Same Sequence, Different Day

Even the sequence of poses is the same each morning every day feels different when I step on my mat. Some days I struggle in the very difficult poses and some days I don't. Some days I find even the most basic of poses difficult.

This morning I couldn't bind on either side of marichyasana D and no one was around to assist me so I just went on to the next pose. I can normally bind at least one side but it just wasn't in the cards today. However, I was able to lower to my chin in bhujapidasana and lift myself back up fairly gracefully without toppling over onto my bum. Oh and my feet never touched my mat either. When it came to big bad baddha k I got the foot on right thigh adjustment and it didn't kill me and it didn't feel all that unpleasant.  So when JB asked me to perform it again I didn't protest I just feigned deafness when he first mentioned it. The key for me in this pose is to really flatten out the tops of my feet on the top of my mat and press the heels together. When I do it this way the stretch is more on my inner legs/thighs and less in my lower back/sacrum. I'll be whipping my legs behind my head in no time...not.

The biggest surprise today came during my attempt at urdhva mukha paschimottanasana. After my first ever attempt at this pose I wrote it off as physically impossible. I don't think I've noticed anyone else in the shala pull it off (not that I've been paying close attention) and I figured it they can't do it and they've been practicing forever then neither can I. Each day I would make two good faith attempts at the correct entry and then give up. For some reason, today I said to myself that I'm really going to go for it and try to achieve the proper entry into the pose and somehow I managed to pull it off. One of the assistants was helping someone seated next to me and saw what I did and made a congratulatory comment about it. I found it kind of cute because she seemed more excited by my progress than I was. I guess I was so shocked by what happened I didn't occur to me to be pleased. The key was to really flex my feet and to push up off of the floor behind me and before I knew it I was upright and balancing on my bum. 

I have no idea what tomorrow's practice will bring but I'm sure it will be filled with surprises both good and bad. But regardless of the surprises I'm really looking forward to it especially since it will be my last practice for the week.

Goodbye to the Pee Wee League

This morning's practice was in stark contrast to yesterday's. Yesterday I couldn't stop yawning from the first surya onwards, I wanted to put in the minimum amount of effort to execute each asana and I had no desire to be adjusted at all. The irony of yesterday's practice is that I received adjustments all along the way even in poses that I'm rarely adjusted in, such as virabhadrasana I. It was also suggested that I could consider jumping back in lotus position and any other day I would have given it a try but yesterday I just filed in away in my "to try later drawer".

Today on the other hand I was feeling quite well on the mat and there was less tightness in my legs thank yesterday which I was grateful for. Practice proceeded as usual until I got up to baddha konasana. I actually completed my variation of the pose when I heard my teacher caller my name. He was two or three people away assisting a newbie and using his non verbal communication skills he made it known that he wanted me to wait for him so we could do the pose again. Naturally, I used my best non verbal communication skills and grimaced back at him. It was at that point that he decided verbal communication would be best and he promised not to torture me. I wasn't completely convinced but I went along with it anyway. He came over sat beside me and showed me how my feet should actually be placed in the pose. In his rendition, his the tops of his feet are nearly flesh with the floor with his heels touching. In my rendition my heels were basically just touching. When I got into the pose and was adjusted using his foot positioning things felt a lot less torturous. I actually felt the stretch mostly in my inner thigh region as opposed to my lower back/hip/sacrum region. Dare I say that I'm excited to try it again tomorrow?

In other news, before today back bending used to be a highlight of my practice. I would do three urdhva dhanurasanas a couple of assisted back bends and that was it. Easy breezy. I of course recognize that I was in the pee wee league of back bending where I thought I would be spending the next couple of months at least. So imagine my surprise when I was told that I would soon be entering the minor leagues with nary a discussion or forewarning. He had me practice dropping back on my own with him spotting me. Even being spotted it ain't easy. We tried it three times and by the third time I was practically hyperventilating and gasping for air. He told me to inhale and lift up but I blurted out "I can't breathe" instead. I eventually somehow found myself standing upright and paused for a few moments to catch my breath.  Maybe after today's episode he'll decide to keep me in the pee wee league a little longer.