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.