So this is my Kapotasana. Honestly speaking, this is the first time I am seeing it myself, and it is not as flat as I thought it was. I do see all that re-gained weight though, sigh. Anyway, I need some advice. That pathetic attempt to an exit from Kapotasana B is my best attempt to date. What am I doing wrong? Where should I press, which muscles to engage and which to relax? Please help! :)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Kapotasana B woes.
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23 comments:
That's some nice forward extension in the hips! And I love your kitty cat :)
I can't think of any useful advice though, other than, keep doing it! It'll happen eventually.
You're much better at it, at this stage, than I was.
What weight? you look fantastic!
Thank you, Linda. I work really hard on my hip flexors flexibility. Upper back, on the other hand, is still stiff from my recent injury.
I can't believe your were worse than me. Though it does give me hope! Your kapo is fantastic.
Hi, Claudia:
Thank you for stopping by and for your kindness. But don't I look a little pregnant? :D
A little pregnant? Stop that silly talk right now! Your entry does look really strong- you're miles ahead of where I was when I first started.
Hate to bring up the evil pose, but Laghuvadrasana will help get you back up from Kapo B.
Adorable kitty!
Thank you, Liz!
You are right, Lagu was lagging behind a little lately. I will work on it. Though the exit from Kapo B does not feel the same at all. I can do Lagu most of the time, but standing up from kapo seems completely impossible. Sigh again. :)
Wow. Your kapo is gorgeous.
I don't remember how I "learned" to come up - it just kind of happened. That isn't my sticking point - I still have to stop my elbows from flapping around in the air! I do know that if I work a lot in the pose on any given day, my quads are burning the next day - does that help?? The other thing my teacher had me doing was laghu vajrasana B, to help open my thoracic and strengthen my quads. It's a lot harder than it looks! (That's the one where your hands are on the fronts of the legs, just above the knees, and the head is almost ont he feet.
hi Alfia
i think you have a nice Kapo. you've mentioned the problem of not enough strength in the legs to bring you back in Kapo and the Lagu before. maybe your thighs are not really strong there yet. have you tried rotating the thighs to engage them when they need to bring you back up? i think it's supposed to make the spine "sproing" up.
the apartment looks nice; i notice the lights and your calm kittie.
hugs
Arturo
Hi, Lew:
Thank you. You advice is very helpful. In fact, I did not even know LaghuV B even existed. Tried it today - Goodness gracious! It is a killer. Will practice it at home as often as possible. :)
Arturo, you are right. I do realise that my leg strenght is just not sufficient for this pose. I just was hoping that there was a trick that I wasn't getting, but alas, nobody shared it. Always the hard way.
I like my apartment. So much room for practice! I probably shouldn't buy anymore furniture to preserve this freedom of practice. Let my potential guests learn to sit on the floor - it it good for their hips, right? :D
I love your cat! How do you keep cat off mat? Mine needs to be on my mat at all times. I finally gave her my mysore rug but it doesn't really help.
Anyway. My laghuvadrasana always sucked, but I never had a problem coming up from kapo - think of it like standing up from a backbend. Engage the thighs and kind of lead with the chest. See if that helps?
p.s. you do NOT look preggers. That is ridiculous.
Lovely Kapo!
Maybe try pressing down into the topw of the feet and shins when you want to come up. (That was a suggestion from my teacher when I was having trouble and it did seem to help.)
Thank you, Christine:
I hearnd that bit about pressing into the feet and shins before, but the thought of it just disappears from my mind when I am in the pose. I will try to remember it next time.
Really nice Kapo Alfia but particularly the entry, legs are good and straight and you've got a neat hangback.
I think your going to get the coming back up. For me the key thing was straighter legs and hands closer to the feet when I push up into Kapo B. In Laghu you have your hands on your ankles, OK don't need to go the far but the closer in you can push up from the easier it seems. As you push up push your hips forward( in fact push your hips forward just before you push up.,
It's your hips that will do most of the work almost carrying you up automatically when you get them set right. That's why I think you'll get it as you hips are already quite forward when you drop back. In fact just as you start to dropback if you push your hips forward you might find yourself coming straight back up anyway. I've had that happen a few times and was irritated at first because i was trying to go back down but then realized how useful it can be.
I also try to breath in my hips, by that i mean that you focus on your hips so strongly while your breathing that rather than your chest going up and down slightly it's like your hips are moving ever so slightly with the breath(helps you to keep your thighs active throughout A and B too). Thus when you finally want to come up and inhale the inhale pushes your hips forward a little, you give the little push with your hands to get the movement started and of course a little abs work and as Arturo says pushing your feet into the mat, (push your little toes into the mat).
So in the end it's just coordination of all those elements. It's not that your legs or your abs or your bandhas etc need to be super strong but rather all of them working together doing a little work, but together. If you can come up from laghu then you CAN come up from kapo, you have all you need just a case of coordination.
Anyway that's how I seem to be experiencing it.
Oh, wow - this is really helpful, Grimmly! With all this advice I am very eager to practice. I will try to implement all the suggestions tomorrow and will let you know what happened.
Thank you so much, everyone!
hey Alfia,
Just curious... what does your teacher say? I mean, I'm always looking for hints and advice from outside my practice with my teacher too, don't get me wrong, but in the end his advice is usually all I need. Surely he's (she's?) not just saying "do it" and leaving.
He claims that I have some kind of psychological block, similar to that with standing up from UD. He looked carefully at my pose and said there was no reason I couldn't do it. Go figure.
oh yes, these words are familiar to me "It's all in your head"- usually referring to Kapo and my need to do a mini meditation before doing it.
Of course, there is a lot of mind-block stuff. Yesterday I over-thought Bakasana B, for no reason at all, and had to do it 3 times. I usually don't have troubles. I psyched myself out! ha ha!!
"It's all in your head" - those were David's exact words! Too funny. :)
I, on the other hand, still think it is the lack of psoas minor.
laghu for sure will help. I didn't read all the comments, but i think you can come up from dropbacks? It's all that same sort of stuff. Also, it seems like you have the flexibility to keep your hands in closer to your feet in B and then come up from there. Try to get those thighs more perpendicular to the floor, hips forward, and then come up. Nice kapo, though! very nice!
Hi, Dana:
Thank you for your advice.
I tried all things yesterday with mixed results and realized what was my main problem - I can't hang down unsupported. It feels like something will snap and I will break in half. I had exactly the same fear when I was learning to stand up from UD, so I guess the problem is psychological after all. Not sure a shrink would help, though. :)
Hi, Anna:
I think I missed your comment. My cat used to be always on my way until I stepped on her a couple of times. She learned her lesson!
And you are right about the similarities between lifts from kapo and UD.
Hey Alfia, the video doesn't appear on my phone and that's why I never commented on this!
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