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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Pressing up to handstand with straight legs:
First, work on paschimattanasana. Get the deepest forward fold you can get with a straight back, and a very strong uddiyana. Extend your arms straight in line with your torso. See that your hands extend far beyond your feet.
Second, work on uttanasana. Try to deepen uttanasana as deeply as your worked paschimattanasana. Hands about 7-8 inches forward of your feet. Come to your tiptoes and deepen your uddiyana.
Press strongly into your hands. As you shift your hips forward, keep pressing lightly into the floor with your tiptoes. The keys to lifting the toes off the floor are 1) a really deep forward fold, 2) high hips, 3) shoulders shifting forward of your fingertips. You are essentially shifting your body weight from your toes to your hands and arms. Once you feel the shift in weight from toes to hands, flex the ankles quickly to draw the toes away from the floor.
Don't practice straightening the legs into handstand yet. Just practice this deep forward folding for a while until you get used the feeling of shifting your bodyweight smoothly from toes to hands.
Once you are able to balance on your hands while in a forward fold for a few breaths, then you can try lifting the legs (ala straight legs into headstand).
Hullo again Idoru.
Wow pressing into handstands.. I think I need to first be able to even lift with bent legs before even thinking about straight legs???
You seem very strong. Can you give me tips on jumpbacks as well? Thats the thing I'm realy trying to work on right now. Handstands are a little out of my league at the moment I think..
But thanks so much. I will certainly use this info when I think I'm capable of doing it ;)
Post a Comment