Two Substitute Teachers

My practice has reached some sort of plateau for the time being. No new poses, so no new pictures today.

My teacher is away on a 2+ week vacation, so we have a substitute teacher at the studio during her absence. New teacher, new experiences for the students. He seems like a very dedicated teacher, and can be very particular about certain poses that my regular teacher isn't finicky about. I know it's good because we all have blind spots in our practice, and changing teachers once in a while can be beneficial. But I'm really not used to his style - he wants me to hold the back bends where they are, and even back off a little, whilst I really want to work on walking my hands up my ankles in UD. Ah well, I guess it's not a bad idea to take it easy for a couple of weeks, and not get too attached to certain poses.

On Wednesday, due to a schedule conflict, I ended up doing a late morning drop-in mysore class at another studio, which I've heard good things about. Interestingly, the teacher on duty was also a substitute teacher, since the regular guy was away in Mysore. She was very attentive and gave me a few good adjustments. She also made me work on my jump backs, which honestly have not been a personal focus of mine. Why? I'm barely managing the jump throughs, so I figured the jump backs can wait til I've nailed the jump throughs. But she said, well you're almost getting the jump throughs, so you should start working on lifting up and learning the jump back too. So that's something new to focus on. Until I learn how to jump through and back more economically (my pivot point is still not very solid), I'm pretty sure it also means more sore arm days ahead!!

Trying to Come Full Circle

So I haven't blogged for a few weeks, but I've been keeping steady in my practise. Good thing is, backbends have improved: (1)Laghu Vajrasana - I used to have problems coming up after the five breaths with head on the floor, but it's all good now. My teacher taught me these "prep-Laghus" which involved bending backwards as in a normal Laghu, bounce my head off the mat once and then coming up (do 2 reps), then bounce my head off the mat twice-in-a-row and then coming up (do 2 reps). After almost two months of these prep Laghus, my quads are now strong enough, and I can stay five breaths and come up on an inhale quite easily. (2) Kapotasana - I used to dread this pose, but now I am slowly able to walk my hands towards my heels. It's one of those poses where I had to stop "wanting", but just surrender, keep a steadfast practise and wait for the back to open up eventually. There's still scope to get a deeper bend, but I'm happy with the progress so far. (3) Urdhva Dhanurasana - I can touch my heels unassisted. With my teacher's assistance, I can grab my ankles. That sensation of coming full circle is intense, but exhilarating at the same time. Legs are worked super hard, and it really opens up the shoulders. I'm working on walking my hands up my heels and grabbing ankles on my own, though I think I'm still lacking some strength in the legs.

My Supta Vajrasana, however, is still looking pretty hopeless. There's no way I can do anything with the pose if nobody is pushing down on my knees. I can't even find the correct pivot point, or whatever it is that's required to make the leaning backwards more controlled and stable. The other day, my teacher commented, "Long way to Mecca, huh," and we both laughed. She said the key is getting my lotus really tight (which is not my strong suite), and the rest will come. Couple of days ago, in my zealousness to get the tight lotus, I pulled my feet in tighter, and ended up hurting my right knee somewhat. I'll just have to take this one easy. Long way to Mecca, indeed.

A New Week and a New Pose

My teacher gave me a new pose today - supta vajrasana. I have to say, it's one of those poses that doesn't look too difficult when other people are doing it, but is actually a lot harder when you do it. Anyway, it's something that will keep me quite occupied for the next few weeks and months.

I've also uploaded a picture of what my kapotasana looks like. When I practice on my own, I can touch my toes. With my teacher's help, I can grab my heels. But I've got quite a way to go before I can grab my heels unassisted. Which brings me to something from the past. I used to do a lot of Chinese classical dance as a teenager (which of course was a LONG time ago). There was a strong emphasis on flexibility training, and we used to do all manners of backbends, including poses that were very similar to kapotasana. I used to be able to bend backwards and hold my heels at one shot, without even thinking or trying hard. Fifteen years down the road, my mind still remembers what it feels like to be able to get into the pose without effort, but too bad my body has gotten stiffer. It's going to take time go regain that degree of flexibility, but I'll keep working on it.

In the past week, I've been feeling a lot of soreness in my arms. Cutting out the vinyasas between the left and right side of each seated pose helped to a certain extent, but the soreness is still there, and perhaps even increasing. I'm a bit perplexed because I haven't even started learning the more intense arm balances in second series. If you've encountered a similar issue with sore arms and found a remedy, I'd love to hear about it.

My Yoga Journey

I love Ashtanga yoga. It's hard work, but it's also a beautiful sequence of asanas. And most important of all, it keeps me grounded, healthy and happy.

I was first introduced to Ashtanga in 2002. For the next five years, I was pretty much a "weekend Ashtangi", attending led primary classes on Saturdays and Sundays. I enjoyed the practice, but found it difficult to find the time for practice during the weekdays. But last year, I moved to a new city and found a yoga shala within 10 minutes' walk from my apartment and office, and started going to mysore class 2-3 times a week. More recently, I've been attending mysore class 5 times a week. About two months ago, my teacher started me on second series, and I'm now up to Kapotasana.

So why blog? Now that I'm practising more intensively, I also spend more time thinking about the asanas (especially the ones that I find particularly challenging), and looking for ways to do them better. I came across the blogs of many other like-minded ashtangis (btw, there are some really good tips out there on how others have conquered poses) and thought it would be neat to be part of this ashtangi blogger community.

I marvel at people who practice 6 days a week practice. 5 days a week is as much as I can handle right now. I practice on Days 1-3, take Day 4 off (my body is really sore at this point), resume practice on Days 5-6, and Day 7 is my teacher's day off so there is no mysore class. Perhaps it's a matter of building up strength and stamina over time, but for now I'm happy with this frequency.

Since adding second series up to kapotasana on top of primary series, I've been feeling more tired from the practice. I think it's largely due to the rather intense back-bends. I still feel great after the practice, but my body feels a lot more "worked" and requires more sleep to recover. I spoke to my teacher about this, and she suggested that I skip the vinyasas between the right and left side of each seated pose (but keep the vinyasa when moving from say Marichasana A to Marichasana B). I'm also making a more conscious effort to relax when working on the backbends (I think some of the tiredness might've stemmed from backbend anxiety). Both measures seem to be alleviating the tiredness.