So there's a new Sheriff in town. Came across this video on Youtube of Lydia at Yogastudio Squamish BC (thank god for googlemaps), Ashtangi's get everywhere, don't they?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMeu8BvEFrw
Great press to handstand taken from the side at 2:42
Love the video, love that her guy is just sitting there in the background while she's doing all this amazing stuff, (whats a girl got to do to impress a guy in Squamish BC). Her arm balances are excellent, superb control but check out her arms. She looks strong but in no way "muscle bound". I don't feel I'm particularly muscular but in some of the videos I guess my arm and shoulder muscles can appear a little pronounced which seems to go against my saying that it's not just about arm strength. So good to see Lydia doing all these handstands and arm balances and that it's so clearly about how she's using her body weight.
But the main reason I wanted to post this is because in one of her comments under the YouTube video she says it's about the pelvis not the abs. She says.
" In the press handstand I focus on where my pelvis is in space. (Funny, not the abdominal muscles!) Especially the very center of the pelvic floor. (Moola Bandha) I am planning to post a video on how to press up so that will be coming soon"
That line "I focus on where my pelvis is in space". Reading that it was as if a light went on above my head. A eureka moment. Luckily I found the video just before I was about to practice and was able to give it a try right away, made a hell of a difference.
Don't have to get hung up on the moolah bandha bit for now just focus on that "where the pelvis is in space". I think when I try to float up to handstand I'm focusing on my shoulders and shifting them up over my arms, makes so much more sense when you shift that focus to your pelvis. It seems so much easier and ......lighter. Notice in the Vid, how she makes her pelvis go higher and higher in the press to handstand. But it works for all the jumps, lift the pelvis high and focus on it's movement through space. Eureka!
NB. came back to the video last night when I was doing some extra practice. Noticed her hand placement in the press to handstand. So much further forward than I usually have mine, She then lifts her pelvis high and as she moves her shoulders over her arms it automatically brings her up on to the tips of her toes. It's as if she's half way up before she begins to lift.
As promised Lydia has now posted her Press to Handstand tutorial on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3IZ9mGwnEk
And here's a link to Her Blog http://beingwithyoga.blogspot.com/
5 comments:
I love the way that this is articulated, yes. It mostly resonates with my experience as well.
One heuristic here may be to examine the range of motion possible in the pelvis as you lift up very slowly (with straight legs) to headstand. Do you, in a tacitly knowledgeable way, bend the low back and engage the pelvic floor until the legs become light? I am just now learning to bring the legs into handstand like this--from the inside, it feels strikingly similar to sirsasana.
P.S. Part of why this is possible now is that I'm learning to engage the lats so strongly and evenly that they imitate the stability of the forearm platform in a headstand.
(0v0)
Passed your comment /question on to Lydia and just got this response.
"Hello Grimmly,
Thanks for watching.
I don't know if I would put my focus on bending the lower back as much as suctioning out the lowest band of abdominals just above the pubic bone (transverse) and the muscles of the pelvic floor (perineum), and then rotating the pelvis over the shoulders by pressing firmly into the hands and sending the weight forwards (head feels like it's going over the hands). This is the part where one feels like they might fall over backwards. The more the hamstrings are open the easier it is to get the pelvis to move over the shoulders.
I hope this helps.
Shanti,
Lydia
Wow! Such an interesting way of putting the instruction. She is GOOD.
I'll try this and see if there's a difference.
It's always difficult for me to articulate any of this stuff, or to learn by watching others. But these instructions are surprisingly well focused and easy to understand.
Thanks for passing them on.
If she's who I believe she is, and the guy on the couch is her bf, then he's a world class rock climber (like, crazy good) who travelled with her to Mysore in the past year and developed some climbing areas nearby (which is amazing because I now have a good chance of convincing my boyfriend to come to India with me). I imagine for these two amazing physical feats are just part of everyday life.
Squamish is small town between Whistler and Vancouver famous for its climbing. Amazing to hear there's an ashtanga studio there.
hi Anthony
that is beautiful, thanks for pointing it out. funny; today my teacher wanted me to exit out of handstand by bending the legs deeply; that is how the woman in the video exits several times, as when she goes into a 3rd series pose. When Alfia visited San Fran, her hubs accompanied us to the shala and he was there in the back ticking away on the computer, just like the guy in this video. it reminds me of that.
cheers,
Arturo
PS word verification (i love these things) ingly
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