Last week, I got bhujapidasana, much to my surprise. I guess navasana, while not easy, and still a long way from good, is not killing my hip flexors so much anymore. When I started on that pose, I would feel so sore and weak in my hip flexors afterwards that I could barely hold up my legs to step back (jumping was out of the question). I am learning the value of falling from bhuja, falling being something that generally I want to avoid in my yoga practice (and in my life). Sometimes I think that worrying about falling takes much more energy than doing the pose.
So back to bhujapidasana: I managed to jump back from bakasana for the first time ever, with my teacher watching me (the next day was a total fail as I assumed I would continue to get an assist in it). I do have a tendency to fall on my butt, either getting into the pose, or lifting my head back up (even with my feet on the ground). What I have discovered is that if I am relaxed about it, falling doesn't hurt my wrists (while taking it too seriously, and falling out, does hurt them). Falling makes me feel like a little kid again...oh, I fell, whoops! Hee hee. I must be more relaxed all over - it is the first time I have connected not worrying or maybe also not over-efforting to a more steady practice, even with the falling. I think it is better for me to fall sometimes than to hold on for dear life, in order to stay balanced.
I have no worries about falling out of this pose, in contrast to a certain other standing pose that shall remain nameless. Maybe one day (soon, perhaps? though most likely, not), I will learn to bring this level of acceptance of my practice into the other pose, and more importantly, bring this level of equanimity to my life off the mat.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Self Reliance
I have always been the sort of person who wants to do as much as I can for myself. That is part of the appeal for me both for practicing yoga and for learning feldenkrais method.
I don't like going to doctors, nor going for acupuncture and other alternative therapies. Some of that is due to not finding an acupuncturist I really like, I suspect. Still, acupuncture seems to never quite work the way I would like for injuries. Massage has been mostly good, and feldenkrais has been excellent for some things (my ankle for instance where nothing else worked..and it worked without being a painful method in itself..did I mention that I really don't like pain?).
This book - The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook - is AMAZING. The website for the book gives a lot of examples from the book so you can get a feel for it.
A characteristic of trigger points is that the pain that you feel is not necessarily in the same location of the trigger point! Although when you massage the trigger point..oh, that spot will be tender.(But this method is way less painful than going for a massage)
I bought this book last month and have already used it for various gimpy areas: my wrists/forearms, my shoulders, and a weird lower leg strain which turned out to be a trigger point in the calf. The illustrations in the book are easy to understand, and the methods for massaging these points are not too difficult..a tennis ball or two is all you need for many of them. What is great about this book, is that it gives you a way to control the massage pressure, since you work on yourself and it gives you the tools to prevent soreness from getting out of control. That is really nice for me, since each new pose or new attention to the vinyasas = new achy areas much of the time.
I had a great result with it this week, on my right shoulder/underarm area, which was wicked sore after getting bhujapidasana (surprise!) on Sunday, and playing smackfu in Central Park later that day. By Monday night it was so sore, that I would normally have thought of going for a massage and taking a few days off practice..but I used the book, and by Wednesday morning, the pain was almost all gone, and I could complete my full practice (and tonight..I don't feel sore)
I don't like going to doctors, nor going for acupuncture and other alternative therapies. Some of that is due to not finding an acupuncturist I really like, I suspect. Still, acupuncture seems to never quite work the way I would like for injuries. Massage has been mostly good, and feldenkrais has been excellent for some things (my ankle for instance where nothing else worked..and it worked without being a painful method in itself..did I mention that I really don't like pain?).
This book - The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook - is AMAZING. The website for the book gives a lot of examples from the book so you can get a feel for it.
A characteristic of trigger points is that the pain that you feel is not necessarily in the same location of the trigger point! Although when you massage the trigger point..oh, that spot will be tender.(But this method is way less painful than going for a massage)
I bought this book last month and have already used it for various gimpy areas: my wrists/forearms, my shoulders, and a weird lower leg strain which turned out to be a trigger point in the calf. The illustrations in the book are easy to understand, and the methods for massaging these points are not too difficult..a tennis ball or two is all you need for many of them. What is great about this book, is that it gives you a way to control the massage pressure, since you work on yourself and it gives you the tools to prevent soreness from getting out of control. That is really nice for me, since each new pose or new attention to the vinyasas = new achy areas much of the time.
I had a great result with it this week, on my right shoulder/underarm area, which was wicked sore after getting bhujapidasana (surprise!) on Sunday, and playing smackfu in Central Park later that day. By Monday night it was so sore, that I would normally have thought of going for a massage and taking a few days off practice..but I used the book, and by Wednesday morning, the pain was almost all gone, and I could complete my full practice (and tonight..I don't feel sore)
Thursday, July 5, 2012
say cheese
It was pointed out to me today that I should try to relax my face, and try to smile, when I practice, because it would make things easier. This was during my usual (these days) tussle with UHP. Even with an assist, my sense of balance seems to have gone on vacation as has my ability to be really present with the pose. For the rest of standing and seated, I tried to relax more around my face and jaw. And you know what, it helped. It didn't transform my practice into anything amazing, but I felt like it took less energy and that the very bumpy vinyasas were a bit smoother. All this on less sleep and in a hotter room than on Wednesday. Sometimes the practice really is a mystery to me, but it was a welcome change from my recent practices which have seemed like they were so much work!
It is interesting how smiling is the solution to so many things: it can improve your mood (and the mood of others), make you sing those high notes, and apparently, it also gives your yoga practice more ease.
We'll see if this carries over to tomorrow.
Carrying on with the theme of relaxing my face and my jaw in particular, I finally did a feldenkrais lesson on relaxing the jaw. Wow. I never realized how much tension I had there, I mean I knew it was tense at times, but not that it was tense all the time. My neck and upper back feel more relaxed too. I will definitely repeat this lesson.
It is interesting how smiling is the solution to so many things: it can improve your mood (and the mood of others), make you sing those high notes, and apparently, it also gives your yoga practice more ease.
We'll see if this carries over to tomorrow.
Carrying on with the theme of relaxing my face and my jaw in particular, I finally did a feldenkrais lesson on relaxing the jaw. Wow. I never realized how much tension I had there, I mean I knew it was tense at times, but not that it was tense all the time. My neck and upper back feel more relaxed too. I will definitely repeat this lesson.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
fireworks...expect delays-use an alternate route
A spur of the moment excursion downtown with my friend E to see the fireworks, the official fireworks for the fourth, while the unofficial ones (one of many in the city) are going on right down the block from me. Equally impressive in their own way. We did manage to avoid the massive crowds at least, and ended up sitting on the concrete dividers along the west side highway.
No matter how old you are, fireworks make you feel like a little kid again. That is what my friend E said to me tonight, and I wholeheartedly agree. They really bring out that sense of awe and wonder at the world. Watching the fireworks explode, appear to hover, flicker and fade really brings your attention into the present. I tried to take some photos with my phone, but this became too much of a distraction from watching the fireworks. The phone camera also has a rather frustrating gap between when you press the shutter and when it takes the picture, making for many surprise photos.
Practice hasn't been very focused lately, as in inwardly focused. Too much heat and humidity, lack of sleep, lousy (or nonexistent) drishte, leading to, ahem, too much awareness (and occasionally awe) of other people's practices..well, that is a bit like fireworks watching.
happy fourth of july.
No matter how old you are, fireworks make you feel like a little kid again. That is what my friend E said to me tonight, and I wholeheartedly agree. They really bring out that sense of awe and wonder at the world. Watching the fireworks explode, appear to hover, flicker and fade really brings your attention into the present. I tried to take some photos with my phone, but this became too much of a distraction from watching the fireworks. The phone camera also has a rather frustrating gap between when you press the shutter and when it takes the picture, making for many surprise photos.
Practice hasn't been very focused lately, as in inwardly focused. Too much heat and humidity, lack of sleep, lousy (or nonexistent) drishte, leading to, ahem, too much awareness (and occasionally awe) of other people's practices..well, that is a bit like fireworks watching.
happy fourth of july.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
navasana revisited, and laundry
Nice to practice today before the heat set in..not so nice to blog at home with the a/c off (I refuse to use it unless there is a really bad heat wave..plus it sounds like a loud subway car most of the time)
My nosebleeds have returned this summer. ugh. They plagued me for years, and the past winter and spring have been a complete reprieve from them. Might be time to start using the neti again. Happened during practice today, which freaked me out a bit. You also know you are dedicated ashtangi when you hope you can finish your surya before the nosebleed becomes apparent.
Today's highlight was navasana...that "hold the legs" tip that my teacher gave me really works. At first, I thought holding the legs meant sort of pulling them closer to my upper body, which is a LOT of work. I would end up with tired arms and legs, and no clue how to keep the legs straight without holding them. I just realized, however, that if I sort of pull/push my legs towards my pelvis (anchoring my thigh bones into their sockets), then I have more stability, my very weak and sleepy inner thigh muscles wake up a bit, and lo and behold...straight leg navasana is possible. I discovered this Wednesday, and was very happy that I was able to repeat it today. I even managed the last one without having to hold my legs. Cumulative effect, perhaps? The other interesting thing is that it seems to make uttana padasana easier. No real effect on UHP though, yet.
Lastly, laundry.
My laundry practice: rinse any soaking wet item in the sink at the shala first-with soap if possible, before packing it up, and then pre-soak with white vinegar and HOT water before hand washing. No smelly detergents are needed. 2-3 capfuls of vinegar in with the clothes (I soak them in a little bowl in the sink..so I do 2 batches in this per day.) and 10-20 min. Then I hand wash like normal. Magic.
When I finally go to the laundromat (a more frequent event than before I started practicing yoga), I add some color safe bleach to and that takes away any residual smells (those synthetic quick dry towels are the hardest to deal with).
Oh, and if you sweat a lot, like I do...wear as much cotton as possible.
My nosebleeds have returned this summer. ugh. They plagued me for years, and the past winter and spring have been a complete reprieve from them. Might be time to start using the neti again. Happened during practice today, which freaked me out a bit. You also know you are dedicated ashtangi when you hope you can finish your surya before the nosebleed becomes apparent.
Today's highlight was navasana...that "hold the legs" tip that my teacher gave me really works. At first, I thought holding the legs meant sort of pulling them closer to my upper body, which is a LOT of work. I would end up with tired arms and legs, and no clue how to keep the legs straight without holding them. I just realized, however, that if I sort of pull/push my legs towards my pelvis (anchoring my thigh bones into their sockets), then I have more stability, my very weak and sleepy inner thigh muscles wake up a bit, and lo and behold...straight leg navasana is possible. I discovered this Wednesday, and was very happy that I was able to repeat it today. I even managed the last one without having to hold my legs. Cumulative effect, perhaps? The other interesting thing is that it seems to make uttana padasana easier. No real effect on UHP though, yet.
Lastly, laundry.
My laundry practice: rinse any soaking wet item in the sink at the shala first-with soap if possible, before packing it up, and then pre-soak with white vinegar and HOT water before hand washing. No smelly detergents are needed. 2-3 capfuls of vinegar in with the clothes (I soak them in a little bowl in the sink..so I do 2 batches in this per day.) and 10-20 min. Then I hand wash like normal. Magic.
When I finally go to the laundromat (a more frequent event than before I started practicing yoga), I add some color safe bleach to and that takes away any residual smells (those synthetic quick dry towels are the hardest to deal with).
Oh, and if you sweat a lot, like I do...wear as much cotton as possible.
Monday, June 25, 2012
three impossible things
Glad that's over.
That pretty much summed up practice today. No energy combined with an amazingly sore body today. I think I must have gotten dehydrated overnight from my fan which I usually don’t run on a night as cool as last night. Ironic, since I pretty much survived the heat wave intact, well, a bit brain addled on Friday. It was the cooler humid air, however, which did me in. I managed UHP on the first side by myself, then the second side completely disintegrated (I even looked around to see if I could muster up an assist, and had brief thoughts of, oh, maybe I can just skip this side since my teacher isn't looking..)
I am continuing along with my clumsy jumping through to seated. I need to work on keeping the legs bent more when I "land" or maybe I should say skid or slide, so I wont feel like I am blasting off the mat. I have added a few "scooting my feet under" and hop hop hopping back from seated. I so doubt that I will ever be able to lift myself up and jump back properly..but this is a tiny step forward. And it suits me...why get stuck on step one before starting step two if step one seems impossible..
The one exciting development for me, is that I am starting to feel my inner thighs waking up and connecting down to my feet in backbends. I must have spent a year at Jivamukti trying to hold a block between my thighs during backbends to develop this connection..to no avail. This new feeling in backbending just started recently, since I have been working on navasana with straight legs (it feels like the bent leg modification never leads to straight legs or develops the same sort of strength). I wonder if this is what will finally make it possible to come up to standing (another seemingly impossible thing!).
Lastly, I have been really interested in Nobel's recent posts on inner body awareness and practice. Today I tried to see how much inner body awareness I could observe in savasana. Lo and behold, I could feel a lot of my upper body but not so much my legs/lower body. This is sort of analogous to how I think I am using and overusing parts of my body in practice (and perhaps too my rather ungrounded feeling of late). I can't even imagine having this sort of complete presence throughout my practice, but it is something interesting to move towards. Focusing on my breath allows for partial internal awareness at times. The other sort of presence which I do notice during practice is one where my limit is reached (and not surpassed), say in a standing posture, and my thoughts are much quieter than at other times.
That pretty much summed up practice today. No energy combined with an amazingly sore body today. I think I must have gotten dehydrated overnight from my fan which I usually don’t run on a night as cool as last night. Ironic, since I pretty much survived the heat wave intact, well, a bit brain addled on Friday. It was the cooler humid air, however, which did me in. I managed UHP on the first side by myself, then the second side completely disintegrated (I even looked around to see if I could muster up an assist, and had brief thoughts of, oh, maybe I can just skip this side since my teacher isn't looking..)
I am continuing along with my clumsy jumping through to seated. I need to work on keeping the legs bent more when I "land" or maybe I should say skid or slide, so I wont feel like I am blasting off the mat. I have added a few "scooting my feet under" and hop hop hopping back from seated. I so doubt that I will ever be able to lift myself up and jump back properly..but this is a tiny step forward. And it suits me...why get stuck on step one before starting step two if step one seems impossible..
The one exciting development for me, is that I am starting to feel my inner thighs waking up and connecting down to my feet in backbends. I must have spent a year at Jivamukti trying to hold a block between my thighs during backbends to develop this connection..to no avail. This new feeling in backbending just started recently, since I have been working on navasana with straight legs (it feels like the bent leg modification never leads to straight legs or develops the same sort of strength). I wonder if this is what will finally make it possible to come up to standing (another seemingly impossible thing!).
Lastly, I have been really interested in Nobel's recent posts on inner body awareness and practice. Today I tried to see how much inner body awareness I could observe in savasana. Lo and behold, I could feel a lot of my upper body but not so much my legs/lower body. This is sort of analogous to how I think I am using and overusing parts of my body in practice (and perhaps too my rather ungrounded feeling of late). I can't even imagine having this sort of complete presence throughout my practice, but it is something interesting to move towards. Focusing on my breath allows for partial internal awareness at times. The other sort of presence which I do notice during practice is one where my limit is reached (and not surpassed), say in a standing posture, and my thoughts are much quieter than at other times.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
the laws of physics must be obeyed
I am still wondering if I will dissolve into a puddle of sweat later this week during practice. While it wasn't that hot in the shala today, it was mighty humid.
Progress on UHP has ground to a halt because of the humidity. What goes up- my leg- must come down...before it should, of course. Managed my first real jump through to seated with crossed legs, proving that there is enough space between my arms for my legs to fit through. I had my doubts before. Not sure it will ever work in the other direction. The key for me is to flex my feet when I jump. Until now, I had been ignoring my feet, leaving them pointed apparently, and often battering them against my wrists if I wasn't careful. Still feels weird to try to flex them, but it is is something I can work on.
Regarding the heat: my teacher told me I can do less suryas if it is really hot, and also skip vinyasas (this probably only really applies to me..since I overheat so easily, it will take me a long long time to develop stamina in the heat). I really want to avoid that slightly dizzy/nausous feeling during standing poses that occasionally happens, now that it is warmer out. It happened a lot initially, especially during standing twists. My main tactic to avoid overheating thus far is to stay in all poses longer if possible 7-8 breaths, especially if they are forward bends. Amazing how much difference that makes.
Hoping to brave the heat later to go hear the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Happy solstice. (I too thought it was tomorrow)
Summer reading recommendation:
I just started reading Maya Lassiter's Toby Streams the Universe
Great fun-- I can't wait to see how it ends. And dangerous! I almost missed my subway stop a couple times because I was so engrossed in the story. Plus, there is an ashtangi character in the story too, which is very cool.
Progress on UHP has ground to a halt because of the humidity. What goes up- my leg- must come down...before it should, of course. Managed my first real jump through to seated with crossed legs, proving that there is enough space between my arms for my legs to fit through. I had my doubts before. Not sure it will ever work in the other direction. The key for me is to flex my feet when I jump. Until now, I had been ignoring my feet, leaving them pointed apparently, and often battering them against my wrists if I wasn't careful. Still feels weird to try to flex them, but it is is something I can work on.
Regarding the heat: my teacher told me I can do less suryas if it is really hot, and also skip vinyasas (this probably only really applies to me..since I overheat so easily, it will take me a long long time to develop stamina in the heat). I really want to avoid that slightly dizzy/nausous feeling during standing poses that occasionally happens, now that it is warmer out. It happened a lot initially, especially during standing twists. My main tactic to avoid overheating thus far is to stay in all poses longer if possible 7-8 breaths, especially if they are forward bends. Amazing how much difference that makes.
Hoping to brave the heat later to go hear the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Happy solstice. (I too thought it was tomorrow)
Summer reading recommendation:
I just started reading Maya Lassiter's Toby Streams the Universe
Great fun-- I can't wait to see how it ends. And dangerous! I almost missed my subway stop a couple times because I was so engrossed in the story. Plus, there is an ashtangi character in the story too, which is very cool.
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