OK, I seemed to have posted everything else and can't hide it away anymore. The asana I hate beyond all others... actually that's not true I kind of like it, until I look at it objectively. Will my leg EVER be straight?
Some improvement though. Remembering that it's a forward bend has helped. I'm bringing my chin towards my leg and then taking everything back a bit, then repeating a couple of times seems to help, think it's fooling the hamstring somehow. I'll publish a video once I've got over these festive Manhattan's
This one doesn't make me feel so bad and is my Christmas present to myself. Fun to do but probably not good for the wrist so won't be making a habit of it.
Saw in my diary that ages ago I'd written 'Begin 3rd Series' for next week. Jumped the gun a bit already and then decided it wasn't something I wanted to get into. Once a week might be fun though, some beautiful asana's amongst the party tricks so figure I'll explore it again on my day off.
18 comments:
Surprised you don't like krounchasana. I found it requires a similar action in the hamstring as LBH, and the lift in the chest help set me up for all the backbends. Or maybe it's just my weird tight hips.
hi Grimmly
ouchie, the one handed mayurasana. i've never yet been able to get the feet really straight in krounchasana either.
cheers,
Arturo
Impressive Christmas present...
as per the diary, I had a whole spreadsheet once too, I think right now I was supposed to be starting third... well maybe not THAT fast, but sort of... I guess in the end it is always good to know where we are aiming towards, and then let the universe do its thing. It kind of worked for you after all!
Perhaps it doesn't look so bad in the picture, the pants make the leg look straighter. In shorts though you can see the bend in the leg more and it just irritates me... or would do if i wasn't such a coo,l calm and collected yogi..... STRAIGHTEN, DAMN IT!
Maybe this time next year, Arturo.
Mayurasana has grown on me the last few months, there's something clean and simple I like about it, I imagine there must be some Shaolin monks who can do it balanced only on their thumb.... feels a little like levitating, especially as the legs float up.
I can't remember when I wrote that in the diary. I think earlier in the year I liked the idea of practicing series 1, 2 and 3 twice a week each. Seemed like it would be a nice balanced practice.
Less interested in 3rd as a goal now, a smooth Primary and Intermediate with the occasional extras seems plenty to be going on with, all the postures you'll ever need. 3rd seems like overkill.
And yet there are some nice asanas mixed up in there and the strength poses do focus the mind. I don't see any Karanda's or Kapo's in there to obsess over so once a week is probably fine. I imagine Purna M will come over the next couple of months but I wonder if i'll be doing a comfortable Eka pada Raja Kapo and Hanumanasana this time next year. I suspect Hanuman will be my 3rd series Krounchasana.
So funny, I'd say krounchasana's the easiest pose in 2nd. It's not much different to urdhva mukha paschimo, without the balance factor! One handed mayurasana though, I'll probably never even TRY that, the very idea repels me!!
Hmmm not for me, why is it some can get their legs so beautifully straight, think it's a beautiful asana when done well. All those poses with straight legs look awkward when I do them, always a slight kink at the knee. Arjuna's Krounchasana is similar to mine though so don't feel so bad.... bet it irritates him too.
It's a nice thing about Arjuna's site that not every pose is perfect. You're right though, bet it irritates him too :)
Think it has to do less with hamstrings and more with rotation of the pelvis around the head of the femur, if that helps.
And I suppose you planted a seed on my mind about the one-armed peacock!!
My first teacher told me that pasasana and krounchasana were useful for him to quickly visualize a student's relationship to primary and readiness for intermediate when they go into the poses "cold" (i.e., without the lead-in of all of primary). He said krounchasana reveals how much primary has opened the hamstrings and sorted out brahma granthi.
I thought that was pretty interesting. I always look at the poses from a student perspective, so to hear how teachers use the information they see was kind of trippy.
That's me and Arjuna bumped back to privates then. Although in our defence our Pasasana's are pretty good.
Think Maehle says something about that Susan, your so gonna love that book.
It's what I notice most after a few days off practice, right from the suryas - thighs not rotating internally enough to allow pelvis to rotate around heads of femurs. Ekam inhale, dve WTF???
Shall dive into Maehle on the plane!
This had me scurrying to google what the heck a brahma granthi is. I found a nice bit by Tim Miller on the three granthi as addressed in Vira I, Vira I being, of course, this simple (haha) pose one gets in one's first round of surys. I reckon a pose is never what it seems, one can always go deeper in. Just when I think I've got one figured (I do a great Vira I) I go and find out it addresses psychic knots for heavens sake. What the heck does krouchasana do on that level I wonder.
That wrist thing would break me.
Hi Grimmly!
I feel the same about Krounchasana. My problem is not so much straightening the legs, but bringing them high :-)
Also I feel it is very different from Urdhva Muka Paschimottanasana and Triang Mukha Ekapada Paschimottanasana. No idea why.
Cheers,
B.
Three grantha's, psychic knots, I tend to glaze over at that point, I'm just bouncing up and down on a rubber mat while making it as tricky as possible to keep my attention on my breath by tying myself in knots. No epiphanies in my Kapo, no spiritual awakening in my Sirasana...
Love that too, how postures seem to transform in the context of different poses. Especially the early, seemingly straightforward ones in the context of some of the later asana.
Thanks for coming by KB. I think the lengthening comes from what Susan and Maehle are going on about rotating the femur. I tried it when I read it and it seemed to help a bit. Will try to find the quote, going to practice now.
Just to elaborate on what Karen said, and especially because I am feeling this so much already in my own hips after a week with barely any practice (useful from an instructional point of view).
Talk of granthis aside, the first two postures absolutely sum up a student's relationship to primary. Apart from the 'added fun' :) of getting the heels down, pasasana shows you the state of the Maris (c&d). Krounchasana shows the degree of proficiency in forward bending, DEEP forward bending which involves internal rotation of thighs. If your back is rounded in krouncha, in all likelihood the hamstrings are open enough, but the pelvis is still not rotating deeply around the femurs. Probably in primary's forward bends you can get forehead to knee, but not lie flat on your thigh yet. It would be difficult to lie flat in kurmasana, though a little easier because the legs are wide. Supta kurmasana may happen and even other LBH postures, if one is 'working ahead' but in all likelihood you are staring at the ground instead of up in dwi pada.
Such are the thoughts that go through a teacher's mind when a new student comes and wants to do 2nd series.... 'belly not on thigh in krounchasana, work still to be done in primary'.....
Ooh, Susan! Thanks. You said it so eloquently. I knew I understood the gist of what Dave had said, but couldn't really "translate" it.
I recognize the deep internal rotation as being related to Cary's mantra of "Balls of the feet forward, little toe sides of the feet back toward the head"!
Ah, Karen, thanks for adding that, that's a big part of it too... and an adjustment I still get, moreso recently (she's on a mission)... her hands on my feet I feel deep inside my hips.
That's why we need teachers sometimes :)
You might try it with pointed feet, as with UMP, this is permitted. It helps to gain some length in the hamstrings. What many people forget while raising their feet high is not to hunch, to lift the head and sternum. Then is becomes fine.
As for one hand mayurasana, are you balancing on your chin there? I'd suggest to push the upper body to the front more, 'cause your forearm is too vertical, no chance to have balance. Also stretch the free arm forward, and focus on stretching like Superman, pushing the thighs against each other and engaging your bandha. Then you start to float.
on the chin Gauranga, certainly not, does it look like that? will have to take another look at the picture. It's not as hiI admit.
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