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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 ;)