Posted in ashtanga yoga on 03/27/2007 08:49 am by karen
Mysore Tuesday. When supta kurmasana rolls around, I think, I’m gonna just be entirely passive and see what happens. Well, passive with my legs, anyhow. As per usual, I bind my hands on my own, then Volleyball Guy pulls them tighter. Usually I then put my feet sole to sole, and he adjusts them however he likes, but this time I just lie there. I also decide not to watch via peripheral vision. So basically, I pretty much am out of the loop of what’s happening. Until he picks up my feet and I realize they are behind my head. Rock on. Well, sorta. I have a distinct feeling of a shifting in the deep tissue in my lower back.
Luckily, I am relaxed enough that I don’t respond physically (i.e., tense up); instead I kind of think, Hmmm, I wonder if that’s bad. Up we go into the dwi pada part, and then back to chaturanga. My back definitely feels like it’s been altered, but I’m not really clear about it in terms of goodness or badness. Just differentness.
I know I have a misalignment in my sacrum. Been there for years. Every chiropractor finds it, adjusts it, adjusts it, comments on it, adjusts it some more, blah, blah, blah. I guess we’re at the point where it’s time to unravel it via practice.
So practice goes on and things feel okay. On to my portion of second series. Everything is a-okay, and I’m loving laghu vajrasana, which I finally managed to pull off quite unexpectedly yesterday morning during home practice. One of those “something clicks” moments, when it all coordinates itself and you just go along for the ride. And then comes kapotasana.
Volleyball Guy does a great kapo adjustment for me, where he squeezes his knees together as he stands over me to help me keep the height in the backbend, then he reaches under my shoulders with his hands and grabs my hands and pulls them toward my feet. Yowza! I gave up any pretense of calm breathing at this point. Supta vajrasana followed right behind, with Volleyball Guy spotting me for handstands in between everything.
At this point I’m pretty much ready to keel over and assume the fetal position on my mat.
“Do you know what comes next?” Volleyball Guy asks me.
“Death?” I suggest.
“Bakasana,” he announces.
“I’ve never heard Karen breathe this hard,” Renaissance Man says cheerfully to Sanskrit Scholar.
“Next time do bakasana,” Volleyball Guy says.
Okay, people, I’m not feeling the sympathy.
“Full vinyasana before bakasana,” Volleyball Guy adds.
Uncle! Uncle!
Savasana felt great. I’m at work now, and feel like someone’s been poking in the marrow of my sacrum, but all in all, I think everything’s just fine.