This morning's class was smaller in number than its usual packed-to-the-rafters Sunday crowd. The Diver said this was perfect, and with the "yoga all-stars" in attendance (the inner core of regulars, I'm guessing), he didn't need to give as much instruction, meaning he wasn't going to have his voice intrude and break our inward focus. There were a few disbelieving giggles, but he did pretty well actually. He also made an interesting comparison about not playing music during classes because it adds to your practice with "sentiment," distracting you away from what's going on inside. Makes sense to me.
So we went through half-primary with an emphasis on vinyasa transitions between poses and navasana-handstand combos (he loves this!). Specifically he wanted everyone to jump back by "crossing the legs, lifting in lolasana and bringing the legs through to chat." I've found the trick to this is to cross high up on the shins, make a tight ball and tilt my weight forward as I uncross my legs.
He continued this theme of tilting forward when we were working on the navasana-handstand combo by the wall. Same deal with crossing legs and lolasana after 5 breaths of boat.
Specifically for me, when I've been in morning mysore, he's wanted me to lift it all the way to handstand. Of course, he does this so effortlessly. Flotation Device and another dude can do this as well, but I've put it on my list of long-term projects.
Anyway, getting back to the tilt forward, when we're done hanging out for 5 breaths in handstand, we're supposed to come down as slowly as possible ("slowly, slowly") and land back into navasana.
To help us get the feeling of having our shoulders over and past our hands, he had us partner up for a little exercise. Partner One goes into plank pose and Partner Two stands over P1's feet while lifting their feet about a foot off the ground. Then P2 gently moves P1's upper body forward and past the shoulder-hand plumbline.
For part two, P1 goes into a half pike hand-stand and P2 moves P1's upper body forward and past their shoulders. The shoulders don't have to move as far forward as the previous exercice in order to get this feeling.
Then we go back to the wall to apply what we've just learned.
I don't remember doing this particular exercise with the Diver before, but it was helpful to reinforce the concept of shoulders forward and shifting my weight while upside down. Must recreate the feeling in tomorrow's class.
Oh, and see my previous posts on handstands in January 21 and 23, 2008.
Photo credit to bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com
6 comments:
The second exercise was quite a challenge for me. I'm going to spend a little time at the wall each practice and work on the balance with legs lowered. El Submarinista's exercises sometimes are tough but they pay dividends.
What a funny picture!
Lifting up in lolasana is a dream for me. My legs weigh a ton and feel like a dead weight. Ugh!
Hi Armani
I should say that I liked the blog from where you got the picture. There was a hilarious YouTube video on a cell phone that multitasks.
I had trouble envisioning the exercise The Diver gave you although I understand the transition to handstand from Lolasana in Navasana. He must be really strong.
Cheers,
Arturo
Oh by the way, I like how you all have your names for your Teacher - El Submarinista, The Diver, Tony Romero. hehehe.
Cheers
Arturo
Pretty impressive... you are strong, all of you! Wow!
I'll do a pike handstand in another lifetime. But I am okay with this.
Thanks, guys, for your comments. Yes, all of this stuff builds strength. A couple of years ago, I was really bulking up with muscle while getting extremely strong, which is a good thing, but I also noticed that it was creating more inflexibility. I've come to realize it's a balance between strength and flexibility.
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