Oh right, THIS is why I get up every morning at 4:30 AM

Posted in ashtanga on 08/05/2009 09:54 am by karen

Mmmm. Had one of those practices that feels GREAT from start to finish. Even the so-called “pain” (i.e., the stretchy place).

I can tell when I’m gonna have that kind of day when I’m in hanumansana and the back leg hip flexor stretch feels like the best thing ever. And then the lying flat in ardho mukha hanumanasana feels even better.

Basically, when I have no physical or emotional resistances in those poses, which are early on in the standing series, I know body and mind are ready for a great practice.

***

Okay, so there were comments about my observation that MM keeps me in kapotasana for a reaaaaally long time. Got to wondering if I’d exaggerated. “Hey, that’ll be fun,” I thought, “I’ll count to see if I was accurate!” Then I thought about how my breath is usually quicker in kapotasana, and how that might have skewed my numbers. “I’ll breathe slower! That’ll be fun.” (Yes, geekish. I know.)

Kapo came around today, MM was promptly at my mat, waiting for the big assist. He helped me find the balls of my feet, then pressed down on my elbows as I tried to take longer breaths. And then I counted.

Kapo A = 22 breaths
Kapo B = 9 breaths

Thanks for the game, you guys. I think I’ll start amusing myself with tracking the number of breaths in kapo.

***

Right shoulder is getting better. Candice has been working her (painful! but healing) magic. She thinks it was a tight pec that kind of pulled the trapezius out of whack. Whatever it was, though, it’s going away. No pain in the right side of eka pada, and I managed tittibhasana C, which was off the menu for the past few weeks ’cause it hurt like hell.

Mukha hasta sirsasana C continues to taunt me in the shala. Wobbly as ever this morning. The rest of the deadlies, though, were great fun.

 

11 Comments

  1. Karen your freaking me out, 22 breaths! Can we pin this down I just timed my breathing (while sitting here) and I make 22 breaths 1min 20 are you about the same. That seems a long long time I probably stay down there about half a minute and maybe 20 seconds in B. oh god, am already dreading Kapo tomorrow…..
    Glad you had a nice practice.

  2. MM gave me a baddha hasta sirsasana C… uh, cheat? rule of thumb? Anyhow, set up with your forearms parallel, stretch your fingers out into super jazz hands, then stretch your thumbs to touch the tips together (this’ll bring the wrist end of your forearms just a teeny bit closer — i.e., make your forearms just slightly out of parallel).

    Not sure if you’re already doing that, but it might be worth a try.

    Okay, on to breathing geekery! Just sitting here at my desk, 22 breaths was 1 min 30. Then I got down on the floor and timed 22 kapo breaths. It came out to 55 seconds. I breathe fast in kapo! And that’d calculate to 22 seconds in B.

    Count your breaths tomorrow and report back! :-)

  3. Love how you lost 35 seconds there : ) Thanks for this will try it tomorrow and let you know. Kinda feels like christmas….is it bedtime yet

  4. Right?! I love a good experiment!

  5. Hah! Karen I LOVE the bit about “super jazz hands.”

    Yeah, I think that Kapo long holds are not uncommon in Mysore rooms. In Boston last summer, K had me down there for some 20-odd breaths, and then yeah, at least 6-8 in Kapo B. I can recheck my journals if I can find them; I counted, on the last day. Yeah, of course, one needs to know how long a “Kapo breath” IS, that’s the logical followup question.

    Onward! Karen, inspiring practice story, well done!

  6. Long kapo holds definitely teach you to stay in the moment! Looking ahead to “when will this be OVER?!?!?!” is too painful. :-)

    Hey, Patrick, I just saw the best quote from Ana Forrest. I think I’ll make a mini-post about it. It’s right up our alley.

  7. Ahg,Karen what have you done to me. Managed to hold the Kapo 25 breaths, though I’m sure the last five were shorter than the first five. Only managed five slow ones in B and no way was i able to come back up from there, just collapsed. Found my hands were slipping after 15 or so and I was starting to put weight on my forehead, not good. When i did get back up my thighs were like jelly…..
    LOVED IT! : )

    Can see the benefits of spending longer down there, think 25 breaths is excessive but will work up to ten slow ones for both A and B and settle for that.

    The jazz hands and angled forearms helped and managed to float hesitatingly up to BHS A

    Knackered now! really humid here this morning

  8. Jazz hands!

    :-)

    That’s the new Ashtangi secret weapon. Having difficulties in practice or in life? JAZZ HANDS!

    I’m so amused you tried it, Grimmly. You’re a brave man.

    Really, kapotasana is where I most love (and hate! ;-) ) my teacher. I don’t think I’d be able to do the long hold day after day without his help. And perhaps less his physical help than his… well, his commitment to working with me on it. Interestingly, we’ve never discussed it as a focus of attention — this work just evolved.

    The thing is, I know that just practicing (25 breaths, 5 breaths, 1 breath, whatever) day after day would eventually get me deeply into the pose — so the choice on my part to fast track it is curious — made out of my love of extreme sports and pushing myself and a tendency to enjoy doing things I’m not innately good at because it’s an excellent dose of “beginner’s mind.”

    Whew! I guess I have a lot to say about kapotasana! LOL!

    Oh, the hesitant float: I do that on mukha hasta sirsasana C. It’s kind of awful, the wobbliness, but the really slow float seems to be excellent core training, so I’m liking it for that.

    I’m already thinking about counting tomorrow. :-) This is adding a whole new fun dimension to the torture.

  9. “This is adding a whole new fun dimension to the torture.”

    That’s hilarious. In the wrong hands of course, it could sound so, well, you know, “ashtanga.”

  10. We know I mean it in the most humorous and loving sense of the word.

  11. Absolutely–same as when you showed off your ahem “den of torture devices” and we were quite impressed :)

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