Friday, March 07, 2008

Bit by bit by bit by bit


I was feeling frustrated today. Burnt out. Bored. Wondering if I can ever make any real improvement in my backbending. Feeling like I am the only student at the CT Shala who never seems to get a new pose, despite that I am one of the only ones who can do all the poses that I've been given.

Then I took some photos. And this is what I saw. No, I'm no Tiff. Never will be. I'm not even close to being as good a backbender as the young girl at my shala who hasn't yet progressed past Supta K but can now stand up from a backbend. I adore her. And hate her just a teeny bit. Kidding. But I've made it a long way from where I was a few years ago. And I've even made progress from a few weeks ago:





I have been working so ridiculously hard on backbending. Yesterday, I discovered a new way to drop myself back using a belt and my back porch. I simply tie myself up and drop back, as if I had my very own Iyengar wall.

I am trying not to get too caught up in extracurrriculars and research. But I could use a little extra time on backbending. I have been neglecting backbends, after all, for about four years.

Here's a question I have. Why does my chest lift higher if after coming up into my back bend (or dropping back into it), I lift my chin as if to touch it to my chest, and then bring it back down? I've seen others do this too. And in the course of taking photos today, I could actually see a difference when I did this, versus when I didn't. Just wondering.

Oh, and just for my own personal record, I did a rather unusual practice today. All of Standing, then Bakasana A and B, then straight to the Marichyasanas, then all of the Leg Behind Head poses (I can ALMOST hold my leg behind my head with no hands in Eka Pada Sirsasana now), then Garba Pindasana, Upavishta Konasana, then straight to Second, through Ustrasana, skipping Laghu and Kapo and then, finally, Supta Vajrasana, knees secured under a sofa. Backbending was light and easy after that. Suprisingly. It is always surprising when backbending is enjoyable.

Well, tomorrow is Saturday, and I get to slack. Yay.

YC

3 comments:

Ursula said...

Dear Lauren,
your backbending looks great.

I don't know how often I think I do not progress at all. But we all progress when practicing seriously. With Miggle-aged people progress comes a bit slower, but we also have more patient than younger people, do we?

Best. Ursula

alfia said...

I can see a lot of progress!

Anonymous said...

develop your yoga

techinque of yoga
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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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