UPDATED "Ah me! alas, pain, pain ever, forever!" - Name the tweaked muscle (modelled by the Feminist Ryan Gosling)

"No change, no pause, no hope! Yet I endure.

      I ask the Earth, have not the mountains felt?

      I ask yon Heaven, the all-beholding Sun,

      Has it not seen? The Sea, in storm or calm,

      Heaven's ever-changing shadow, spread below,

      Have its deaf waves not heard my agony?

      Ah me! alas, pain, pain ever, forever!"                          30

Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts. Act 1 - Scene 1 Percy Bysshe Shelley

Too much?

So my Superman post from a couple of days ago, got over the Viral throat infection, got rid of the rash that was on the heels of the throat infection, feeling of great health and well being, like Superman in fact.

Hubris much?

They come in three they say.

So I'm being sensible, responsible. I might have felt like the Man of Steel but I'd been poorly, so I forced myself to settle for half Primary followed by David Garrigues' Ashtanga Pranayama Sequence, and Gregor's Yoga meditation exercises, LAM LAM LAM LAM, VAM VAM VAM, (love this).......

Yesterday morning I thought I'd practice up a little further to Baddha Konasana, don't know what happened. Nicely warmed up, taking it easy not going too deep until perhaps Marichiyasa D where instead of the lighter finger bind I'd been doing all week I felt comfortable going a little deeper and binding at the wrist.

That felt fine, Navasana, Garbha P, Kukkutasana,.....Kurmasana was nice and deep, chest on the floor, hips nice and open so went into the Dwi pada Sirsasana ( legs behind head) entry to Supta Kurmasana and the Tittibasana exit. 

Everything seemed fine until I settled into baddha konasana, felt this pain in my back, low off to the left side of my back. Sitting up in baddha Konasana it felt like something was being compressed.

Took a savasana and it felt like the Kidneys? Kidney stone? Please God not again! No, never had them in the left kidney ( and haven't had a green smoothie since).

Tried Shoulderstand but that was painful too, again as if something was pushing down on the/a muscle.

It's been there ever since, sitting up is so painful have to roll on to the side to get up, laying down is painful, standing and sitting even more painful.

POP QUIZ, what have a done, which muscle have I pulled, tweaked, whatever.

Was going to post a picture of my own back but thought readers might prefer the Feminist Ryan Gosling. X (or rather an oval) marks the spot/area of ....discomfort

Hope Ryan doesn't mind but he does Yoga too, No?
Ashtanga?

Still from the movie The Place Beyond the Pines

Was so psyched to start getting my practice back on track too (sigh). The thought does pass through the mind...

Am I too old for this?

No, of course not. It's going to happen, cycling, swimming, whatever exercise I do there are going to be the odd tweaks, better to exercise than not. And besides I approach my practice a little more sensibly than I used to, strong breath focus, more awareness of shifting the bodyweight to make transitions easier rather than powering through.... 

That's perhaps the most frustrating aspect though, I'm listening to my body so much more than I perhaps used to, happier to settle for a lighter bind or expression of a posture if I feel a little tight or less open than usual and yet I still tweaked something. Wouldn't mind so much if I did it doing something stupid, at least then I'd know what to avoid.

No, actually the most frustrating aspect is that I could happily put up with putting my practice to one side for a while, do whatever Vinyasa krama is available to me as long as I could enjoy the more time available for pranayama and meditation but Sitting up hurts worse than anything....

I could try laying down pranayama and meditation, lets see how that ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Going to read Kevin's posts for the last six months so I don't feel too sorry for myself : ) There's some Promethean endurance for ya. 

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Sitting up to blog aches too, guest post(s) anyone?

PS. Bigging this up a little because I know it seems my practice always goes along swimmingly and I often get asked if I never injure myself during practice. 

But I'm fine, little sore but not as despondent as I make out. Over the last six/seven years or so I think I've got off lightly.

UPDATE

One of the comments suggested the exercises for back pain in Sharath's book, mentioned I didn't have a copy yet and I was kindly sent the appropriate page, thank you  for that appreciate it.

This morning I took it easy again.

Put a tennis ball between me and the wall and rolled around a bit seems i can find the spot standing up and with a slight turn to the left and a gentle squat. With theracane work do we massage the spot or just press, must check unless anyone beats me to it.

Started practice with a light Vinyasa krama tadasana sequence then a very gentle, hesitant sury, working my hands very slowly down my legs to the mat over five breaths, stepping back more of a suggestion of a sury actually.

Same with the first couple of postures from the ashtanga standing sequence, more a suggesting, a nod in the direction of the postures.

Moved into 2nd series, hint of pasasana, skip krounchasana and settled into the backbends which feel fine, nice actually. Didn't want to push it with laghu vajrasana and kapotasana this morning so moved on to Urdhava Dhanurasana instead.

Can't work out a way to get up to savasana avoiding the pain, probably not going to do any harm but erring on the side of caution here. Did a couple of supine poses instead, seems bringing the knees up to the chest is fine.

Sirsasana was OK. Oh, forgot, added some VK hip openers while in headstand, only place I can seem to work them in.

Sitting is still painful, that pinching around the illiac crest, noticed in ustrasana that vajrasana is fine so settled on that for finishing.

Stayed in vajrasana for some pranayama but then switched to David Garrigues pranayama prep posture and did the Ashtanga pranayama sequence there instead, some Yoga meditation too, really like that posture.

feel better for doing it, pain free for a little while afterwards but sitting here writing this is uncomfortable again.