My new pose

I got bakasana today. Thought I'd better update else I'm really gonna just forget to blog and leave out all the important landmarks...

Not b, just bakasana a of course. D asked me if I thought I could jump into it..and I told him I have NO IDEA HOW....

Recently I figured out how to whip back from tithibasana into a quick bakasana and back to chatturanga when coming out of bhuja and supta k. I think its a bit of cheating, but at least it gets me out of the pose efficiently, instead of being pearched precariously on my arms and not knowing if I can get my hips high enough to jump back from bakasana.

My back was nicely open today and getting my heels in kapotasana was really easy, my backbends have been behaving well lately..I hope it stays that way.

I think I will be taking John Scott's class after all..have to see if my allowance is coming though..heehhee..will update later..;)

Lazy blogger I am..

I figure I'd better update my blog..its been a while I reckon...

I've just started teaching in a new studio..its a beautiful place..very spa like environment, but everything is so new and there still aren't a lot of people who've signed up at the place..so thats not a whole lot of classes going on. Hope it'll pick up soon.


On to practice. Pretty good going. I can do supta vajrasana holding on to my toes now with D's help...although I still lose my grip sometimes. I've also managed to jump up into a handstand with both legs and control recently, though I don't know what I've been doing to help that develop. Coming down is still crash and burn, I can't control the descent at all, except when I drop 1 leg at a time.

My Supta k hasn't been up to scratch now for a few weeks. I think its got to do with the fact I've too many poses to do and I don't put enough time into holding the poses that lead up to supta k...my hips are less open and translates into big probs with the binding. So I've had to practice eka pada again recently which always helps open my hips for supta k..I slip it in when I get out of kurmasana, insted of doing supta k.

There's not a whole lot more to say, backbends are fine, except bhekasana because for some reason find it really hard to bring my feet close to the floor. My quads must be really tight..although I don't think it has ever affected my backbending..gotto concentrate on supta virasana more often I guess...

Thats about it..contemplating taking John Scott's 30 hour intensive come March next year, but its expensive and would mean I need to make some sacrifices...gotto weigh up the pros and cons of giving up clothes, shoes and beauty treatments for a while..haven't decide yet though..

Supta Vajrasana

My new pose today. I'm beginning to think that D is giving me too many..its kinda hard to practice on my own already..and now I have a bit too much on the plate in second series...

My practice has been sucking big time lately. I had a nice time at conference last week..got to go to Dharma Mittra's class, Lance Schuler, John Scott (!!!) and a couple of other teachers. I learnt quite a bit from John..went to all his classes..the dynamics of flight, the machine body, cultivating the practice etc etc. Am thinking of doing his 30 hour intensive next year in late March.

The things that I got from John Scott's class that I think could help are:

1. When jumping from downdog to either sitting or uttanasana, first look between the hands, look to between the feet, and then up to navel. Keeping the rounding of the back, then prepare to jump forward. It works really well at keeping the bandhas in place and makes my jumps very light and floaty.

2. When moving the legs into lotus, first lift the leg and externally rotate without the arms. After that use the hands to receive the feet. This makes lotus far easier to do because the muscles used to move the feet into position would be tired out with the lifting effort and hence will be able to relax better into the lotus position.

3. Keep slight bend in knees when moving into poses like triangle, reverse triangle and parsvotanasana.

Overall, I just loved practising with John..its awesome to be in the presence of such an experienced teacher.

I also had fun in Dharma Mittra's class, although the one I went to was actually a Q & A kinda class. We got to pick his brains on all sorts of issues..from how to improve the practice, how to meditate, and things like are there demons and evil in this world.

As for mysore class today, it was quite a disaster practice wise. Am absolutely surprised whenever D decides to give me a new pose recently..My personal practice has been choppy at best, I still haven't been able to shake off the recent personal stuff thats been happening. Its no wonder I felt as stiff as a board today and weak as well!

Couldn't get my heels in kapotasana, no bind in supta K, even my mari D bind on the right kept slipping! Jumping back from bakasana was NOT happening. You could kinda say it all went pretty south...

Nevertheless, I wasn't expecting that much from myself..so I was just glad I made it there and practiced..hopefully I get back in the groove soon..

Haven't been blogging...

I think I've not been doing much blogging lately...

Just for the record, last week's mysore was ok, not great, no new pose after kapotasana, but all doable although a little stiff in the hammies..

I have been doing practice lately using David Swensen's DVD..can't really concentrate if I don't have someone telling me to do it at the moment..so David's at least keep me practising...lots of stuff going on in my life..as I mentioned a few posts ago. This time I think things have settled in...the new person in my life turned out to be "not" the new person in my life..don't you just hate it when you get all engrossed..thinking you might have found someone you are into..and they turn out not to be what you believe them to be?

Anyway the good thing is that I don't seem to have lost too much in terms of my asana practice. Kapotasana is pretty good..I can get the ankles on my own..drop back, get up etc. Recently I think my hip flexors have really gotten longer due to all the lunges that I do..so its taking a lot of stress off my lower back. Thats great to know.

Otherwise nothing really new to report except I kinda cracked my right hip doing eka pada shirshasana despite not being warmed up enough..so am paying for it with some slight pain in the hip..hope it goes away fast.

Kapotasana

Kapotasana today. I got it finally;)

Practice going well despite a recent setback...but am certainly back on track now;) Its nice to be myself again...;)

Not much yoga..

I haven't done much practising lately...managed to practice maybe 2 times since last class..had mysore class last thursday and bumbled through it as best as I can...

There's been a tonne of stuff going on in my personal life lately...and its kinda distracting me from all the yoga...I broke up with my boyfriend a few months back..and suddenly find myself back in the single scene after quite a while...lots of drama...and lots of different people appearing in my life recently..its kinda messing with my peace of mind..

My ex was a really nice guy, but I really couldn't go ahead and marry him..he is quite a bit older than me..and was looking to settle down and have a family..and it just freaked me out so much, I couldn't continue being with him..but the single scene is full of minefields...I met someone a few weeks back..he reminded me so much of this guy I was madly in love with back in my early 20s..that I couldn help feeling like this was the real thing...unfortunately..he turned out to a controlling, judgemental and critical character...and I didn't realise this when I first met him...

To cut a long story short..I've had some sort of whirlwind romance of sorts that just fell to pieces days ago..and I'm left in some sort of daze right now...

So yoga has taken a backseat amidst all this drama...I really need to get back into my groove...perhaps the best way to get this off my mind is to jump into practice..I don't know...I wish life is not so complicated...

I've lost my jumpthroughs..

Yup..yesterday's mysore class proved it..I've been thudding, sliding, crashing..but definitely not floating through..hahah

I reckon its got to do with my lack of psoas strength lately..boths sides have been acting up big time. I can only hope for a quick recovery soon.

Yesterday was a surprisingly fun class for me despite the lack of jump throughs and bandhas. I asked D to put me into supta k sitting up..and we failed;P I got the right side up with no probs but I couldn't lean forward and get the left side as well. In the end, D asked me to do yoganidrasana instead..and that was surprisingly easy. However trying to roll me up into supta k was useless and I just got into titibasana and jumped back (crashed) from there.

I also got up from lahguvajrasana pretty easily and was kinda expecting a new pose (heehee) but D decided to make me do laghu 5 times...up..down..up..down...and by the fifth time my thighs were burning...but I think I got the hang of it now.

Today I went D's class again...and dropped back into kapotasana...yayyy!!! I've never had the guts to drop back this way, but after the laghu episode, I gathered enough courage to give it a go..and I did it...granted..I didn't drop back and grabbed my heels..but that will probably have to take some time..

David Swenson and John Scott all in a day;P

haha..I wish! I mean their DVDs. My order finally arrived, so I watched these two senior teachers do their thing on my laptop just now.

I got both David Swenson's first and second/third series..and its really eye opening watching third series. Its definitely gravity defying. I don't know if I'd get there...well probably one day in the far far future maybe. I loved David's encouraging words and pacing. I have fast breaths and his counts were comfortable for me. He's also very comforting and encouraging..asking the viewers to take things easy and concentrate on the breath.

John Scott on the other hand has a more clinical approach to the way he teaches..on this DVD anyway. And I found myself giggling over the way he likes to say "inhaale.. exhaaaaale..." Anyhow again its eye opening to see how he practices and all those handstand vinyasas.

I practiced primary along with David's DVD. Its great..and I think it might be the one I'd most like to practice with in the future. I've also got Richard Freeman's as well, but Richard although gives some great alignment and tips, has a pace thats WAY too slow for me.

On another note, my classes today at the gym were great! I taught a hot class in the morning..which is very beginnerish, and then a flow/vinyasa type class after. I love teaching this particualar flow class, mainly because the people who come are already very experienced and have been practising for a while. I'm really honored that they decide to come to my class, considering that I'm such a new/junior teacher. These people have amazing abilities, and I get to do all sorts of stuff in class that I typically cannot teach in other classes, even if they are flow or Ashtanga classes.
Ahem..and since my recent "almost" proficiency in koundinyasana, I also decided to teach it as an option in class today..good thing I didn't fall out of it while demoing;P However, I'm running dry in ideas on new stuff to teach nowadays, especially since the run of the mill stuff has been taught over and over already. Got to find some new material soon...

Okie, I'm going out karaokeing tonite..so my post ends here...

Arm balances and inversions..

Went to D's class today. Its one I try not to miss cos I'm forced to do the stuff I don't really like...inversions and arm balances. Strength is not my strong point, so I usually have to put in lots of concentration and focus to nail most of the poses.

Considering my recent psoas injury, I think I did pretty ok, sticking my balance in pincha and handstands for a decent couple of breaths. I even managed to lift the right leg off the floor in koundinyasana B, the splitzy thing which has always been a major pain for me. I couldn't lift the left side at all though, but then my left side has always been harder to do..just like in koundinyasana A, I had to keep working on the left side way after I could lift on the right side with no problems.

My back hasn't been behaving too well lately. I have this SI problem on the right which gets aggravated everytime D decides to sit on my knees for bhekasana. I might have to tell him to back off for a while. I didn't feel like doing kapotasana today although I know its part of the standard menu in this particular class that D teaches. I stayed in some supta virasana/matsyasana thingy hoping D will just leave me alone, but of course he came over and hoisted me up into a majorly backbend and put my hands on my feet. No heels...and I haven't attempted the heels since B left many months back. I reckon I'm not at the pose yet in the series, so no rush to go for it now..besides the time I did get my heels, I felt a major crunch in my lower spine, so I reckon I may have to work a while on opening my shoulders and hips a little more instead of taking everything in the lower back.


I signed my contract with the new studio...starts in December..I'd be teaching 30 classes a month for them part time. I'm gonna miss the Yogaworks training which the studio is fully sponsoring for me...and its starting next month. I can't do it cos I'm working 2.5 days a week at my proper job..and I really am not ready to quit and teach full time. Its a shame..but what can I do??

I'm gonna plan my classes for tomorrow after this post, I reckon I'd like to theme my class around backbending tomorrow..just for a change..

Mysore 27 Sept 2007

I've really been neglecting my practice lately. Had to go down to Singapore for work earlier in the week, and only practiced yesterday on my own after almost 3 days of nothing..No wonder I'm stiff as a block today..I could barely grasp my fingers in pasasana..and that has not happened for a good while..

Good news is that I have recovered from my psoas injury, and can do utthita hasta padangustasana C again..(or maybe D ..I don't know..its the one where you release the hands and stand with both hands on hips and straight legs). I couldn't straighten my legs in both that and navasana for a few days cos I think I had a case of psoas tendonitis or something along those lines. Anyway my jump throughs sucked today because I think my psoas were still slightly weaker than normal..and I made quite a few thuds while jumping through..but I reckon its better than not being able to do it at all.

Also I had a good time crashing on my stomach jumping out of bhuja and supta k. Gosh when am i ever gonna be able to do that properly??? D just said to me...more bandhas and pull in the abs...sigh..easier said than done!

And worse still I just COULD not get up from laghu at all! it was quite easy last week and during practice at home, I made it up with no problems..but today it was all in vain..cos I absolutely felt stuck to the floor.I did stick a nice balance in my handstands today..stayed there a couple of breaths.

All in all..it was a pretty dismal kind of practice...but I feel pretty good anyhow..just getting through it. I suppose thats the price to pay for not practicing..regression. hmmm. I just suppose I have to put in a more consistent practice if I want to improve...I'm gonna aim for a 5 day week next week if possible...hope that things will return to normal soon enough..

Mysore class 21 Sept 2007

I spent the whole class modifying poses today. I accumulated a whole bunch of injuries the last week, including a bruised elbow from slipping from the stairs, and a strained psoas after attempting a jumpthrough. No jumpthroughs or navasana today, my psoas was just too weak for it.

I did my "split" today and went on to intermediate right after supta k. D taught me laghu vajrasana today. It was fun..and I did come up..but I admit I used my hands to pull..hahahha...I told D this and he told me not to cheat next time..so we'll see if I'll be able to get up without pulling.

I hope my psoas heals soon..I'm really not used to not being able to jump through and all the other stuff..

Back to almost normal...

Alright..I'm back to normal. Maybe its because it's back to class..or whatever..anyway..am feeling quite strong and bendy today. Got through most of class uneventfully. However, for whatever reason, couldn't get my feet together for supta k, and D had to do a bit more squashing then usual to get me to bind..and even then my left ankle hurt (old injury) and we let it go for today. I've been pretty consistent with supta k recently so that was a step back..hmm.

Jump backs from bhuja and supta k are still mighty clumsy and feels like a tonne of bricks. Got to work on that more.

I got ustrasana today. Again I seriously wasn't expecting anything this week. I just got dhanurasana last week and I roll about like a beached whale to get into the parsva thing. I guess D didn't see that..and deemed it fit to teach me another pose. To be very honest my first reaction was.. "oh gosh my practice is gonna take FOREVER.." BUT, D told me to skip the primary poses from supta k onwards next week to go directly to pasasana..so in a way I guess I've kinda split..although the real reason is that my class is only 1.5 hours long and I really have no time to finish in that amount of time, so I guess splitting is the only way I've time not to rush through all my finishing poses to finish.

Overall, I feel great. Am glad I've shaken off the lethargy.

p/s: I've finally order David Swenson and John Scott's DVDs. Am excitedly waiting for it to arrive in the post. Can't wait!

Getting lazier...

Feeling really stiff and weak. Its been a few days of the same lethargic feeling..and along with it, the body has become pretty unbendable as well. sigh.

Not only did it feel like my muscles were stretching like dried up rubber bands..and I also lost my connection with the bandhas the last few days. No idea what the problem is..except lack of sleep cos I need to get to work half and hour earlier than before. and teaching too many classes perhaps.

I think I need a new challenge of sorts in my practice. I've been slacking and cruising along almost on autopilot lately, eventhough I'm weak and inflexible. Jumping back is still not coming..and I've kinda let the idea go that I'll do it in the very near future..so for now its just lift, pull ass through and bunny hop back.

OK..just to inspire myself, I'd like to do:

1. Eka pada (no hands!)
2. pincha mayurasana
3. Galavasana
4. Jumping back
5. koundinyasana II

probably will work on it after my backbends...

Dilemma

I'm in a bit of a bind..I just got another offer to teach..one that I can find hard to say no to..I mentioned some time ago that I went for an interview with a new studio thats gonna be set up in town..well I got the job..

Problem is, I just took on another 5 classes on top of my normal 2 at the gym, cos they have a new centre and needed someone to teach. Also, the guiy who gave me the clases were really nice to me and kinda have always looked out for me while I was teaching there. But the new place has great potential, slightly better pay per class and also offers a full scholarship for a Yogaworks teacher's training (of course that means I have to work for them for 2 years if I do it.) I even get a monthly education allowance to attend workshops and conferences etc. Its a hard choice..and I got to reply by Monday..sigh.

Other than that its tiring to teach 8 classes a week. Luckily I have time off between classes as they are usually staggered in the early mornings and evenings. It also kinda saps my energy for my own practice..no wonder some teachers say they find it hard to concentrate on both their personal practice and teaching.

Other than that practice wise..still no improvements in jump backs. Stuck where I was..which is lift, swing..get stuck with feet on the floor..and bunny hop into chatturanga. I did realise recently I can lift into a L-plant position though pretty easily. It surprised me too, cos sometime ago, the idea of doing that seemed out of this world for me..and now I can just do it. Surprising! No other inspiring breakthroughs though..

Mysore 6 Sept 2007

Still lethargic..and it shows...Anyway I still managed to get through practice ok. Although I bombed a few vinyasas..and only got 1 leg through..hmm.

I could also not get a clear connection with the bandhas today..and now I am beginning to be aware that somedays I have a very clear connection with bandhas, and I usually feel much stronger and more solid, while on certain days like today, I just didn't feel much at all. I don't know why, but I speculate its because I have a bit of gas today (haha..a bit too much info maybe)..and it messed up my bandhas a little...I crashed on my stomach while jumping out of both bhuja and supta k today, those 2 jump backs arew pretty indicative of my level of bandha control on a given day..

I got dhanurasana today though..with the parsva thrown in. I was seriously not expecting anything new for a while..cos my bhekasana hasn't really improved much at all. So when D told me to do 1 more today..and to get into dhanurasana..I thought he was asking me to get into urdvha dhanurasana..and I got on my back to push up..and had to be told that its the bow..not upward bow...shucks...he must really think I know nuts about sanskrit...so anyhow..I don't particularly like this pose..I don't like the getting the legs together part..nor the rolling to the side thingy...

But well..I guess getting through the series is pretty much like getting through life..sometimes there are things that aren't easy or enjoyable to do..but still got to do it to get to the nicer stuff that you want to do...there really is a lot of parallels between life on the mat and real life...and I am happy to say that I'm realising some pretty important lessons here that I think would help me deal with the other stuff in my life..

Lethargy

These past few days I've been pretty lazy practising..
I can't seem to get back into a very enthusiastic mood to practice..so I just skip poses and vinyasas etc..and basically do a sandwich practice of sorts.

Its also got to do with the fact that I've started to find primary series not as taxing as it used to be..not that I'm saying I'm good at it..but I guess it doesn't seem to drain me much anymore..and the few poses of intermediate that I do are not particularly difficult at the moment. I'm still working on jumping back.and that takes up most of my energy.

Also I have recently taken up another 5 classes at the gym..which takes up quite a bit of my energy..so I teach 8 classes a week..on top of working 2.5 days at my "proper" job. Its quite a nice arrangement..and I'm quite lucky to be able to work that out with my boss. Maybe all the teaching classes are burning me out..I don't know.

I taught a hot class at the gym this morning. Its too slow for my liking..but we have a fixed lists of poses to do and I had to make sure everyone was in the pose long enough so that I could stretch the class up to 1 hour..26 poses..no vinyasas. Its really veryy slow..I am not sure I'd like to attend such a slow class given my very fast 5 breaths..

Anyway have another class shortly..so going to get ready. Hope this lethargic feeling will pass soon.

Mysore 30 August 2007

Its been slightly more than 1 year since my first mysore class. I just realised that yesterday...I started mysore sometime in August 2006..and now its 2007!

I had a wonderful class..(full moon maybe). Everything was pretty good..even vinyasas from Uttanasana back to chatturanga in my surya namaskaras suddenly got lifty instead of jumpy (but VERY tiring to do). I jumped back from both my bhujapidasana and supta K bakasanas, although clumsily. Dropping back and standing up is getting really fun. I didn't think that I would say this, but primary series is getting pretty comfy for me.

I'm still at bhekasana now, and I'm not really in a hurry to get anywhere else. The ankle is still a little problematic, but on the mend. My feet still don't touch the floor in bhekasana..and I asked D if they should..and he said I should work towards it. There really isn't any big issue with my practice right now except for jumping back from dandasana. I don't expect I will be lifting and jumping back so soon..so thats going to take a while.

I don't really have a whole lot to write..just wanted to write about my class like I always do. Oh and another observation I have is that I have stopped sweating much nowadays..I don't know if its the weather (it was cool last nite)..or I'm improving..

Today's class

So today was D's inversion mania flow class. I haven't been there for a few weeks. Nice.

Usual sequence..but the good thing about a predictable sequence is that I know what needs work and can gauge if I am making progress.. And apparenly there were improvements..yay!

I got into koundinyasana I both sides for once! I guess my stomach crunches and oblique work has paid off, and on the right side..I was so stable, it felt like I could stay there forever. Left side was harder, but I could lift my leg off the floor and straighten them..and thats an achivement for me.

I still can't get into version 2 though..where you are in some sort of split..I can't seem to get my elbows near the hips, which I think is a major help with balance. Apparently, it was brought to my notice lately that I have relatively short upper arms..and that makes things like mayurasana and this kind of balances tricky because I'm not in the right position to leverage my body. I found this out from one of my teachers - C. However I don't think that means I can't do the pose..just that it will make things a little harder.

My balance was not great in pincha mayurasana..and I guess it will have to be my new project now..to try to balance there. I absolutely held my handstand today though..I'm not sure if it was because my little trick with the tapping the back thigh worked..or it was just a fluke. I stayed there for quite a few breaths..I don't know how many..perhaps 6-7?? Anyhow it was long enough for me to notice that it felt absolutely weightless, that my legs were squeezing in towards the midline..and that it felt really easy..hahah..well for that few seconds anyway! D just came by and told me to stay there and not move;)

Kapotasana was also surprising easy to get into today. I didn't get the heels no doubt..but walking the hands in to my feet was much easier than the previous few times.. We did that 2 times today. Cool.

Nothing else was really new today, but I enjoyed it nonetheless because I don't usually do much arms balances on my own..this class is a great palce for me to get some practice in doing them. Generally I think I did pretty well;)

Mysore class 23 August 2007

Mysore again today. Ankle still hurts, so modified a few ankle intensive stuff..mari B & D on the left..supta k (or rather left that out entirely).No new pose..and no new progress..still felt great after class though..did a couple of handtands..and D said they were good..but my balance is still bad..and I keep wobbling around..apparently the balance has a good deal to do with focus..and D kept asking me to look at a point on the floor and concentrate hard. He did say my alignment is good..and my body is nicely stacked..I just have to keep it more stable..

I was tempted to try this new tip I found on handstands..and later heard on an mp3 from O2 Yoga teacher Mimi Loureiro..who said to try to tap the back foot onto the top leg to help with balance..but its rather crim to do that in mysore..so I didn't. I might try it tomorrow at home.

D sat on my knees again for bhekasana..and its not fun to be pinned down on the floor in that position..however once he got me to relax the shoulders and he did the work of lifting my shoulders back..its quite comfy actually.

Didn't have any other memorable moments in class.although I noticed I've been able to slow my breath down quite a bit recently..and not zoom through as fast as I usually do. It makes the suryas much more relaxing..but I also seem to sweat less..hmm..I'm not sure if that is good or bad..

On another note..I went for an interview recently with a studio which is going to be newly set up in town. I was actually asked to take up a full time teaching job there..but I told the interviewer I just recently changed jobs..and would have to take a while to ease into being a full time teacher. There's also a great TTC offered..but I'll only have the details next week..and will post on that later..

Led primary

I went to a led primary series class yesterday. Haven't been to one in ages. It was alright, except that I was really not used to following the teacher, C's count. Thats the difference between mysore and led. Once you get used to following your own breath, its just not fun anymore to have to wait for instructions.

Nothing very interesting happened, except that I got my feet binded in Supta K with hands binded, but my head had to rest on my feet instead of behind the feet. Like I said my torso is too long to curl under, so unless I get it behind my head, I'm always ending up with the feet too close to my head to cross in front.

I've been consistently getting into eka pada shirshasana lately, at least right side with minimal fuss. I can sit pretty comfortably with hands in namaste in front. I'm waiting for the left side to get loose enough for me to try dwi pada, cos at the moment the left side is still exerting a lot of pressure on my neck and threatening to slip off but I feel it shouldn't take that long cos my hips have been really loosening up. I think the most helpful thing has been getting comfortable in tarasana with the feet in front of my head, sorta like a loose baddha konasana. Thats helped me immensely with foot behind head.

On the jumpbacks front, there has been not much progress. My lifts are getting a little easier, but its still not helping in swinging back into chatturanga. I end up hitting the floor all the time and then having to hop back from there. But I guess its just a lot of practice..and I think I will one day be able to do it.

I have an interview with a new studio afterwards to demo some teaching and also do some asanas for the interviewer. I'm gonna warm up after this to make sure I can get into stuff without heat afterwards. We'll see how that goes.

Not really Ashtanga related post..

Didn't practice today...had to do some socializing cos I'm trying to avoid becoming an Ashtanga hermit..cos I'm too obsessed with practice..hehe.

I'm starting a new job next week..which requires a bit of travelling around Asia Pacific. I hope that still leaves me time to practice, and also teach some classes. My future boss (well actually my ex-boss as well, since I've worked for him before) has already arranged my training in Singapore in 2 weeks time. I'll certainly try to sneak some time in to visit J again if possible. The good news is that I'm not going to be working a 5 day week on this job. I told my boss-to-be that I want some flexibilities so that I can teach yoga..and surprisingly he agreed to it..so its a cool arrangement that I can live with.

The ankle was bothering me a little today, especially since I spent my whole day tottering around in high heels. It also didn't help that there was a strange guy trailing me around during lunch time when I went shopping at one of the malls..hmmm. I had to walk real fast to try to lose him. Anyhow, he managed place himself right next to me while I was in Borders..and I really thought he was a little pyscho, but he said hi to me..and I guess he was just trying to hit on me..hhahah. Nope, I didn't flirt back..I'm not too used to being picked up in bookshops...

I bought an ab wheel today..Its one of those things you use to roll about on the floor to strengthen the back, arms, shoulders and abs. I'm hoping to try it out after this to see if it works...I will report back soon.

Mysore Class 16 August 2007

So..I DID make it to class today..ahem..its once a week..if I miss it I'll have to wait another whole week to do my practice in class! I have to say I do much better in class compared to home practice..must be the exhibitionist or competitive nature or something..but anyhow..I always try to do my best while in class..and it usually works well.

No new pose today though..I would have guessed not, since I had to modify all my lotus poses and also avoided D's adjustment in Supta K cos I told him my ankle can't take it. I also had to modify tiriang mukha and bhekasana cos the position of my feet stressed out my ankle.

Well nothing really stood out except for some reason my dropping back and standing up was extremely smooth going..and I just didn't want to stop at 3..and went and did maybe 6. It just felt really easy for some reason today..D stopped standing around to make sure I don't crash in my dropbacks today..so I went ahead and took liberty at doing a few more. I feel like asking him if he can help me out with my ankle grabbing...J gave them to me while I was at his shala in Singapore...but I never mentioned it to D..(I'm not sure if its valid since J isn't my main teacher..and I should by right trust D's judgement instead since he is the one teaching me consistently..) So anyhow no ankle grabbing for me..and I doubt D will ask me to do it..since he has NEVER asked anyone to try it..

My teacher was also teaching the strong guy I mentioned a few posts ago to press up into a handstand with straight legs. Good god..how do you do that? I think its gonna take me forever to lift my feet off the floor..But D kinda just lifted them almost as easily as going into a headstand! Sigh...

I hope my ankle recovers soon..cos it is a pain to have to modify so many poses..and next week I have a demo for a new teaching job at a studio..and I do hope my ankle won't be a hindrance then.

Crashing out of a handstand

Today, I flipped over while jumping forward from downdog to uttanasana in the suryas..I guess I lifted the hips too high and it sent me into a handstand...except I overbalanced and crashed...on my ankle. hmmm...Now's I'm left with a mildly traumatized left ankle..and I think I may have to spend some time modifying all my lotus poses again..shucks. I do hope it will get back to normal asap.

So..nothing much else to report..especially since my practice today was cut short as I felt too traumatized to do a whole lot after that..

But I did get to thinking just now about my lack of strength and bandha control..especially when it comes to stuff like handstands and arm balances. It also occured to me that people tend to get either stronger or more flexible in their practices based on who they practice with..in addition of course to native strength and flexibility.

I mean..in my rather limited exposure to other studios and teachers..I've mostly worked with teachers who never really emphasized the strength part in practice. Back in the days when I attended classes by Sivananda teachers years ago...we never really did any arm balances or chatturangas. It was always mostly about stretching and more stretching.

Then, I went to Gym X, which was ewhere I met my first Ashtanga teacher, R..and he did do quite a bit of chatturangas..but I certainly wasn't taught bandhas etc..So most of the emphasis was again on flexibility. When I met B, who was my first mysore teacher..although he had beautiful bandha control and was really strong, he ALSO never emphasized strength stuff..nor did he tell me to work on it.

Then now I go to D's class..and he's much more concerned about me building up my strength and bandhas..and of course J, who was hell bent on my jumping back from the very first time I landed up in his shala.

I couldn't stop thinking that if I had met D & J first, I might have worked much sooner on developing my core strength..but perhaps at the expense of flexibility. I noticed that people who come from the nearby Anusara based studio to my studio..are usually very strong...although perhaps not of extreme gumby persuasion. So I just think that it is really important WHO you learn from..as different teachers will emphasize different aspects of the practice..and we end up working on and therefore getting better at the things our teachers teach most.

Well I guess this is getting a little long and rambling...so I'll stop here and go nurse my ankle now..hopefully I will be ok to attend tomorrow's mysore class..

11 August self practice

Practice was nice today, though I did venture off the usual series and did some experimentation. One thing I've observed lately is that I no longer need to do warm up stretches before hand to get comfortable in practice. Last time, because of my stiff hips, I've always had to do some hips opening like sukhasana or sit in pigeon. Now I can start surya namaskaras and that warms me up enough. Perhaps with more backbends added to my practice, I may have to work on shoulders and quads in the future before starting, but at the moment, I'm happy to report I can stop the futzing around and just start.

I got into eka pada sirshasana on the right, and could sit with my hands in namaste in front of me..without holding! Bending forward, I still had to hold on tight though. The left side was not so great though..I still had to hold on to prevent the leg from coming off both sitting and bending forward. I also did dwi pada viparita dandasana today.

I also went and did my few second series poses..cos I reckon I need to do bhekasana to help with my ever stiffening hip flexors and quads. I've never managed to get my feet to the floor in bhekasana. I don't know if I can go forward without getting the feet to the floor. D sat on my knees the other day in mysore class and pulled my shoulders back to open the chest. I reckon that did something to my SI joint. But I feel fine today though..no serious problem.

Also I don't know how come I could get into a pretty decent dwi pada viparita dandasana today. Usually my shoulders are a little too tight to achieve much height in the backbend, but today was nice and open..and I swear I looked like that woman in YJ..(yup..i bought myself a huge mirror and put it into my room to view myself..vain and narcissistic..) I was pretty impressed with myself!

Anyhow, jumpbacks are still more or less where it was all along..which means they are still sucky. Anyhow, I'm doing them as best I can...hopefully it starts to get better soon..

Mysore Class 9 August 2007

Today's practice was dedicated to my dog, who after 10 years with us, had to be put down yesterday due to some serious urinary problems. I hope he will be a good boy wherever he is now and rest in peace.

Despite having a really bad night last night, thinking of my dog, today's practice was really one of the best I've had in ages. Although I did manage to tweak my back on the right SI area...its still kinda achey right now. I think it was from being adjusted in Bhekasana..which I got today. It did cheer me up a little.

Anyhow I don't know what happened but I was incredibly strong today (still no jump backs though). Everything felt really lifty and solid, and my jump throughs were so floaty I was kinda impressed myself! I did crash on my face in the bakasana after Supta K though...despite being "impressively" strong by my standards ;p anyhow D said that its coming along...

And of course I got bhekasana today..which was most unexpected..considering I just got the two salabhasanas last week. I thought I'd have to wait a few weeks for anything new!

Knees, lifting and backbends..

I tweaked my left knee...I don't think its very serious..but I can hear it clicking when I bend it..There's also a pinchy feeling when I bend it.

I hope it gets better soon...I reckon its because I did samakonasana in class today..hatha class in the studio. I haven't tried it for a while..and who knew I could sink all the way to the floor..I was surprised too..BUT..when I was getting out of it..I had to prop myself up on the elbows to get up..and I think I did something to the knee while squirming out of the pose..hmmm...

I have been practising primary the past few days on my own. I can jump back from bakasana pretty consistently now..Its strange that just a few weeks ago I was completely clueless and now its actually quite fun to jump out of it. I've also been really doing my take it up lifts in nearly every vinyasa. Very tiring, but its getting easier to do now though. I just do not believe that I can't do this, when some people make it look so effortless to lift up and jump back. I am sure that one day I WILL do it!;P

I just have to say that my backbends have been pretty comfortable lately thanks to some research stuff I've been throwing in before practice. I've been really stretching out my hip flexors via lunges, and tucking the tailbone under to get to the top of the thighs, and also lying in supta virasana before practice, because my hip flexors were tightening up a lot. However this seems to really pay dividends when it comes to backbends. I notice it makes it easier to keep my feet parallel in backbends, and I can extend my hips more..and also keep the bend from going all the way to my lunbar too much..

The other thing that helps immensely are the shoulder stretches I've been doing lately..rotating my arms with the strap, and also dropping from urdhva dhanurasana onto my elbows to try to work my upper chest and shoulders. It really does work..backbending have been pretty comfy lately..

Mysore class 2 August 2007

Was really tired out today. Bandhas disappearing everywhere..even my flexibility was a little suspect...actually found it hard to bind Supta K again! Thats not happened for a few weeks already!

Its THAT time of the month for me...nevertheless, I went ahead for class..and the result is a noticeably weaker practice...it REALLY does make a difference. I never really realised that all this while, I guess mainly because I didn't practice so consistently last time..but now, I can really tell that my strength is much weaker while menstruating. Odd though that I was also stiffer than usual though.

I got the 2 salabhasanas today..yippeee!! despite bombing out all the vinyasas. BUT I did jump back from bakasana on the way out of bhuja..;) So maybe D was a little impressed that I made some progress and decided to give me a new pose...or perhaps because the class was so empty today..that he didn't have a lot to do..and decided to give me a new pose.

Anyhow..I've been doing salabhasana for ages..since I started yoga..so this definitely wasn't difficult. Keeping the feet together is not that fun though..my hamstrings had to work quite hard.

Skipped handstanding though cos I was really tired out by then. I also got to talk to D about the state of my (non-existent) bandhas. He said to do lots of sit ups and concentrate on the navasana lifts. All my teachers are agreement with one thing...that I have weak abs...;( And even though to me, I've made some noticeable improvements compared to 1 year ago..its really still sucky at best. D also demonstrated jumping back for me, cos I told him I recently was taught to wriggle my butt back to jump back..and I asked him if that was the only way to practice jumping back..and he did the perfect jumpback for me to see..of course..but I couldnt do it at all. No help there...seems the only way to do it..is to ACTUALLY try to do it badly until it gets good..

I'm quite excited...I wonder how long its gonna take me to get to kapotasana?? I've always wanted to do it officially...but it seems to be taking forever to get a new pose..Anyhow..J told me while I was at his shala that I will get seriously stuck after the first six poses of intermediate because of my lack of bandhas...I don't know why he said that..maybe to make sure I work on bandha building in the meantime..I do know for sure bakasana is probably really unmanageable for me...but thats really too far off to think about now..

Oh..I've been walking back and forth through my arms yesterday to kinda do my vinyasas cos I was too lazy to do the lift up...it actually takes effort to walk my feet back and walk it back forward between the arms again...I had to really shorten my torso to get through...I reckon I should do that as part of my vinyasas sometimes because I think its better at building bandhas than my straight leg version. And obviously since I can't jump back anyway..this is a good "cheating" alternative..;)

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28 July 2007 Self Practice

I jumped back from bakasana today.

I reckon this is momentous enough to me to blog about...so I had to write this.. maybe really insignificant for people who have never had any issues with bandhas..but this was BIG for me!
I did it in the bakasana J made me do after utkatasana. I tried it a few times after that, and managed to get back...but it was not as good as the first time..which means to say that I got all the way back, but landed either on the top of my feet or on my shins..but bottomline is I got back all the way to the bottom of my mat!!! YIPPEE!

I think its about lifting the hips high before jumping back...and getting my toes to touch in bakasana and lifting it way up to my butt..it makes a big difference...now I just have to make sure I end up in a high hipped bakasana everytime..

I am beginning to believe that I can do ANY asana...with practice;)

Jump through with crossed legs..;)

Yes..I did it...;) a little backward maybe...since I've been jumping with straight legs from the start..but I managed it with crossed legs for the first time today!!!!

Seems to require a bit more bandhas than my straight legged version...and straightening the legs from there into dandasana is much harder to do...BUT..I DID IT! YAY!;) Actually I wasn't even attempting it in the first place..I just forgot to straighten my legs on the way through and ended up scrunched up into a ball getting through the arms..and hey..that was it.. I did try it a few more times..and it is harder work..but I still generally prefer the straight leg version...just feels much smoother and lighter...Am sure J would disagree..but hey he's not around to watch my practice..;P

I also managed to do lolasana for the first time without blocks. Its bloody hard work...I think the hamstrings have to work quite abit though...unless I'm doing it wrong and its not supposed to be like that. What gave me lift was mostly abs, arms strength..and contracting my hamstrings like crazy to lift the feet off the mat...its much much much harder than the normal cross feet lift up version.....I wonder if this will help me with jumpbacks...??

Nothing else is new..I was trying out all sorts of stuff today instead of doing primary series...did koundinyasana..the twisted version..and still can't scissors my legs on the left side...and then I tried the koundinyasana splits version..and couldn't even lift my back leg off the mat..Jumping back from bakasana is still a huge no-no for me...I always crash at the same spot..about halfway back and on my knees...

Was extremely adventurous today..and did kapotasana as well...walked my hands to the feet and got it pretty ok...like I said the last time..my shoulders are stiff..and I knew I was taking all the bend in the lower back as usual...other than that..it was respectable by my standards..didn't get the heels though..

I've also decided that I need some new research poses to try now that my hips have opened up a bit..before this I'd always worked on my hips so I could get into supta K..lately supta K is getting much better..so I reckon I need a new project...

I think perhaps some additional core stuff and shoulder work would be perfect..since I reckon those are problematic for me. Perhaps more lolasana, bakasana, stomach crunches and tolasana would not hurt..and I also found some pretty interesting shoulder stuff in Erich Schiffman's book which involves using a strap to hold on to while rotating the arms...I might give those a try.

Mysore Class July 26 2007

My teacher is back. So class was on as usual. Quite a few new faces..replacing my familiar regular classmates. Don't know where they went..

There was this incredibly strong guy practising next to me in class with unbelievably strong jumpbacks. I was green with envy. He still had to drag his feet a little to get back, but after that..it was WHOOSH..hang time in the air..then incredibly soft landing. Now WHEN am I gonna get to that stage??!!!! Besides that he was pretty flexible as well, although there were some poses he was still a little stiff at. Noticeably the backbends...I wonder if there is a correlation between strong bandhas/stiff backs and weak bandhas/flexy backs...??

On my own practice...hmm..I lost my jumpthroughs the first couple of times..landing with a big thud..but then I decided I wasn't gonna let the bandha boy next to me hear me crash land...sucked in uddiyana..and managed some respectably soft landings after that.

I was nice and open throughout though..hamstrings, hips, backbends..all went well. Binded the tortoise over the head (with minimal help from D..and he crossed the left foot over right instead...??) and lifted into dwi pada..got back to bakasana..and couldn't jump back. Bhuja was good..went down, came up..got back from the whole tithibasana/bakasana thing..and jumped back 1 foot and landed on my knees...OWW..

Everything was good except my jumpbacks..they suck..they STILL suck..and I wonder how long they will continue sucking?

No new pose..I think D probably has the same criteria for me for advancement in second series as J has...jump back from bakasana. I don't know how long this jumping back business is gonna take...gosh I do hope its not going to be a longggg timeee....

Taking a break

Hmm..I'm skipping practice today..I reckon I already don't observe moondays and 6 days a week practice and practice almost daily, so perhaps I need to give my body a break. I really should start observing moondays etc. Its not that I'm tired out, but I've recently lost a lot of weight..from my own and everyone else's observation. I'm not stick thin, but my pants are definitely loose and baggy now...

Today I bumped into someone who asked me if I'm ok, cos I lost so much weight since the last time I saw him..I'm not particularly obsessed with my weight, but seems if everyone is saying this, I might really be overdoing things and need to take some days off.

Just went to the scales...hmm..according to the scales, I'm about 117 pounds, about 53 kgs..which actually is not much different to how much I've weighed most of my life...and at 5 feet 6, I think I'm normal, its just that I seem to have lost a lot of fat and put on muscle... wow who knew having muscles instead of fat makes one look so much thinner!

So anyhow, apart from this weighty issue, my practice last few days has been so so. No progress yet with jumpbacks..from sitting or from bakasana. However, I remember the days when I couldn't get down in bhujapidasana and when my feet couldn't get through the arms, and I thought I'd never be able to do it, and now its kinda easy...surely if I could get past that, the day will come when I can also jump back!??

I'm going to do some internet research now and see if any of the message boards have good tips for me for jumpbacks...

Jumping back is soooo hard....

My teacher is still injured, so no mysore tomorrow. Bleecckk..

Anyhow, I've been pretty consistent with practice the past few days, trying hard to incorporate J's comments into my home practice. However, my wrists are hurting even MORE than they used to hurt before...even with the clawing thing that I do with the hands that J showed to me. Sigh...my wrists are really small and weak...I wonder if we can build muscles in the wrists..??

Besides that, I've tried to lift and pull my butt through on the jump backs as best I can in the vinyasas..its REALLY tiring. I bet this is contributing to my wrist aches. I'm guessing that I look horrible doing it..I get stuck with my feet on the ground when trying to swing back and end up having to walk my feet backwards and then hop back from there. J told me to do it everyday for the next 3-6 months and do it at least 300 times..;P hahaha..actually 3 hundred times is not a lot..I think if I jump back after each seated asana per practice (including between sides) I'd be doing over 25 per practice!!! That works out to only 12 practices...hahhaha. He said that I just need to be able to do it properly once...and then it should be easy..BUT I think it probably will be closer to 3000 times before that one time ever happens.

Anyhow..I think I made a mistake with my last post..J said I can do second series once I can jump back from bakasana on the vinyasa out of bhuja and supta k...not jumpback from dandasana. He also gave me an extra bakasana after utkatasana to work on, so that I can try and jump back from there too.. I've been cheating on those jumpbacks by using a gym ball which I straddle and then practice rolling from plank to bakasana and then lifting my hips high into a mini criminal handstand and then rolling back from there.. its tough work!! even with the ball I'm feeling my stomach work overtime to keep myself up. After a few attempts with the ball I did try the actual jump back from bakasana..and I managed to hop maybe 1 foot backwards..and crashed on my knees..jeeez..

Also I've lost my jumpthroughs in the process..if sooo frustrating! I was jumping through really great for the past few weeks and then now its back to crash landing! I don't know whats the problem..except maybe I've been forgetting the "Mona Lisa" smile thingy that Richard Freeman recommends doing..Also..I DO think one big difference between the times I can float and the crash landing has been my gaze...if I drop my head just when I am jumping and look down..the hips move in a nice arch up, which makes the vinyasa floaty...and when I land, I lift my head up and I float...when I don't do this..I crash. I KNOW there is a difference, but I can't seem to duplicate this when I consciously think about it...its only when I have completely no thoughts when jumping through that I can land reasonably well..

Anyway I'm not supposed to practice my straight legged jump throughs anymore according to J. Its apparently not much of a bandha builder...

I do wish we had a shala here that I can go to...it would be great! I learnt so much stuff from J..it would be really fun to practice with him more often..also he's very funny..in a "tough" kinda way..ahhaha

I went to my Iyengar class at the studio yesterday. I missed K's class last week because I was in Singapore. It was fun with chairs, blocks and straps as usual. Also we got to do handstands..I've never had him teach handstands before..I had a good time helping my partner who has never kicked up into handstand, get up there. K is really funny as well..he is soo serious sometimes that it just cracks me up!

Wow...first time in a real shala!

Yup I went down to Singapore and went to a real shala for the first time. My arms are hurting so much from all the "attempted" jumpbacks that I'm planning to skip practising today and give myself a break...

There are 2 shalas in Singapore and I wasn't sure which one to go to. Nonetheless as luck will have it, I could only find the phone no of 1 of them. So I ended up in Shala ____.

I certainly have no regrets..I learnt a whole lot from J who teaches there. I'd already expected that he would pick up on the fact that I have lousy bandhas...but he went at it with a vengence...and I had to attempt each and every jumpback with earnest..instead of cheating my way through them..The cool part was that he pulled me back from a lift up 5 or 6 times..and got me through my arms..to sort of throw me back to chatturanga, so that means I can ACTUALLY do it..if I had the strength. I'd always suspected that my long torso and short arms meant jumping back was next to impossible.

Besides that he did the same assist for me in all the tithibasana and bakasana jumpbacks ..and it feels really cool. However, I really don't know how I'm supposed to do it on my own...I also learnt that I'm putting too much weight into my wrists, and was told to claw the floor to activate my arm muscles so that it gives more support to my forearms and wrists. Its really great stuff, cos no one's ever told me that before..and I hope it'll help fix my wrist problem.

Also..he told me that I should try to jump through with crossed legs instead of having them straight..apparently I'm using my ability to fold myself into half to help me get through and not using any bandhas...shucks..just when I've managed to do it really softly and with control..J said it looks beautiful..but doesn't help to work on my bandhas at all..so my homework is to work on doing it with legs crossed.

Other than that..he helped me walk my hands in to my feet in UD yesterday. Amazing, I've never tried it before. Didn't attempt any ankle grabbing though cos I was so shocked at feeling my own feet I think he thought better than to have me do anything more. But it wasn't that bad..I felt a bit of pinch in the lower back, but it wasn't as intense as kapotasana..the intensity was more in the chest and shoulders, rather than in the lower back. J said I should start working on grabbing my ankles..and then the knees and then my own butt!! Unfortunately though, I doubt D will be so adventurous with me in mysore..he is rather conservative when it come to backbends. Other than that, J taught me to lift my chest while dropping back, which I have to say makes the drop back feel extremely good. And even the standing up felt much better and lighter when I lift my chest. Very cool..I will definitely incorporate this new tip into my practice!

Lots of interesting tips I got from this trip. I did have to forgo some shopping excursions to make 2 trips to class while I was in Singapore. Well worth it though!

So generally, J says I have absolutely no control over my bandhas (ok..that bit hurt a little..because I thought I did have some control!). He did say I had strength that I don't know how to use, and instead use my flexibility in everything I could get away with. I had some miserable attempts at jumping back which I'm sure looked really bad...like I had to drag my ass through my arms to get the feet through, but still no light at the end of the tunnel as to how to swing back gracefully. So J told me to focus my attention on jump backs..and I shouldn't do second series until I could do that. Ahem...I'm certainly not going to tell D that..I'm gonna hold on dearly to my 2 second series poses!

Anyway I went through the whole primary series on Tuesday, and didn't get stopped. Yesterday though J told me to work on all the jumping back and I was so pooped by bhujapidasana that he told me to just do backbends after that. Apparently I have no issues with the asanas as far as he is concerned. The fact that I had a hard time crossing my feet in supta k was not something he was very concerned with. He just told me my torso was long (common Asian trait it seems) and that I should instead work on dwi pada, because its pretty impossible to cross my feet when my head is in the way while I'm on the floor. Hmm...problem is I'm already struggling with eka pada...let alone dwi pada!

Overall, I'd love to have the opportunity to practice with J again. I'd definitely try to make another trip down to Singapore..but not in the near future. Anyhow J says to do my homework on the jumpbacks, and that should help with my bandha control..I'm taking that to heart and really make an effort there and see if there will be any improvements..

Oh..and yes..I have to gloat a bit cos he told me I did very well..and I can be very good (I guess provided I learn to use my bandhas!)

I can't add a title..whats wrong with Blogger??

I don't know what I've done to the template...I can no longer enter anything into the title field...its irritating me no end...

So backbends workshop this morning...well..it was ok. I kinda know most of the stuff about backbends that our trainer talked about..mostly about internal rotation of the legs, using bandhas to support the backbends, softening the ribs in so as not to arch too much (well..this one I learnt from the same trainer in her previous workshop). What was interesting was that in UD, we were told to do it with arms the same way we do downward dog. I've never really done it the way that I was asked to do anyway, with the elbow eyes pointing down to the floor in downward dog. I've always kinda ignored it and down it the way I like which is to have my elbow eyes pointing a little bit more the the side than downwards. Anyhow, apparently this was not a good way to do it, and we were to do the same in UD. The elbow eyes pointing straight to the front. I don't find it very comfortable to be honest, and it doesn't seem to give my shoulders much of a stretch...I've really got to research this and see if thats the way people do UD.. None of my mysore teachers have ever corrected my arm positions for UD...

Other than that, not that much else was really a revelation. We got to practice some backbends..of note padangusta dhanurasana, which was fun to do..and loosened up my back so much that when I taught my class at the gym this evening, my back felt really loose and bendy.
Overall, it was good to have a review of all the concepts involved in backbends...it was only a 3 hour workshop, so we didn't get to cover much about inversions, except handstands. But most of the handstand concepts I had already learnt from my other teachers, so it wasn't very new to me.

Looking forward to my backbending workshop tomorrow morning with the same Aussie teacher from my anatomy workshop. Its focused on backbends and inversions only, so I'm quite enthusiastic to learn what I can from it.

I've totally butchered my Ashtanga class at the gym today...I've turned it into a flow class, with no further resemblance to Ashtanga...I feel bad...but my students don't really appreciate the Ashtanga sequence much..and have been asking me to teach them new things...so I caved into popular demand..so..its now hatha vinyasa..and I wish the gym would just change the name of the class for me.. but the class went down well..I think people at the gym crave sweat and variety..and its difficult to keep people coming back if I don't go by popular demand..sigh..

Other than that, I'd also like to report some strange things happening to my abs. They are much stronger..as in suddenly very much stronger to the extent I can actually feel them pulling me up in things like crow and side crow and jump throughs etc...and my psoas is tightening up like nobody's business. I'm wondering if these 2 things are related? I've never had much luck with abs strength...but this recent development is really interesting.

I'm going to Singapore next week. I've emailed a few shalas there to ask if they would take me in for a day or 2..hoping for the affirmative...I've never practised with an authorized teacher..so it would be so cool if I had the opportunity. No reply yet though...

No class..

No class today as my teacher has injured himself...I've heard conflicting stuff about him injuring his ankle..and someone else saying he injured his back...anyhow..bottomline is he is injured and out of action at least for a week or so....hmmm..

So...I went for a fitball class instead..hahha. It was quite fun. We did a tonne of core related stuff on the gym ball, and things like side crow, crow, kneeling on the ball, pincha and vrishikasana on the ball.. it was cool! I actually find it much easier to do the arm balances on the ball, it gives just the right amount of support..and still feels like I'm actually doing the pose..I did fall on my face a few times though..

But anyhow, I missed primary series, so believe or not, I came home and went through half the series up to baddha konasana. I don't feel too tired out either, cos I skipped my vinyasas sometime during the marichyasanas. And of course with a loony smile on my face all the time because I've decided that there really IS something to this smiling and mula bandha connection. I think it makes everything lighter somewhat, especially vinyasas. I can't put my finger on whether its enhancing mula bandha or whatever, but there is a difference. Richard Freeman likes to say that its to keep the palate soft, but I don't know if that has anything to do with bandhas.

I've got to admit that its either this smiling thing working, or my core has definitely become stronger recently. I've also gotten a lot more awareness of the abdominal area, like I feel my muscles much more, not only when practising, but also during the day..when I'm just sitting or walking around. I'm also happy to discover that I didn't feel strained doing all the core stuff involved in the fit ball class at all. It was relatively easy, and I'm sure this would not have been the case if I did not practice ashtanga.

I also got into eka pada shirshasana today for fun. I almost binded both feet and hands on my own today in supta kurmasana. I could feel my fingers just brush, and my feet were crossed in front of the head. So, I couldn't resist sitting up and getting the leg up behind my head. Its actually getting easier. The right leg stays there pretty well, I can almost feel that I can soon remove my hands. The left side is still tight, and needs my hands to hold on tight otherwise it would slip off my back. I think the key being that my hamstrings have lenghtened a little while in external rotation and the hips are more open. Before this I'd always thought it was the hips that restricted me, but I realise that a big part of the problem was that my hamstrings were tight when my legs were externally rotated. It has no problems with straightforward forward bending though...I think (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed) that I'm pretty near opening up the stuff that needs to open to do leg behind head properly, if I just work on it consistently enough.

Also all the forward bending in primary series has done some evil stuff to my hip flexors. Its chronically tight. I have to stretch it out now and again throughout the day otherwise it seems to just bunch up around my hips. And the handstands have gotten to my shoulders..and I can feel the left side tightening up whenever I do downward dog and UD. I reckon I really need to start some more backbending practice to counter all the forward bends and handstands, otherwise I might start sliding in the backbends department. D is nowhere close to giving me any pf the backbends from second series at the moment. It doesn't seem to strike him that I should progress..hmmm.

So, I think I'm going to add some crim backbends into my home practice..perhaps ustrasana and bhekasana, and also viparita dandasana for my shoulders. I've tried viparita dandasana before, but find that I have really little mobility in the shoulders...it wouldn't hurt to keep working on that..

Smiling and mula bandha??

I came across a post somewhere about smiling and its connection with Mula Bandha. I also have Richard Freeman's practice series, with him advocating "smiling softly to yourself" while practising. SOOO...I smiled at myself throughout practice just now. AND...I actually think it helps my Mula Bandha!!

I don't know if this is purely psychological or if it actually works, but I think it does..it certainly didn't make things worse. So everytime I jumped through, I smiled at myself..luckily no one can see me when I practice, they might think I'm a loony. And my jump throughs were nice and soft. I am not sure if that was due to my overall stronger abs and pelvic muscles or the smile added and extra oommpff..

Anyhow, its a very subtle contraction that I feel when I "smile", as opposed to the strong pelvic tuck that I have been doing to make sure I have mula bandha "on" before this. It was reaally fun to try out today and I guess I'd be doing quite a bit of smiling in practice in the future ;)

Fell out of scorpion..

I fell out of vrischikasana today in class. It was pretty terrifying. I thought I was going to break my back...but fortunately I'm fine now with no apparent damage done. I was at D's class today, its a kinda advanced flow class, but not that flowey cos mostly everyone had to migrate to the walls for most of the inversions.

So like the last time, we did all the usual suspects for inversions...handstands, forearm balance, headstands and also D's favourite stuff ..arm balances like koundinyasana and bakasana etc. I've found out that I can only balance one side in koundinyasana. I think my obliques are stronger on the right, and it was pretty easy to twist that way but on the left, I could hardly lift my feet off the mat, let alone scissors them!

Other than that D introduced scorpion today..and my back was pretty bendy from doing UD and kapotasana mid way through class so it was WAY too easy to bend my back and have my legs collapse all the way to the floor from pincha. Unfornately it was also so WAY bendy I had no strength in the core to get them up from the floor. So D came over to try to lift my hips back up...and as things will have it, I fell over on my side in the same deep backbend..and for a second there thought I'd done it and broken my back...but well..nothing seems to be wrong..I don't even feel a twinge now in the back...luckily. D told me after that to just stay with the feet on the wall...I think I must have scared him too;P He said my abs were too soft ..(ie weak I think..but he was too polite to use that word..)

Other than that kapotasana today..hmmm..as usual I can get my head all the way between my feet, but I couldn't get my hands back to the heels..only mid foot. My shoulder is really really stiff...I can't seem to eek out any bend from them and have to rely on the hips extension and bendy lower back to get into all these backbends...I reckon its really a waste because my upper spine is actually pretty bendy as well..but because my shoulder can't rotate around, I can't really use that bend much at all...when I got home just now, I went straight for my block and did some shoulder stretches with my elbows on the chair and head hanging down like this one. It felt like my deltoids and triceps were going to snap.

Sigh...all things considered..I wish I could get my abs stronger quicker...it always seems to be the thing that gets me into trouble in poses....

Fatigue..

Its been a long while since I've felt this tired during practice. I think perhaps practicing during the "time of the month" may have something to do with it. Anyhow either that or my before class shoulder stretches weakened my triceps so much that my arms couldn't make it through the vinyasas sometime during the marichyasanas. I've not felt this fatigued since my 1st few mysore classes last year!

Anyway as things will have it, when strength gives..I always seem to gain some extra flexibility..so I was extra flexy today, it felt like I could more or less slide into my poses. Kurmasana and supta k was good. In fact I could finally lift into dwi pada and stay there for a while nicely bounded. I lost that ability for months before this, always having to unbind when I lift up. Dropsbacks were also extremely smooth going, I could bend all the way back and not bend my knees to reach the floor though standing back up was a little dodgy though.

But the bandhas and arms strength sucked. I was shaking in handstands and dropped down in ardha dandasana..also a first in ages!

Mixed bag though this practice was, I feel pretty good now, if a little tired out. What am I saying..I always feel good after practice. Still no new pose though..I think maybe D is really serious about me nailing my jumpbacks from tithibasana before giving me anything new. I don't know. As far as I know, my "holes" in practice now are mainly the jumpbacks, and garba. I still have a pretty spastic garba at the moment, arms can't seem to get through all the way to elbows, and hands reaching my face. Supta K is actually pretty decent recently.

So..I'll be patient and wait. Krounchasana is a comfortable place to stay at right now..second series backbends can't be THAT far away...now if only my strength returns soon..

Anatomy workshop Part II

I did gain some interesting insights into my own body in this workshop, among them:



1. Strengthening opposing muscle groups can help the muscle we want to target relax more. I kind of know this, but I always thought of it as contracting the opposing muscle group.



2. My internal and external obliques on the right side is much stronger than the left, which explains why I always twist better on the right than the left. I've never really thought about it, but it struck me while listening to the trainer that was why I always seem to need more help twisting to one side than the other.



3. I walk with my feet turned out slightly, which could be the reason my external rotators are WAY too strong and results in all the hip tightness in any kind of external rotations.



4. My adductors must be too weak. This could be the reason I flop so easily into upavista konasana. However strangely enough I think my pectineus is way too tight which is why my knees still stay up in baddha konasana if I don't spend some time pressing it down.



5. My right hamstring is looser than the left, which could be why my right quadriceps is soo much tighter than the left one. All these imbalances are sooo strange..



6. My habit of arching the chest so much may be the reason my back flexion is very limited. Also I think I don't really know how to engage my upper abdominal muscles because I spend most of the time arching and hence not working the abs in that area. It could also be the reason I have extremely weak core strength.



Soooo...considering I seem to have a huge bunch of imbalances, I guess I'll have to work on my left obliques, strengthen the adductors and stop arching the chest..

Anatomy workshop

Wow am I tired today. The workshop started yesterday evening, and will continue over the weekend. This morning I had to teach my class at the gym, so didn't get to go, but was there since after lunch till 5 pm.

Most of the stuff covered on bandhas I kind of know already, but its good that its been clarified altogether in a class. Only thing I find a little unused to is the way the trainer said to do downward facing dog. I've always done it with a slight internal rotation of the legs and feet, but apparently we should remain in neutral and not inward rotate. Also we were told to do downward facing dog without lifting the sit bones too high as that will not allow mula bandha to engage...I'm pretty much used to the lift the sit bones high version. Also I feel that by contracting the bandhas so strongly in downdog, my back was actually rounding instead of lenghtening....I'm not too sure what to think of this..

Other than that I did get some useful teaching cues to that I could include in my classes. As for so other things like not lifting the chest in poses, because this will not be good for breathing, I'm again not sure what to think...I've been used to a diet of being told to lift the chest by almost all my teachers...hmm.

What I did find quite interesting was that the trainer's comment that most yoga teachers and practitioners tend to have flattened thoracic spines. I'm one of those people with flattened spines I think. I have a very curved lumbar spine and a straight thoracic spine as opposed to the convex shape that most people have. Over the years of yoga somehow I think I've learned to stop standing by jutting my ribs out and swaying the back, but my upper spine remained very straight and doesn't really curve forward much. In fact I recently discovered that this was abnormal because 2 of my teacher's commented that my back doesn't round much and looks really flat in flexion. This apparently contributes to my problems with lifting in arms balances like bakasana, tithibasana, and even forward bends like supta kurmasana and karnapidasana. Apaprenly other people can round their backs very easily and I can't.

I've actually tried to do the back rounding thing more often recently, with poses like the hare pose, and karnapidasana. I'm not sure if my spine is permanently flattened..its would explain why I have a good time with backbends but not flexion of the spine.

More updates tomorrow...

Mysore 21 June 2007

Fantastic! Really nice practice today. Still haven't earned a new pose though..hmmm.


Lets see..I can float, I can get up from bhuja, I could more or less toe bind my supta K, what else could I possibly ask for??? Well, of course a nice jumpback would be even better, and getting a more steady stand up from UD..which has been inconsistent lately, and being able to roll in garba with my hands all the way through instead of stuck halfway....

Anyway, I'm optimistic..small steps will get me there I'm sure. Handstands were off today though, I just felt like I had no strength in my arms to carry me. I think all the jump throughs must have tired me out. Did I mention I can do it softly now...I think I recently discovered mula bandha, which has helped me a lot in jumping forward. Hasn't helped the jumping back much though.

Also I'd admit I was a little drishti challenged today. I was watching one of the guys I always practice with in class, as in we are always in class together..do a dropback;) His first dropback apparently, and I was quite excited for him. D had to hold on to him quite a bit, but he definitely did it;) YAY. He's really dedicated to the practice, and I have seen so much improvements in him, in fact compared to me, since we started mysore the same time, he has improved much more than I have. He started off really quite stiff, and now he's really so much better, today I saw him put his hands on the floor (well almost) in Prasarita C. And his balance in handstands and pincha (crim...we throw that in after handstands) is so much better than mine, I'm jealous! I'm amazed at what practice can do to bodies. Less than 1 year of mysore and self practice has really brought us a long way..

So anyway, I've an anatomy workshop tomorrow, am looking forward to it. I hope its good.

Coincidence?..more psoas tightness..

Strange...there is a post on yoga.com talking about psoas tightness, just when I'm having this issue. Today the tightness was bad, so I went into the toilet at work to try to stretch it out...

I found that doing a pasvakonasana type pose, really stretching the hand 45 degrees forward and pulling the side of the body long was really helpful in relieving the issue. Gonna do that one more time before bed tonite.

Iliopsoas tightness

I don't think I've mentioned my recent iliopsoas issues. I'm pretty sure it must be the iliopsoas, because I feel this achiness from my illiac crests down to the tops of my thighs..I don't think it can be any other muscle.

I'm convinced its because of all the forward bending that I do in primary series, and the long holds I put in for supta kurmasana (or my pathetic version of it).

Anyway I've been doing crecent moon lunges a lot lately, without much success. I find that lyiung over my gym ball is a good stretch for that area, especially when I move my head all the way to the floor when lying over the ball, and also strewtch the arms overhead. My 5 UDs wok wonders though...I've been holding them much longer nowadays as I feel they work exactly into the area. Thank gawd there's something to relieve the achiness.

Its much worse when I get u from sitting for a long time or when I get up from a deep forward bend like baddha konasana or supta k. Seems its much worse when my legs are externall rotated when I bend forward.

Hope this thing resolves itself soon..

Doing primary with my DVD..

Yes..its fun to be led by Richard Freeman;) I mean his DVD ;P

I practiced yesterday along with his DVD. Its refreshing, as I haven't been to a led class for ages. It also slowed me down a lot..usually I move very quickly through the series, but Richard's pace is wayyy slower than how I normally practice. I also find that the things he says makes much more sense now that I have been practising for a while. Previously I always thought he was speaking in Greek because his descriptions of actions are very flowery.

Also for jump thoughs, I'd always jumped on empty, meaning no breath, but in the DVD he says to jump on the inhale and it feels very good, almost like riding a wave of breath, like some people mention. No wonder I have not felt like that on jumping through previously. Very nice to get that feeling.

Ok, am going to sequence my class for this evening now. Hatha yoga at the gym. I really have to remember to slow down a bit for that class. I get the feeling I'm always rushing through things, especially in this class.

June 16 2007

I've been a little out of action the last week. I have this persistent flu which is kinda a pain...running nose and watery eyes etc. Skipped my mysore class on Thursday..although I really wanted to go. Practiced yesterday though and found that my whole body was stiff as a plank througout. Seems that not practicing for a week can make one forget bandhas...hahaha..in my case anyway. I landed with a huge thud on my but in most of the jump throughs..and couldm't even balance in bhujapidasana on the lift! wow. never thought one week of relative inaction could be so detrimental. However, it did make me realise how important it is to keep up the practice.

I felt great after practice though. I could hear pops all over the body as if my body was tied up in knots after the lack of practice too. I did do some asanas and attended a vinyasa class during the week when I wasn't feeling too sick, but apparently that doesn't help me unknot as primary series does.

Anyhow towards the end, my UDs were strong and I could feel myself getting back to normal. Its really a revelation to feel how different it is when you don't practice and when you do. Makes me more dedicated towards making it a point to practice 6 days a week as much as possible.

Today's class at the gym was great. Even though I woke up stiff as a board, and thought I'd really demo badly, my poses were fine. Also my students told me my instructions were very clear and helpful. I'd like to credit that to my recent Iyengar classes though, because I learnt quite a few things about alignment which was really helpful and which I couldn't wait to share with my class.

Inversions and arm balances

I went for a vinyasa class today, turned out to be an inversion and arm balance mania class, which I nevertheless enjoyed. Lets see, we did everything from headstand, forearm balance, handstands, wall squares, one leg up wall squares, bakasana, koundinyasana I and II and side crow. Then kapotasana and wheel, with our chests pressed all the way to the wall.

Wow, I haven't had such a tough class since...forever! D really surpassed himself today. Hahaha..am really glad I went though. I really need to be pushed to do things like inversions and arm balances. They are not my forte..I'm more of a forward bend, backbend, twisty type who has a a pretty decent amount of flexibility, but not a lot of strength. So I was pretty pleased with myself for doing the poses pretty well, I must say.

I've recently been able to balance much better in the handstands/forearm balance department. I think the key being muscle memory attained by sneaking in a few seconds balancing here and there. After that, my body seems to adjust and know better what to do in those upside down situations. I DO however collapse into my lower back a bit, which I also used to do in headstands. Bandha issue I think..my bandhas are sucky.

I also got my feet in kapotasana, but felt too stiff to move my hands to the heels. I think I need a tremendous amount of warm up to do that. I wonder if I would be able to do it when I finally work up to kapotasana in intermediate..? As in without all the research poses before hand. I've figured out that my backbends work much better with some quad stretches before hand and also shoulder opening. Without those warm ups, I tend to take all the bend into my lower back, which I reckon is pretty unhealthy.

I failed to get up in koundinyasana II again though. I can't lift the back leg off the mat. Seems like there's no improvement from the last time I did this in C's class. Nevermind..there's always next time I guess.

Ooohh..and guess wut, I'm going to get my passes for the conference coming up in November. I'm going to all of John Scott's classes. I'm so excited, I just can't wait! He's got a workshop on flight dynamics...gosh I'm really looking forward to that!

I'm also going to attend a workshop by an Australian teacher on the 22nd of this month. Its about anatomy and how it relates to asanas. I hope its good.

Well...ok..I've not been doing much of my practice these last few days, mostly because I am having a cold again...I did do some hip stretches and worked it up to kurmasana, supta k and baddha konasana though. I can't afford not to practice those poses as I'm afraid I'll regress at them since I worked pretty hard to get to the point I'm at now..I hope to sneak in a quick practice after I teach my corporate class tomorrow nite.

7 June 2007 Mysore class

Great class. Am back to normal now mostly. I felt good throughout practice. Supta K is getting a little better, but still can't bind my feet on my own, but its getting much easier to ease my feet together in front of the head. No pain anywhere..thats a major good sign for me.

I can hold my handstands for a few seconds now, and I think I sort of know what it takes to stay up. Still sinking a bit into the lower back, but D just said to make sure I squeeze the bandhas tighter, it should get sorted.

Didn't get a new pose, but I wasn't really expecting one, there's so much stuff I still need to work on...in particular the jumping back parts from the asanas. Haven't made as much as a dent of progress in that respect.

I don't have that much to say other than that, but generally my feelings while going through the series has been comfortable. Its really getting meditative in a way, I just in a way "sail" through it. Maybe thats why I have been feeling blissed out after practice lately. I love this practice!!!;)

2 June 2007

I'm listening to Tim Miller's introduction to the Yoga Sutras right now...on iHunaman as I type this. I definitely need some brush up on the Yoga Sutras...obviously whatever I learnt in TTC on the sutras have gotten lost somewhere in the grey matter...

Anyhow practice today..was alright. Nothing too interesting happened..except I managed to do eka pada shirshasana today. Am pretty sure it looked quite bad, but I had no mirror to look at, so I can only guess. But I was thrilled that I could do it relatively painlessly, even though I was kinda hunched up like the hunchback of notre dame..I tried supta K first, but since I couldn't get the legs together, I decided to try to put one behind my head first and see if I can get the other.. Obviously Dwi Pada was out of the question, but I do think that if I work on this progressively, I might be able to pull it deeper soon. Then hopefully I can get to working both legs behind my head.

The thing with me is that, my torso is long, and my legs are pretty short. I can bind my hands quite easily, because I am in quite deep in kurmasana, but when I try to cross the legs, even if the legs are snugly over the shoulders and there is no pain anywhere whatsoever, my head gets in the way of me binding my legs. It's very difficult for me to bind in front of my head and wiggle myself under. I need to pull the leg up behind my head instead.

Nothing much else happened in practice today. But I just had to post this eka pada shirshasana thing. I believe this is my key to supta K!!

Mysore 31 May 2007

Mysore is back on the timetable. It was great! Hahahaha…and I was thinking of not going anymore because I couldn’t get back into the groove with a different teacher. Well..today worked out very well. Supta K is still left unadjusted..mostly..but other than that I think I am getting back the dropbacks and standing up bit. Still WAY wobbly..but at least I can feel my legs working to bring me up.

Handstands have been really good for me lately. I can balance for a few breaths now. But I have stopped bunny hopping up and instead go up by kicking one leg up first. I find it way more energy saving. However, I do think going up with both feet first teaches much more on bandhas and the weightless feeling when I hit that sweet spot. Kicking up with 1 leg first doesn’t quite do it. Nevermind, will work on it both ways.

Other than that D has been working on getting me to jump back from titthibasana after bhuja and supta K (my pathetic version of it). He gets really anal about those jumpbacks for God knows what reason, so I’ve had to really try hard..but still end up crashing down after bakasana. I told him I will get it next class ..(haha..yah right!;P)

Bhuja was pretty good, I almost hovered today…got down to my chin an inch from the floor..and couldn’t believe it myself..so I dropped my head down. I’m going to try this out again tomorrow and see if it was a fluke. And yep I got back up as well into titthibasana. Yay!

I also remembered to do my intermediate poses today…yes..I’m quite a dummy and tend to forget to do them. D obviously didn’t see me do them though, because he asked me if I actually did them. Too bad..I was hoping that he was going to add something new today, since I was so pleased with myself, I thought I deserved a new pose;)

After class, as I was walking back to my car and in the drive back home, I couldn't stop thinking that I seem to have stopped having those aches and pains that used to be a staple of mysore class for me. When I started mysore back in August last year, after every class I'd have lower back pains, knee pains, collarbone pains (from being tied up into supta K) and a myriad amount of other stuff. Lately, its just stopped..for some reason it just hit me today that I must have managed to open up some stuff to finally not have to endure all that. Then again I suppose when new poses do come, I might be back in the same situation again. But I guess that was one of the reasons I felt really good in practice today, it isn't so achey anymore. And I don't feel as tired anymore...It took me 9 months to get to this point..and it feels great!;)

Oh yes, and one more little detail. I dedicated my practice today, right after the opening mantra. I just stood there, closed my eyes and dedicated my practice to all the important people in my life and all the teachers who have taught me, and who will teach me in the future. It felt much more meaningful somehow;)

edit: I'd like to add I just realised 31 May was a moonday..full moon. Maybe thats why I was so energised! Yepp..I don't really observe moondays...but this was quite interesting too feel the difference.

Mula Bandha???

Todays practice was really a breeze....No I don't mean it was easy and therefore was a breeze. But it felt so nice that I can only describe it this way. It just felt extraordinarily smooth today. Yes the hard parts were still hard, and the usual suspects still proved difficult, but I didn't care, modified what I couldn't do (the usual Supta K, Garba) and it felt like I was floating (no I was NOT literally floating..that comes and goes..)

AND I think I discovered Mula Bandha! Erm I am not sure..since I don't really know how it is in the first place. I think I know what uddiyana is..but Mula bandha..I've never really gotten the hang of it..but today..for some reason I really did squeeze the area around the nether regions before doing the jumpthroughs and the landing was really really soft. I tried it a few times and it still felt so much lighter! And doing the same in my updogs were nice too...I really got to remember to squeeze more often. Why it helps, I have no idea. I mean I remember my teacher used to tell me that uddiyana bandha helps to connect the pelvis and ribcage to make sure the body doesn't move around like a bag of bones..but he never really explained mula bandha to me...

Besides that I did about 30 minutes of inversions before practice, mainly because I tend to skip headstands when I practice at home. And I really felt like doing some inversions today. So I did all those I knew..headstand, tripod headstand, pincha, handstands... Good thing is..I can balance in pincha..Well 3-4 breaths is not bad for me. Handstands..I also managed to balance for 2-3 breaths.. I reckon if I practice it everyday for the whole week..I should be able to do it properly soon. But I still can't get up with any semblance of control though..I think its like the kicking mule..the way I get up.

Also I got up from bhujapidasana today...into titthibasana..and then collapsed on the butt. Nevertheless its an improvement from the helpless heap I used to be..stuck on my head on the floor. I don't know how to stay up from titthibasana, back to bakasana and jump back. My jumping back is really useless..I can't for the life of me get my legs to shoot back the way I see people do.

Been going to the Iyengar classes at my studio recently. There are 2 new Iyengar teachers (K and A) at the studio and I was curious about what they had to teach. I only managed to get to the beginner classes, cos the other times were not convenient for me. So far...lots of alignment cues and props. I prefer K's classes so far, but I haven't tried their advance class yet, so I might change my mind. But I still miss my flow style teachers..B and S. I think I'm one of those people who need to move, move and move somemore. Staying in a pose for too long doesn't seem to appeal to me..even when I am really comfortable in it. Also my previous teachers had some Iyengar training before and did incorporate some alignment cues into the flow/Ashtanga classes, so Iyengar alignment wasn't really that new to me. S used to teach with quite a bit of verbal instructions as well. I read somewhere that most long term practitioners will figure out alignment on their own anyway..and I think its true. Even though I haven't been practising for that long, sometimes I just feel clear lines of energy (ala Erich Schiffman) and I know that I'm not that far off from what the pose is supposed to be...I'll update on how my more advanced classes with these new teachers will turn out soon...

My research poses..

Whenever I have the time, I try to do some of this stuff apart from the primary series...

For the core:
1. Headstand
2. Ardha dandasana
3. Navasana
4. Piking on my exercise ball (as in do plank on the ball and try to lift the hips up high like in handstand, and roll back down)
I'm pretty sure if I could manage it properly, going up into a handstand with control would be fabulous, but I can't without jumping up and down..so I can't say anything about it.

For my hips:
1. Baddha konasana - with a wall behind me so I can push myself forward to the floor
2. Supta baddha konasana - with my butt on a block cos I think it gives my adductors much more stretch
3. Frog - not the bhekasana one..but with the knees wide apart and elbows on the floor..and then sliding the knees apart until I get flat.
4. Agnisthambasana - the square pose. I think this one is the ultimate pain in the butt...
5. Janu Shirshasana
6. Sleeping pigeon - and if possible move the feet further forward so its close to my head when I lie down.
7. Half tarasana - or diamond pose. Half because my hips are mighty tight, and I have back pain if I sit too long in the diamond pose. This I do with one leg bent like in janu shirshasana, and the other leg further in front, so when I bend forward I can put my head behind the foot.
8. Padmasana on my stomach, I think it has the same effect as the frog, except with a different rotation.


Backbends:
1. Lying over my exercise ball
2. Ardha supta virasana but with the non virasana leg bent and pulled towards my chest - again ardha because my quadriceps are tight and if I do both legs together there is a huge arch in my back. I discovered this stretch in Donna Farhi's book - Yoga mind, body and spirit. I think its a fabulous stretch.
3. Crescent lunges - for the hip flexors
4. Sit against the seat of a folding chair and put my arms through the opening at the back. REAL big shoulder stretch for me.
5. Putting the head on the floor in downward dog - another shoulder stretch
6. Holding a block between my hands, putting the elbows on the seat of a chair and pressing the shoulders towards the floor. I do this in preparation for the day I will officially receive kapotasana ..hahahah..I always bend too much in the lumbar spine and need more opening in my shoulders. This one is super hard for me too.

Others:
1. Ragdoll for the hamstrings
2. Supta padangustasana

Chairs, blocks and windows...

Yes..I went to an Iyengar class. And we used all the above to do asanas. Haha. I've never been to one..but my mysore class has been cancelled...don't know if its permanent..but it was a led class today...and I really didn't want to go for a led class..especially by a teacher who barely knew the primary series sequence!!!! (yes I am a bitch.) Seriously..I know this because the said teacher came to my mysore class once and went through the whole class asking my teacher about what should be next in sequence!!! How can she possibly teach me anything if she doesn't practice ashtanga herself??? Alright..maybe she could have taught me something..but anyhow I just wasn't that keen to go. (more on the class being cancelled bit later).

So instead I attended a class by a new Iyengar teacher at our studio..it was quite interesting actually..although I have no interest in becoming an Iyengi anytime soon..I'd miss my vinyasas and Supta K (???) too much for that. So we did maybe 7-8 poses in 1 hour...lying over chairs for backbends...using the windowsill to do Adho mukha svanasana in some standing version of the pose..shoulderstand on the chair..uttanasana and padangustasana with blocks (??). (just so we are clear...I DO NOT use blocks in my daily practice...its a little insulting to think I do this almost everyday and still need to use blocks for forward bends!)

Erm...nope I hardly broke a sweat. But it was interesting that the teacher..lets call him "K" had so much to say about just each pose...roll the deltoids in..roll the trapezoid down..spread the sitting bones wide..roll the inner thighs out..blah blah. Who knew there's so much instruction for downward facing dog. Anyhow its so different from how my Ashtanga teachers teach...B would have just adjusted me into whatever it is he wanted me to do and say nothing abut the rolling shoulders stuff...and here was K keeping a constant narrative going about every body part.

I'm not saying its bad..and certainly I can use some of this alignment knowledge when it comes to teaching my classes at the gym. But it just feels a little constricting. K mentioned that advanced students are not the ones putting the leg behind the head..but the ones with the most awareness in the body while doing asanas. IMHO, an advanced student should both have awareness and also an advanced practice. I mean it doesn't mean that person has to put the leg behind their head..but they should have experienced a broad range of asanas and have an awareness of their bodies in all these asanas. It would be so boring if my repertoire of poses consists of adho mukha svanasana and I worked everyday on refining that pose...

Anyhow..I will be going for K's class though. Its quite fun to hang around on the chair and just sort of relax into a backbend..instead of struggling with my dropbacks and standing up..perhaps I'd take it as my day off from Ashtanga practice. Also, I reckon it could help my alignment in Ashtanga.

On the other hand..yes my mysore class has been cancelled. Hmm...As you may have noticed..I'm not too stricken this time around. Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts..I've been having some issues with class anyway. The bottomline is..I can't get used to my new teacher..and I miss B very much..he knows my practice so well and adjusts me exactly where I need it..its like missing a vital part of my mysore practice when he is not around...alright, alright..I should get over it already...My partner told me that I'm too reliant on B..and I will find another one if I will just give new teachers a chance and stop comparing..well its hard...and I've not managed to do it yet. So..class being cancelled doesn't really bother me so much..I reckon I enjoy practising at home anyway. Only problem is Supta K and dropbacks.. No assistance and I'm a little stuck with those 2 on my own.. BUT I'm sure I'd survive.

By the way JOHN SCOTT is coming in November!!!!! Im sooooo excited!!! My goal is to practice on my own as well as I can and then see if I can get to practice with John Scott when he is here.
I'm giving myself these few months to make sure my primary is up to speed...and practice my 2 second series poses ( and add somemore of my own if I think I can). Then hopefully John can have a look at my practice and give me some tips..I don't know if he is going to teach any class..I just know he will be in town...I can't wait!;)