And of all the post to come back and bite you.....
So this goes back to a string on comments on this post about Iyengar. I'd come across the wonderful video below on youtube, forty-two seconds in Iyengar starts popping out these dropbacks one after another and in comments to the post we found out that he did 108 and that this wasn't so unusual in Iyengar circles, a birthday treat as it were.
Struck by the rhythm and working on my dropbacks at the time I decided to launch the '1 week Iyengar 108 dropback challenge'. Here's the first post. Funny enough I can't for the life of me remember what happened to that, lets have a look. Here it is, Day 7 OK so I got up to twenty, think I carried on doing multiple dropbacks for a little while but then changed my approach. Now I tend to do five to seven.
So anyway, why am I bringing this back up? A comment turned up out of the blue this morning...
Grim
To go back to Iyengar challenge.
I did finally learn to standup from dropbacks this time last year.
Anyway, last few days at shala I've been doing 15-20 on the breath. Today I did 30 which just felt awesome.
108 for our birthdays right? I'm in!!
AC
I checked when her birthday was, mine being quite soon on the 24th of next month...
Grim,
Mine's some 6 wks today.
This morning I just trotted out some 50 dropbacks, so although 108 is for b'day if it comes quicker then I'm going for it!
When it's done on the breath it's such a joy and there's 'ease' to it.
108 WE MUST DO IT!!
AC
And so I said why not...
Grim
Great, I have a partner in 'crime'!
I started doing more than x3 dropbacks in order to rid myself of my hand waving habit on standing up and its seems to be working.
Mon it was 13 dropbacks, Tue. 15, Wed. 21, Thu. 30 and today 50. Sat. I rest from dropbacks but on Sun. I'll probably start the fun again.
Let the fun begin.
AC
Fun?
Got home this evening at 6pm, quick Vinyasa Krama Bow sequence as a warm up and then off I went. The video below is speeded up, I count 52 ( I thought I'd managed 54) in three lots. I took a breather after twenty of so to see how I was doing it as I wasn't sure about the rhythm and then another for a couple of minutes after another twenty to remind myself how Iyengar was doing them.
It's hard work, legs ache and the breath is tricky to keep steady but then if you look at Iyengar he's not really moving his feet at all and ....well... he's Iyengar isn't he.
I started off with my current way of dropping back, raising the heels then went back to trying my old feet turned out, still hard work.
As it happens my back feels perfectly fine, no stiffness, I did a couple of counter postures, long paschi, see how it feels in the morning. A bit of work on this to get my leg strength back and it should be possible..... shouldn't it?
Now is it silly, pointless or is there something to be gained from this. The rhythm Iyengar achieves is interesting, the steadiness of breath and perhaps that action is stimulating for the spine, we'll see.
My birthday is in five and a half weeks, A's in six.
Morning after Update
Back's a little stiff but nothing to write home about, thighs really ache though, need to reintroduce some of those squats from the Vinyasa Krama 'On one leg sequence', have been saying for a while that strong legs help your dropbacks.
11 comments:
What have I resurrected - no retracting from it now.
When I'm 80+ I'll demand that my dropbacks are as perfect as Sri Iyengar but for now I'm happy to work with my imperfections.
On dropping back my feet splay out, i straighten them and on standing they splay out again - horrid to look at, won't win any brownie points. A lifetime to correct..........
I do make sure I straighten up fully when I standup as I don't want to risk hurting my lower back by going for speed in the down/up actions. Just concentrating on the breath makes it so meditative that there is this urge just to continue.
I am doing the dropbacks after a full practice so when I do 50+ next wk I'll have to see if it's a good idea. Lots of playing to do to see how best to do this 108.
Fun? Of course it is.
AC
yes, look what you've done, blame you entirely AC : )
It was kind of fun though but hard work, haven't got the action right yet, the breath it's all the breath.
There was a part in the middle where i don't seem to be coming all the way up, didn't notice until I watched it back, I didn't feel any strain though, all in the hips I guess.
Interesting though, looking forward to exploring it further. Thanks for resurrecting it.
I feel like hte little sister watching from behind the screen... one day... very cool G!
dear Grimmly
the Iyengar clip is inspiring, as is our clip. given i haven't come up to standing once, if i took a challenge to to 50 dropbacks, i might surprise myself and come to standing at least once. haha.
Cheers,
Arturo
More power to ya! I have absolutely ZERO desire to work in that direction :)
I'd be more interested in working on holding Urdhva D longer and working on the form within the posture. I have a lot of endurance, but for some reason my endurance for that particular posture is atypically light. And it's one of those things where it only seems like a great idea to work harder when I'm not actually there, right up to it. So I rarely do....
Sure it'll surprise you one day as it did me Arturo.
Still not sure about it either Boodie, but what the heck, yogi's were the great experimenters, gotta give it a try, AC and Iyengar swear by 15-20 and if your going to do 20 you might as well do 108.
Noticed my legs ached this morning but now i'm noticing my stomach muscles, feels like i have a six, nay, eight pack or something. I keep going back to the bit in the video where Iyengar drops back, want to try and catch that action. DId you see later where he tocks?
need to do a quick fact check tonight but seem to recall seeing something in which Noah Maze mentions rattling off 108 dropbacks in 14 minutes as an experiment to see how quick he could do them...
my teacher practiced with Iyengar in China last week (his last teaching trip outside of India apparently) - over 1500 students in the class and the first hour just on Tadasana...
It sounded quite intense and like he's lost none of his fire even at 93
Fifteen minutes sounds about right, three sets of 36 with a little breather in between to reset. I was watching iyengar do them again yesterday and he's not hanging about, his feet so solid though, like tree roots. must google this Noah Maze, think I've heard the name before.
I have the Iyengar intensive at estes park dvd 9actually five dvd's) from 2005 sounds a bit like that. I reviewed the first disc a little while ago, should do something on the other four.
P.S. never gone as far as 108 before but it's my birthday this Sunday so challenge accepted...
normally just go for age as the number to do but 35 seems a bit of a weak effort with all this big talk flying about
and who said yoga has nothing to do with ego...
Stu, just this second posted on that Noah you mentioned, thanks for the heads up. good luck Sunday if you can do 36 ( ok 35) then you can do 108, just three sets (Just : ) AC got her badge yesterday see the comments on yesterdays 'two personal vinyasa krama practices). Will have a go myself today, just to get it out the way. Not just ego, experimentation, no?
and Happy birthday for Sunday.
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