#11 of 12 Days of New Year's Resolutions: pick your poses.
I was thinking about my goals for my yoga practice - wait - not supposed to have goals in yoga. OK so I was thinking about how I would like my yoga practice to evolve this year, and I picked some of the poses where I appear to be stuck. I'm at 85%, maybe 90% on a good day, but I just never seem to break through. And I remembered how I practiced a certain pose awhile ago, with intent; well, I did have a goal, and it was to do this pose for a photo shoot. So I have to admit to being motivated by that. Which I think is a good thing, actually. I'd also always wanted to do full Natarajasana, the dancer. I spent a few months preparing: breaking it down, using a strap, figuring out other poses that would help open my stuck spots, and above all, accepting patience as part of the process. I'm not going to say that has always been the case. Being a fairly impatient person, there have been plenty of times in my yoga history when I have not practiced patience (or ahimsa), and have tried to force a pose. Luckily I have never injured myself this way, and believe myself to be past the point of trying this stunt. Now there's evolution.
Anyhow, I remembered my journey to full dancer pose fondly, and am intending to apply the same approach to the following 3 poses in my practice:
- Hanumanasana, the splits, which I am convinced requires almost daily work.
- Vrschikasana, scorpion, the next step after feeling confident in pincha mayurasana, forearm stand.
- Titthibasana, firefly, where for some reason my hamstrings act tight.
What are the poses that you would like to evolve in your practice this year?
Sirsasana anywhere any time... i am so scared of hurting my head and neck that i'm very tentative w/ this inversion while all the others are power poses for me (i.e. pincha m and handstand)
ReplyDeleteScorpion is up there for me too
Flying Bakasana i'm working on it... can do the other varieties of Bak easily
keep us posted on how you do! good luck
This year I'd like to get to the bottom of why I can't do backbends. I'm okay with ones like locust and upward dog, but asanas like camel and upward bow make me almost instantly nauseous. No-one has been able to explain why this happens. This year I'd like to gently teach my body that doing a backbend is okay.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd like to develop my understanding of the yamas and niyamas.
you know, I think it's good to have goals in yoga. if you approach the goal/pose in a yogic way, there is a lot to be learned along the journey.
ReplyDeleteNancy: what is flying bakasana?? sounds lovely!
AM: I have heard of this happening before (the nausea) and you might want to ask your dr. I believe it is physiological and may involve nerves in your neck area...not entirely sure (and I'm no MD). you can do camel without dropping your head back too, see if that works...
Thanks very much for the advice. Certainly I will mention it to my doctor the next time I see her. For now I am practising just kneeling and dropping my head back slowly and carefully. Like a camel preparation pose!
ReplyDelete