Doing the first couple of intermediate poses is helping enormously on the back opening. I am having trouble understanding why people would ever be stopped until they could dropback... it feels a little like the chicken and the egg to me.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe at: ClaudiaYoga.com
Nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you fft! I feel It might be happening.... All is coming....
ReplyDeleteHello Claudia,
ReplyDeletevery nice! The Force is strong in you, young Claudia-walker... (add Darth Vader style Ujjayi breath)
I like the way you kind of catwalk away from the wall :-)
I have one question. At around 30 to 35 seconds, you kind of bent forward and placed your hands on your knees. Is that supposed to do something? Just curious.
And also, you're probably sick of hearing this from me, but I really think you would do better just getting rid of the wall, and allowing yourself to drop all the way to the ground. I believe you have the openness in your body to pull this off.
As for the standing up before doing second series rule, I think there is actually some sense to the rule, even though it sounds a little self-defeating. I recently started doing kapotasana again after laying off second and only doing primary and working on my dropbacks and standups for a while. I found that my kapotasana is so much stronger now. I don't feel so wiped out after kapo like I used to when I first started doing second. My teacher told me that getting the dropbacks and standups first is like building a house from the ground up. If you don't get the drop back and standups first, it's a little bit like trying to build the upper floor of a building when you have a couple of bricks missing on the ground floor (which is obviously not safe).
The funny thing, though, is that even though my teacher said this, he actually gave me second series postures before I managed to drop back and stand up! (Now I cannot tell you who my teacher is anymore, can I?)
So, i don't know what to make of all this madness. I guess in the end, we just have to trust the system, and do it as best we can (I think I've stepped on a few toes recently talking about trusting the system online, but, well, I got to say what's on my mind...).
Great work, Claudia. Keep forging on!
Best,
Nobel
Yes. It is easier without the wall. The wall is very constricting. When I did it on the wall a few times, my back bends felt more intense because I couldn't move as freely. My body couldn't adjust the way it naturally does to feel better if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI don't teach my students on the wall because in my opinion, it feels nothing like doing a free standing drop back. The wall makes drop backs very uncomfortable. Plus you don't get over the fear that way. Part of yoga is learning how to fall.
What is the worst that can happen? Your body will do some Matrix type thing, your knees will bend and your hand will magically reach back and support you before your butt hits the floor.
Whenever I have fallen trying to drop back or stand up that is always what happens. I somehow wind up bending my knees and catching myself with my hands.
I have never had a student hurt themselves falling out of a drop back/stand up. The only time people hurt themselves is when they don't have the flexibility to be doing it in the first place which is not the case with you.
When you go back, keep bending your knees. When you first learn, your feet can move a bit. They do this to protect your knees while you are learning. Don't worry about the whole feet straight ahead and totally planted thing. Bend your knees if your heals come up a bit, let them. Get as close to the floor as you can before going back. When you get over the fear then you can work on the little visual details.
You have to face the fear head on.
Shanna
http://www.wellnessfrominside.typepad.com
Hi Nobel and Shanna, thanks for your thoughtful comments, much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteNobel, ha ha ha! you had me cracking on the Claudia walker part... I keep forgetting about the force, must bring it back before every dropback, good thing you are out there to remind me. I wish i could do without the wall, I am just too scared!, but I do get your point lately I have began to suspect that the wall actually does not help that much...
and on the second series before after dropback... yes I hear you, I am the least qualified person to talk about it so I really do not know, however, with beginning mind, I get the feeling, from where I am, that if I am to go all the way to kapotasana (BUT NOT DO KAPO) then the opening that is produced is helpful and I am not that tired... but yes I trust the teachers and keep going, I am glad i get a little bit of second though, it works for me... I will most certainly keep on going with this, now also curious about your teacher, but I can live with not knowing, very yogic of me.
Shanna, that is so interesting you say this now because last night i was getting that exact same feeling, that the wall is not really that helpful... other than in the sense of what the Mysore napper says, which is just to be aware of what muscles need to be engaged (which happens when going up and down very VERY slowly)...
So just drop back ha? in the middle of the room... the matrix will fold itself in a pattern? oh dear... I know I know, face the fear, what is it with me? I guess what it is, is that when I tried with the bed behind me I felt in such a sloppy way, meaning my matrix was so weird... I will get there... one day at the time, thanks for your useful pointers
Nobel, one last thing, about why my head went forward that you said you were curious, that is because I get totally dizzy and lowering the head gets me back to normal...
ReplyDeleteWell, I've started doing second series backbends before doing standups. They've opened my back enough to stand uo (with my feets splayed out). We should remember Urdhva Dhanurasana was added to primary series lateli, it wasn't taught in seventies. Also second series backbends are GROUND FLOOR whereas dropbacks and standups are UPPER FLOORS. Doing them first after sequence of forward bends is not suitable for most spines :) When you imagine muscles and body work in this poses You can't trust the system - Darby is absolutely right not to start teaching dropbacks before the student is able to do Kapotasana.
ReplyDeleteUD added after the 70s, yes I heard something along those lines anonymous, I wonder how it must have been back then, so many changes... interesting this concept of ground floor as opposed to upper floors, has gotten me thinking about the muscles. Thanks for your comment
ReplyDeletedear Claudia, on days i practice the first of intermediate i am able to get better lifts in UD and am closer to dropping back. that does not happen on days of only primary practice. i don't see the floor when going back and it seems you should do so before dropping to the floor. one teacher that got me the closest to dropping back by myself, Springy Sitarist, used to put a cotton band around my waist to hold my body as i went down. The band was not wider than what you would use to hold a curtain with at the window. he didn't hold it very strongly. the band helped me psychologically to feel there was something pulling me back but really i was falling all on my own with control. i suspect that my toes where pointing or splaying by the time i reached the floor but i don't remember the details. i also came up with very slight pull on the band. it's hard for me to do these things without those little assists.
ReplyDeleteNobel, i have a right to be cranky about my practice situations. i have been practicing 8 years and have been given all of intermediate plus the first four of third series, to see it all taken away, depending on whose room i was in and the state of my body at the time. on should listen to one's own body and determine what feels right for it, regardless of what is the established "system". right now i feel that if i only practice primary it will cripple me. my left leg is hurting and did not hurt in the previous 7 years of practice.
hugs
Arturo
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteit's very interesting to learn that UD was added only after the seventies. Now I wonder what the reason was for adding UD to primary when it wasn't there during and before the seventies. Do you know?
From my own practice, I also agree that the second series backbends feel more "ground floor" than dropbacks and standups. I definitely have a much easier time standing up and dropping back on days when I've done the second series backbends than on days when I just go into standups and dropbacks from primary. Makes me wonder even more: So why did Sharath (or whoever came up with the no-second-before-standing-up rule) came up with this rule?
Yes Arturo, you definitely have a right to be cranky about your practice situations. My apologies for not respecting the universal right that we all have to be cranky at least some of the time. In any case, the System, as we just learnt, is itself fluid and constantly changing. So who am I to talk about it as if it were some universal absolute that must be followed to the letter, no matter what?
But here's the bigger issue that I am pondering. On the one hand, I agree that we should listen to our bodies, and try to do what works for it at any given time. If we didn't do this, there would be no point in practicing yoga, or any other mind-body discipline. On the other hand, however, I also know that I do not have perfect knowledge of my mind and body, and am not always the best judge of what is best for my mind/body. And, in my opinion, this is also why we practice yoga: when we practice yoga, we willingly choose to follow the direction of a particular discipline and/or a particular teacher, because we have faith that this particular discipline and/or teacher can help us to tap into certain potentialities within ourselves that we could not have done by ourselves, because we are not always the best judge of our minds and bodies. Since we have chosen to practice ashtanga, we should approach the practice with a certain attitude of faith, if we are going to get anything out of it. This might sound a bit quirky, but I'm starting to think that our relationship to the practice is a little bit like a long-term relationship with a person. Sometimes things are pleasant, and there is a lot of pleasure and joy and laughter. But sometimes the relationship gets demanding, and there's anguish, frustration and even (physical) pain. I'm not saying that we should muscle through pain or grit our teeth through it. But I remember Tim Miller once telling somebody at a workshop who had stopped doing primary series because of a hamstring/SI joint issue that "Avoidance is not the answer." I also remember Richard Freeman saying somewhere that doing primary series is like running a fine-toothed comb through your body: It honestly and brutally brings to our attention certain imbalances in our bodies that we might not have previously been aware of. So perhaps (and I emphasize "perhaps" because I can only speak from my own practice; I do not know other people's bodies) when we experience pain in certain parts of our bodies during or after the practice, it is the System (if you'd excuse my using this word again) telling us about the presence of these imbalances. But what this means is that the underlying imbalance isn't going to go away if we avoid doing the offending poses. The intelligent thing to do, in my humble opinion, is to find a way to work with and within the pose so as to address the underlying imbalance.
This post ended up being a lot longer than I originally intended it to be. But I thought I should say more to clarify myself, because I don't want to come across as an "ashtanga fundamentalist" (or maybe I already am, but, well, what do you do?).
Best,
Nobel
Dear Claudia, just wanted to say something to Nobel, if he's still reading this thread. Nobel, you write well; you should blog if you don't already do so. Your writing could inspire and help others. People encouraged me to write a long time ago; it's fun. Please consider doing so.
ReplyDeletecheers,
Arturo
Arturo, yes of course, I really enjoyed reading your and Nobels's comments...and, yes! I agree, Nobel would be a great addition to the blogosphere!!! Nobel: you already have two fans of your writing :-)
ReplyDeleteDear Claudia and Arturo,
ReplyDeleteThank you for thinking so highly of my writing. I'll definitely seriously consider starting my own blog. Right now, I am quite swamped with a whole bunch of papers to grade and classes to teach (I teach philosophy at a college). But I'll definitely look into blogging when things are a little less crazy. For now, I'll just have to continue being a "free-rider", commenting on other people's blog posts as and when I have a moment.
I also want to say that I am very grateful to all of you cybershala mates, whom I have never met before. I never used to read blogs a lot. But a few months ago, I moved here to Moorhead, Minnesota. There is no ashtanga studio here, and my teacher is 9 hours away. Reading the thoughts and feelings of ashtangis like you guys online has helped me in keeping up with my practice and maintaining perspective. It really helps to be able to exchange thoughts and ideas with others about the practice, especially since I am practicing by myself.
Claudia, I am really curious about your practice place, since you said you live in NYC. Do you practice at Yoga Sutra? If you would rather keep this piece of info private, I understand. I was in NYC for a few days last winter, and got to practice for a few days at Eddie Stern's studio. Very powerful energy there. I remember my kapotasana was so effortless the whole time I was there.
Best,
Nobel
Hi Nobel, that is so good that you feel communitt through reading blogs, I also feel that the blogs have helped me in very different ways from the shala, and they are a good way to keep sangha...
ReplyDeleteyes I do practice 3 times a week in the city and 3 times a week at home. I was with Eddie for one year and I relate to what you say, the energy in that room is very powerful and great, I loved it, but then I moved and it was not practical anymore. Now I practice with John Campbell at Pure, he is a fantastic, and gifted certified teacher. If you ever come visit New York let me know, I can get free passes and you can enjoy the amazing room :-)