Thursday, October 30, 2008

Brain candy and SK troubles.

I got sucked in into a silly teenage romance novel that features vampires and werewolves. Two evenings in a row I was a completely unproductive member of the human race. I can't wait to get my little sweaty hands on the book 2, so I could continue my unproductive life a little longer.

Two day in a row of a decent practice. Not doing dropbacks, stand-ups and assisted backbends for now, just 3 UD from the floor. A vast improvement in how my back feels. Hopefully I will completely recover by next Monday. There is only one small fear that lives in the back of my mind - what if I lost the ability to stand up altogether? Better not to think about it.

My struggle with Supta Kurmasana continues. For some reason, neither Keith nor David assist me into the pose lately. What's up with that? I did make some progress in Dwi pada - my left leg is securely behind my neck. The right one - is another matter. It is much tighter than the left one, and I just can't push it with one hand behind far enought to hook it behind the shoulder. I am so tantalisingly close, the feet are touching, but alas, it is still not there yet. Need to work on opening that right hip at home more diligently.

15 comments:

Boodiba said...

Hey Alfi!
I had a super shitty practice today... Just wanted to let you know I'm not going to blog at all for a week. I'll comment but I'm not writing posts. I need to get my shit together on my own for a bit. I'm gonna reward myself for a week's "detachment" with a digital recorder, I think.

alfia said...

Hi, Linda!
I see your reasoning, but I am going to miss your blog nevertheless. Good luck with the detachment :)
Sorry about your practice. It is Thursday though, hard to expect a stellar performance.
Mwah!

Boodiba said...

Eh... Usually Thursdays are good for me. Last week I had the best Ganda ever on Thurs. This week it was worse than ever before...

Wah!

I guess I shouldn't go back & forth & should just stop writing if that's what I'm gonna do cause I've gotten a bunch of emails asking for invites. It isn't that I'm blogging privately. Just put a lock on the door for a week...

rayna said...

you know it's when i was practicing on my own for 2 months (1 in india, 1 in hawaii) when i finally figured out how to do SK completely on my own (dwi pada and binding). maybe d & k feel you are ready to make that transition? (^_^)

rayna said...

updated to say: of course, not that i'm preggo, SK is hopeless and yoga nidrasana is pretty hopeless too... ha ha.

Arturo said...

Hi Alfia
i have the same problem with Dwi Pada, except in reverse.

throwing hugs Boodi's way.

cheers,
Arturo

crankyhausfrau said...

alfia, if they aren't helping you in, try putting your right foot in first to open up the hip a little more. if they catch you, you might get scolded but if you don't, it is a good way to open up the tighter hip.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alfia! You did NOT lose the ability to stand up - take it from one who knows. : )

When you do supta k solo at your shala, do you do the whole business lying down, or do you do dwi pada sitting up and then lower down and wrap the hands behind your back for the bind?

alfia said...

Hi, Rayna:

How did you figure it out? Any secrets to share? Pleaseeeee... :)

Arturo, you have my sympathy. Wretched SK!

Tova, that is an excellent idea. Though I just tried it at home and it still didn't work. I will keep trying.

Hi, Anna:
It does not work for me either way. Keith allows me to attempt Dwi Pada, David fold me from lying down. I can do it only with lots of strong muscular male assistance. Sigh. This is the only case I would rather do all by myself. :D

Linda, come back soon!

Boodiba said...

Arturo you are SUCH a sweetie pie. Thank you for emailing me. Was so nice I wanted to hug you.

Anonymous said...

alfia, it sounds like i got SK in a similar way to rayna. i spent about a year opening my hips by doing eka pada and dwi pada until i could get both feet on my own. but it worked. i can't do it on my own without sitting up first. i understand the sentiment of you 'get' a pose by doing the pose, but westerners don't squat or sit crosslegged like people in india. we have tight hips, and i think for a lot of people SK requires extra hip openers.

rayna said...

tova made a good point about our tight western hips... maybe that was the secret. we were sitting on the floor a lot in india and in hawaii i was mostly flat on the beach. (^_^) i think simply not sitting for 8 hours a day in front of a computer probably helped immensely. though, one thing that seemed to help while trying to get into dwi pada was to push my right leg back as far as i could before bringing it over behind my back.

ashtanga en cevennes said...

How's it going, Alifa? You've been on my mind...

Hope you have a nice Monday, dahlink.

alfia said...

Hi, JS!

Good to hear from you. You have a great week, too!

I have a lot on my mind now. Stresssssssss. Will write about it in a moment.
XOXO

ashtanga en cevennes said...

tiens bon...

thinking of you.

 

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