Mat or Rug for jump back : Should you buy a Mysore Rug?

So which is better for the Jump back / Jump through, a mat or a rug. I guess that depends on where you are with your jump back. I'll define advanced as being able to jump back in the sense of being able to lift up completely off the ground and swing back and through with out touching the mat. Intermediate can occasionally do that but still brushes the top of the mat and a Beginner is doing a variation of the jump back probably coming to rest half way though.

I'm placing myself as Intermediate here (but only in the sense of the jump back not Ashtanga as a whole) in that I can VERY occasionally manage to get through without touching. Mostly my feet are brushing the top of the mat. This is a problem with a rug because I found I was just wearing my foot away, rubbing nasty holes in my feet just above the little toe where it joins the foot. This is also a problem with my jute textured mat (second from left in picture). This was my first mat and my favourite when I was doing beginner variations. I'm now using An extra long open cell mat (far left) the extra length is great. I have to be careful though, for the first couple of jump backs as I can rub the same place on my toe and can get a blister, same as with the rug. But as the mat becomes a little slippery from sweat my feet slide through and it feels like the real thing and I can focus on the other elements. I'm starting to think a black closed cell Manduka mat would be even better as there's no texture and it's probably a little more slippery. You can wipe the areas your hands and toes go with a towel to avoid slipping but keep it slippery in the middle where your feet go through. As I become more consistent in avoiding brushing the floor I would probably go with a rug over the top of the mat.

Advice for beginners? I'd say stick with a basic sticky mat, As you improve you'll find the sweat helps your feet slide through as you start to advance form the beginner variations to full jump backs.

WARNING about jump throughs. Trying to learn to jump though with straight legs can be dangerous with a sticky mat. A bunch of times I caught the sticky mat with my little toe going through and almost broke it. I highly recommend the bent leg Jump through via lolasana as a MUCH safer bet

PS. The light blue rug in the picture has a sticky coating on the back of the rug. This is a great idea as the problem with rugs is that they can move about a bit. I found the sticky rug a problem though. It's TOO sticky! put it on a wood floor and when you try to take it up it will take the varnish with it. Put it on a mat and it will tear off the top layer of the mat. Probably only good if you have a carpet but then, in that case, your probably fine with a normal rug anyway.

Reply to comment on Jump back after Baddha konasana

Received this comment yesterday which for some reason seems to appear and disappear under Comments.

" Interested to read your blog and your previous post about baddha konasana. I notice that my best jumpback/jumpthrough is after baddha konasana, not sure if you have noticed that ? "

I think the previous post she/he was referring to was the one on Buhujapidasana where I was saying I found jump back easier after that asana and was wondering why.

Both Buhujapidasana and Baddha konasana affect the adductors and I was wondering if it was something to do with that. Focused on it this morning in my practice and found my jump back better after Baddha Konasana too.

Just did Baddha konasana and focused on where I was feeling the stretch (S) , (felt like somewhere at the top between the Adductor Longus and Magnus : I'm not much on anatomy!) then did a jump back focusing on the same point and noticed that I seemed to come up more easily and that I seemed to almost automatically swing back from there.

So what's happening. Only guessing here but I think usually I'm focusing on getting my feet up and more lately my knees. And when I think of pivoting at the shoulder (P) I tend to think of my head (X) as one end and my feet as the other (Y) . But perhaps (Y) should be the point where I'm feeling the stretch (S) in Buhujapidasana and Baddha Konasana. This seems to make more sense.

So lifting up focus on this point (S) which seems to help curl your pubic bone up and in following uddiyana bandha thus giving you more lift, then throw your head forward and draw back from (S) which is now also (Y). Does seem to make more sense drawing back from here.

Going to see if i can annotate one of my youtube videos with all this P X and Y stuff to illustrate this better. ok here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_FaXxduIow

Freeze frame it about five seconds in. Hope this makes sense.

My Jump backs STUNK this morning

My jump backs really STUNK this morning! Frustrated, felt like saying to hell with the mornings practice. At first I thought my mat needed washing, It seemed extra sticky. Then I thought it was my strength, was feeling a bit weak (had slipped in handstands throughout my Sury's and been working on drop backs last night). Finally decided it was my coordination and my WILL. Just wasn't very focused.

Becoming more and more aware lately that the jump back is a coordination of several elements that have to be linked and timed together perfectly (future post). Once you get it I imagine it becomes fixed and automatic. Hand placement, timing your shift of body weight, engagement of the bandhhas the inhale, focus on the knees and the (S) point (see previous post) etc. etc. and the WILL (future post). Anyway they were all over the place and I was losing motivation fast.

Tried to focus on the breath but was too irritated. Shifted to a simpler variation of jump back and that helped, decided to focus on the lolasana aspect and on some of my other asanas that were going well. Mood improved,and I began to relax into the practice, could focus on the breath more clearly again and by the end I managed to slip in a couple of half decent jump backs and a really good rise onto my forearms in headstand that proved my problems this morning weren't about strength.
Tomorrow is another practice!

Jump Back's little brother, The drop back

Well they're kind of related aren't they? Couldn't think of another way to justify putting my first Drop back into a blog about the jump back.

I've been working on this for about a week, looking at youtube videos ( see the drop back playlist on my Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2BC774BEFFB4F372 )



At first I tried dropping back to the wall then walking down it. Had a few goes leaning back as far as I could to see how low I could go. Today I tried a couple of supported drop backs to the sofa(Thank You Misa) very disconcerting as it seems so far away. Next I put two large Sofa cushions on the floor and dropped back on to them. Felt Quite confident as I could see the middle of the cushions

Next I dropped back on to one Cushion. Still felt comfortable, although I could only see the far edge of the cushion . Seem to drop back a lot faster on this one, felt less controlled.

Finally with more than a little trepidation I tried dropping back to the floor. Very nervous about this as the floor was a blur on the edge of my vision. Takes quite a leap of faith but after the previous two you know the floor isn't as far away as it seems. (Apologies for the lack of a shirt but I wanted to see my back as I bent back).

The exclamation at the end is from joy and surprise rather than from pain.

Getting back up from the backbend seems a hell of a lot harder than dropping down into it.

CAUTION: I should probably point out that I've been doing Ashtanga for a year and a half which includes, what, three floor back bends, six days a week. Ashtanga develops the core muscles which helps prepares you for the back bend and drop backs. I guess I'm saying I'm coming to the Drop back with a fair amount of preparation and I'd strongly recommend you were suitably prepared too before you "try this at home".

Call to Bloggers: Any old posts on your struggles with the jump back?

While reading other blogs I've typed in Jump Back in the their blog search and come across some posts or paragraphs within posts. Didn't want to appropriate them without asking and I'm sure everyone with an Ashtanga blog has at some time written a post about their Jump Back. So I was wondering if anyone would like to share an old post on their jump back. I was kind of hoping to do a post with all your quotes, dated, and of course links to your blogs if you'd like or anonymous if you prefer. Then I can archive it here next to the Jump back articles and youtube videos posts and add to it whenever I receive any more. What do you think? You can send to my email or add it as a comment which I can then paste into the post.