repeats, I called The Husband and Brian and Adam in to be my witnesses. And after 20 some-odd drop-backs, I dropped back yet again. No sloping grassy hill. Just me, the mat, my fears and the destroyer of fear...action.

(I was self-practicing because I am away at the beach this weekend.)

How did I do it? How I did it may not help anyone else because we each have our own particular, unique challlenges. But for me, I knew it was coming when I pressed up into Setu Bandhasana with my arms crossed over my chest (yes, I practiced full Primary today...I was alone, I was feeling it...and so....I did it...okay, I'm lying...I actually went further than that even...I bound in Pasasana (very very sloppily) with a pillow under my heels and then easily tackled Krounchasana and the tummy-down backbends, including Bhekasana - no, my feet don't touch the floor, but are pretty close....this has always been pretty easy for me - and then Ustrasana and Laghu Vajrasana - which is also easy for me with my hands in my knee-pits...but five VERY quick breaths or I get stuck down at the bottom - and then finally, and this was the kicker, I dropped back into Kapotasana touching my hands to the floor first, and walking them in before my head touched the floor).

Now, despite that in my approximation of Kapo, my hands were six inches from my feet, the feeling of dropping back was all there. One hundred percent. I could feel it. That and the strength in my legs in Laghu Vaj (can I call you that? Laghy Vaj? Thanks...).

So, having reached my apex, and gone beyond, I did several backbends from the floor. And then I stood up to drop back, fully intending to drop onto my knees once I got scared....but here is the thing: I never got scared, and there my hands were, on the floor, never having had to drop down onto my knees. And I did it again. And again. Ad nauseum.

So, that was how it worked for me. I would say leg strength leg strength leg strength and minimally open chest and shoulders. Minimally, I stress. These two together seemed way way more relevant than a super-bendy back or outrageously open shoulders and chest, which I do not have.

Will it ever happen again without first doing the first part of Second, which "legally", I am not allowed to do? Will I ever bind Supta Kurmasana so that I can get past it and beyond to the many poses that I actually CAN do?

Time will tell....

YC