Wasn't going to post this one but am so blown away by the side grab and how effective it is that I want to shout it from the rooftops.
A week ago I was holding on to my toes, perhaps the balls of my feet and didn't see how I was going to get in any deeper without help (even began employing ropes and strapping myself up). After a few days of the side grab, I'm brushing my heel with my fingers and am convinced I'll be able to latch on any day now.
If you go to a Shala six days a week then your probably getting help reaching your heels (if it's not too busy), but if you only go once a week, or not at all then reaching the heels can seem..... well.....out of reach. We try different contraptions, ropes, straps, walls....even chairs, which all get in the way of the practice, but you don't need a thing for the side grab.
Why do I think grabbing the heels is worth chasing after? I was happy with reaching my toes, balls of my feet, but it's not a lot to grab on to. If you want to draw yourself in deeper or have an opposing force to help you take your thighs more upright the toes aren't much help, especially when your hot and sweaty, your hands just begin to slide off no? The heel, though, gives you something to latch on to.
So another big thank you to Boodiba for posting her Kapo video which is where I first saw this done, you can find it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMgoKZH3Dkk&feature=channel_page or here http://boodiba3.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-really-hard-in-lot-of-ways-to-watch.html
7 comments:
Dude that's awesome.
I jus wanted to thank you for this great site and for your effort and sharing. I am a very beginner with big dreams regarding my practice and you helped me a lot.
I wish you all the best from Hungary
Thank you! Köszönöm!
üdvözöljük Nemissi it means a lot to hear that you've found something here that's helped.
Thanks Patrick, have you tried this side thing yet....think it might be clearer on Boodiba's video. I need to do some of your hanging back work, I tend to wimp out too soon if i could hang back just a little longer......
I've taken a shot at the side grab, but something in my front body doesn't like to hold me up as I walk the hands back, so I end up doing a forehead walk, trying to engage thighs, blah. It's a mess.
I am loving this hangback press-back work with a wall (soon to be a floor), however, all the way. I think it's my doorway to Kapo. The side grab looks compelling but I need to get my hanging and walking straightened out before I can attempt it proper.
Patrick, it's interesting that the conclusion you've come to by yourself is precisely the party line, i.e. dropbacks first, then learn kapo :)
G, you are absolutely right - once you can grab your heels, the circuit is completed and the opposition of forces created by pulling on the heels allows you to go deeper. Deeply unsatisfying to just get the toes...
I'll catch up on the rest of your blog later, I'm too busy this weekend!
oh really, BUSY are you? anything mildly interesting perhaps......Oh yes wasn't there something about a workshop of some kind....Ken..Karen something like that. Oh yes, I vaguely remember the merest hint of something being mentioned in passing, Kino somebody, that's right...... I'd completely and utterly, totally, forgotten all about it in an unbitter, untwisted and unbent out of shape way.
: )
Susan, yes, isn't it interesting??
G, this bit about the complete and utter forgetting in an unbitter way got an authentic LOL out of me. Great stuff.
Reminiscent of the discussion you and Susan had elsewhere about tea (I'm with you on PG Tips, fwiw).
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