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There are two ways to do eka pada. One, by wriggling the foot and calf as far down and across the back as is possible; and two, by catching the foot just behind the head and bringing the knee out and back.

This is from the Ashtanga Voices blog. Owl just mentioned it. But I’m confused. Which way is the “external rotation method”? Either solution seems to involve significant external rotation.

Anyone want to hazard a guess or an opinion?

Yeah, I scrawled some notes after practice. The heading is “Miscone” or Misconc.”

Okay, I guess that sums it up.

Today’s practice was informed by my pre-practice reading of Grimmly’s blog. He talked about mula bandha, and I thought, “Hey, I need to actually pay attention to MB!” (This was mentioned yesterday in relation to LBH poses, too.)

So I paid attention. When I focus on one thing, of course, I usually lose another. Today it was the breath. I decided to take extra breaths and let that be okay. That way, I could really *feel* what I was doing, instead of keeping the metronome pacing of intermediate (or, as I like to practice it, the horrible gasping and breath-holding and fainty feeling).

At first, mula bandha just felt like a tangle of strong energy. But after a little while, it resolved into something more refined. I get images in my head of things I’m feeling, and what I saw was this:

Well, son of a gun. So that’s what’s going on in the cave of the sacrum.

Focus on mula bandha was a great idea. I felt very strong and extraordinarily cheerful. Practice was through pincha mayurasana. Then assisted dropbacks and assisted tics.

What a great practice today! Everything felt nice and strong and bendy. I’m losing my fear of the LBH poses, in part because of all of the discussion with you guys. Thanks!