Mari D - Success!

This morning I successfully grasped my opposite fingers while my left leg was in lotus, my right leg bent up close to my chest, my torso twisted to the right, my right arm wrapped around my back and my left arm wrapped around my bent right leg.

With the sound of Jeff's voice across the practice room urging me on, I was finally able to hook my finger tips and then pull my hands together.  It felt amazing.  Like I'd climbed Mt. Everest.

Via

New Mantra

My new mantra for focus during my practice and really during my entire day is, Lift My Core.  To continuously, constantly find connection in my core.  Whether it be in seated or standing poses.  Whether it be during the Surya Namaskrs.  While I'm sitting at my computer typing or standing in the shower or doing the dishes.  I need to find a lift in the core.

This should help me to keep my strength in my lower back but also help me work on these jump backs.  I put socks on my my feet last night and tried the jump back, well more of a slide - shift - slide when I do it, on the hardwood floor in the studio.  My arms ARE long enough!  It IS possible!  I was able to get my legs from the front of my mat to the back of my mat without lifting my hands off the floor!  I just need to practice finding more of a lift in my core to get my legs and bum through my arms.

Here is the lovely Laruga demonstrating a very graceful jump back and jump through. 

Lost in Translation?

Has anyone else ever wondered why Tree pose is called Tadasana in Bikram yoga?

I am constantly confused by this.  I asked a teacher once and she told me that the way it was explained to her was that it is because Bikram is from Kolkata, which is in the east of India and Iyengar and Patthabi Jois are from Pune and Mysore which are more to the west of the country and therefore the dialect is different.

The way I was originally taught, Tadasana is Mountain pose which could also be similar to Samasthitti.  While practicing Iyengar yoga, I learned that Vrkasana is the Sanskrit word for Tree pose.  I know that Tree pose in Bikram is more similar to Half Lotus Bound pose or Ardha Baddha Padmottanhasana in Ashtanga yoga than to the traditional Tree pose.   And that Ardha Baddha Padmottanhasana looks like the 1st and 2nd stage of Toe Stand or Padangustasana in Bikram.  And when you Google Padangusthasana (with the H inserted) your results are any asana that have the word "big toe" in it.

I think I may have opened a huge can of worms, which probably has no straight answer.  It may simply be a case of the definition of a word from Sanskrit to English being lost in translation and modified along the way.

If anyone has any ideas on this, I would love to hear from you. 

Vrkasana or Tree pose. Via

Bikram's Tadasana or Tree pose. Via

Ardha Baddha Padmottanhasana or Half-lotus Bound into Standing Forward Bend. Via

Utthita Hasta Padanguthasana

I've just started working on Utthita Hasta Pandaguthasana in my Ashtanga practice.  I love this asana because it reminds me of Standing Head to Knee in the Bikram practice.  But what I find most difficult is when you turn your leg in one direction and your gaze in the opposite.  Your dristi or where your gaze should fall is Parsva which simply means to the far right or far left.  I always lose my balance here.  First it seems counter intuitive to look in the opposite direction and then I find it difficult to find a focal point when turning my head.  I tried this asana twice before moving on.  Definitely something to work on!

It may be easier to focus if I was practicing yoga here. via What's That Pose

Samasthiti

I was instructed last night to find Samasthiti in all of my yoga asanas.  To find lift and balance through my feet, legs, torso, shoulders, arms and hands.


I haven't had such a focused yoga practice since my Iyengar classes.  It takes my practice to a different space when I focus on the little things - the lifts and muscle contractions and separations that you don't see, that you can only feel.


Finding Sama (which means same or balance) in Utthita Parsvakonasana is a completely different experience as to finding the same balance in Samasthiti or Tadasana.  This reminded me that there is no need to rush.  I must find that balance before I can more forward.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Samastithi or Tadasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana or Extended Right Angle pose

Leg Breaking Pose

How the name suits this asana.  I have just started exploring this pose in the Advanced classes.  It looks like the movement happens in the knee but I feel the stretch in the hip and hip flexor.

If I understand the pose correctly, eventually my foot should be tucked up underneath my rib cage.

Here is what Leg Breaking may look like one day, in the future.  I don't know the Sanskrit name for this pose, if anyone knows it and would like to share...
Update September 11: the Sanskrit name is Eka-pada Gokilasana.  Thanks Dancing J!

Lotus, Ouch!

I practiced 3 hours of yoga today!  Love it!  My studio has started having advanced classes again, so I participated in my first one in nearly a year today.

All I have to say right now is, Lotus, my god, it hurts so much.  Not my hips, not my knees but my ankle.  Specifically my right ankle.  We do a whole series of Lotus poses that last for what feels like forever.  I can stand the first quarter of the series and then my right ankle starts to kill me.  I know that it is from the many, many times I have rolled it and pulled the tendons and sprained it.  The tendons are used to being so tight and this is finally allowing them to stretch out.

So, really, this is a good thing.

And, that's all I have to say about that - for today.

Happy Labour Day!

Pranayama Deep Breathing

Pranayama warms your body up from the inside to prepare you for the heat and the next 90 minutes.  This was a very difficult pose for me when I first started - 6 counts to inhale and 6 to exhale can feel nearly impossible when you first start.  All I can say here is try.  If you can only inhale 4 counts that's OK.  You will get stronger, your lungs will expand.  Just try.

Now, the "snoring sensation" that the instructors tell us to do is difficult.  For 6 months I was simply inhaling loudly through my nose.  Then I took a private lesson with Ida and in 10 minutes it made so much sense.  Essentially you are drawing the air in through the back of your throat instead of just through your nose.  If you have trouble with this, I encourage you to ask your instructors.  Ask a few different ones until you get it.

What I find just as important in Pranayama as the breathing is the foundation of your body.  You are standing in Mountain pose (Tadasana) before you begin the breath.  I find it very useful to plant my feet firmly side by side on the floor and distribute my weight evenly through the inside and outside of my heels and the balls of the big toe side of the foot as well as the little toe side.  Otherwise known as the four corners of the feet.  Contract your thighs, pull your knee caps up and make your legs strong.  Your legs and your feet are there to support you through the entire 90 minutes, so find them, engage them, become aware of them before you begin your practice.  Flex your glutes and push your hips just a little forward so you don't have a pronounced curve in your lower spine.  Extend your spine up - from you cocyx to the top of your head.  Lift up.  Stand proud.  Start strong.

When I clasp my hands and interlock my fingers, I like to interlock them with my dominant hand on top first and then during second set, I switch my grip.  I have switched my grip so often that I no longer know which is my dominant side.

Remember to suck that belly in!  This will increase your lung capacity.  And keep your eyes open the entire time or you will get dizzy.  Check in with your foundation every so often.  I like to do this because sometimes my feet start to drift apart or my thighs release.  Keep that strength in the lower half of your body - it will help you during the rest of your practice.

It took Mr. Iyengar 20 years before he could master the art of Pranayama ⁽¹⁾, so don't get discouraged.  Look at him now.







[1] http://www.iyengar-yoga.com/articles/yogatradition/trad4.html

A Thought On Fixed Firm and a Little Ramble Thrown In for Good Measure

They say Fixed Firm improves the mobility in the knees and the ankles. They say Fixed Firm pose saved Bikram from having to have his leg amputated after a bad weight lifting accident. They say to take Fixed Firm slowly and to breathe into it. They say, "You can mess with the Gods but not with the knees."

When I first started my practice, my legs would tingle like crazy after the compression. Lying in Savasana I could feel the blood rushing - zoom - into all my cells and ligaments in my knees and ankles. It would feel amazing. About 6 months into my practice this feeling went away. I enjoyed Fixed Firm but wouldn't get that blood rushing feeling. On the plus side I had noticed a HUGE improvement in my knees and ankles. Especially in my right ankle that used to roll constantly - it became much stronger and more stable.

Today, I found a new love for Fixed Firm. My ankles and knees seemed to collectively sigh when I went into the pose. I didn't get the tingles and pins and needles sensation when I stretched back out again but they felt renewed and refreshed after the impact that they take on my workout days. I said to my instructor, as I was leaving, that I firmly believe that the yoga improves my ability to work out as hard as I have been.

I believe that the combination of the HIIT and BodyRock with Bikram yoga is absolutely perfect for me. The impact that I put on my body during my workouts is then balanced out perfectly when I walk into the hot room and stretch and compress and twist and sweat every muscle that I worked out hard the day before. And my Bikram yoga has benefited a lot from the strength that I've gained from my workouts. I feel as though my back bends are stronger - I have more control going into and coming out of the poses. And my legs are much tougher! I can withstand the second part of Awkward with only a slight inner groan and I feel as though my Triangle pose has improved greatly. I don't have to focus as much on keeping my legs strong - they just are - I can focus more on the lifting of my chest and creating a triangle gap as well as sitting my hips down lower.

Yoga does a body good!

Yoga Pose - Off

There's a new yoga site out there called The Yogapedia, it was started by Heather from On Common Ground. 

Heather attended the 2010 fall teacher training, she trained and hung out with a couple of teachers from my home studio Bikram Yoga Saanich and is now teaching in Toronto.  She has started this site to allow people from all walks of yoga to come and read and share information about yoga.

Check me out here.

Great Site for Information on Asanas

I just found the Bikram Yoga Portsmouth webiste today.  It has great photos of real life people doing the asanas, so you not only see them in full expression but also what they may resemble when practiced by you.