Kino's workshop

I was out of blogosphere for too long. I missed you all!

Anyway, I had 13.5 hours of yoga this weekend. First, Kino's workshop, and then my vinyasa class. Let me tell you, that much yoga during the ladies holiday is not good. I am on a day four of above mentioned holiday, and it is not letting go. What if it decides to stay forever?

Kino's workshop was great. She is such a lovely person. When she was telling us stories about Guruji, she imitated his accent, but with so much love and admiration, that it was very funny and heart-warming at the same time.
First workshop was a lead class. I am not sure how much variation one can get from lead Ashtanga classes; I guess the difference is mostly in adjustments. Aliya was funny when he said that if he adjusted a down dog the way she was doing, he would be immediately sued. She was leaning with her whole body against the back of the student, pushing pretty hard. In my case, she came from behind, inserted her hands between my thighs and pulled them, simultaneously rotating them outwards. Interesting feeling.
In Mysore on Sunday we've got more adjustments. In supta kurmasana she told me to hold my head firmly up, pressing down with my chin. My instinct before that were keeping my head down, on the forehead. With head up it was much easier to hold the leg knot behind my neck.

In the "Yes you can" workshop she was concentrating on the jump through - jump back preps and their connection to the handstand. She had an interesting partner work activity, where we helped each other to get into a handstand. In all these preps she had us tuck the tailbone in, round the upper back and spread the shoulder blades. In jump through and a handstand the idea was not to jump up, but to drive the sacrum forward as far as possible. Of course I was too scared to drive my sacrum far enough for the legs to lift, but I got the idea. I will need to try it at home. I need to fall down several times to get rid of this particular fear, and then I can try in all earnest.
The other interesting thing I remember she said was about the difference between "I am tired" our mind says and " "I am tired" our muscles say. She said that mind gives up invariably earlier than the true limit of muscle endurance is achieved. She had an example of utpluthi. She said the true limit is achieved if we are still pushing and working hard, but the butt nevertheless hits the floor.

The backbending workshop was very interesting, too. She gave us a sequence of checkpoints to run before going into any backbend. First, to pull in the low ab muscle, pretty much the same way we do, trying to zip jeans that are too tight. Then tuck the tailbone in as much as possible. Expand the lower ribs with inhalation, then exhale but leave the ribs where were. Do it several times, every time ribs stay up higher and higher. Bring hands in a prayer position at the level of eyebrows and start leaning back with exhalation. Move down, periodically checking the abs, the tailbone, the ribs and the breathing. I was trying so hard that my ribs are still achy! We also worked a little on standing up from UD, but by that time I was already pooped, so my attempts were not quite wholehearted.

I did not practice today, trying to mollify my raging ladies holiday. But already by midday I was regretting the skipped practice, because this whole week I am in training, which means sitting, sitting and sitting some more. Lectures all day long, very few breaks, no internet either. I should stop being a student, I think. I should start teaching instead…