Inevitable

Posted in ashtanga yoga on 12/10/2009 07:26 am by karen

I was hoping to get my toes in kapo by myself before my birthday (52) in early November. But it wasn’t to be.

It wanted to wait ’til this morning.

Long time coming, but worth the wait.

 

21 Comments

  1. Awesome! Congratulations! :-D

  2. Yaaaaayyyy!!! Good for you.

  3. Congrats on the toes Karen, do we have Maehle to thank?

  4. Yes.

  5. Awesomeness! Give us a blow by blow account please.

  6. hi Karen
    congratulations! i didnt realize we’re almost the same age too.
    hugs
    Arturo

  7. Hmmm. Do I have the new Maehle to thank? That among many other factors, no doubt — including:

    - Hot bath!
    - The rack!
    - Muscle Man, who did the grunt work of adjusting me day after day, probably while thinking “Jesus, Karen, just get it already!”
    - Lots of shala practice, where I’m held under the light of MM’s close scrutiny
    - Home practice, where I am freed of the curse of self-consciousness

    And yes, the Maehle book. One thing I did differently this morning, as suggested by the book, was to go back into kapo with my arms stretched up straight above my head, rather than with namaste hands. More importantly, probably, was just the fun and excitement of having the new book and using it to play around.

  8. CONGRATULATIONS! WELL DONE! :)

  9. Congratulations!!!!

  10. Congratulations! Brilliant!

    3 cheers for home practice! I think too, it’s not just the removal of the self-consciousness, but the absence of a hovering teacher. If you don’t have someone to pick up your hands for you, you’ve kinda gotta at least have a shot. My own teacher admitted that he wouldn’t even try kapo on his own for a year after he started practising it, until the day Dena yelled across the room “For God’s sake, stop waiting around and just do it!”

  11. :-) I’m grateful for a chance to do both home & shala practice. I always need to balance them — I tend to go in cycles of home or shala. Both are incredibly instructive.

  12. Hold everything…

    Karen. I refuse to believe you are about to turn 52. I guess I haven’t been paying attention because I thought you were my age (43!)- shit, woman, you’re blowing my mind! You’re gorgeous and young and… you are not 52. I’m more inspired by you than I was before, and that’s saying a lot because I find you to be very inspiring.

    oh, and congrats on Kapo! That’s fantastic! Toes = big accomplishment! Who says we have to slow down as we age?? phewy!

  13. The Cop and I were talking about age last night. Someone in his family refers to age all the time, recently asking him if he isn’t getting too old for his almost-daily mountain biking habit (he’s about your age, Liz, so the question is utterly ridiculous!).

    Someone at work asked me what my “goals” are for my yoga practice. I said, “I want to be a crazy flexible old lady!” It’ll be entertaining, it will shatter some common expectations, and — best of all — flexible body means flexible mind! Tons of experience and tons of flexibility? Count me in!

  14. Bravo, karen! Maybe I will touch my own toes by the time I’m 52!! Eh, prob not. And YES on the arms-over-head thing: namaste hands cause my chest muscles to rotate inward…not helpful for kapo!

  15. Wow, I’m with Liz. Seriously you’re 52? I thought you were in your early 40′s. Jesus, woman. AND with the hot younger man. I LOVE IT!!!!!!! Nice on the toes too.

  16. uhm, Karen did you mean that the mountain biker is someone in the Cop’s family that is about Liz age? :)

  17. The Cop, aka The Mountainbiker. Maybe I need to make a new, hybrid name for him. Whatcha think, Cop?

  18. no. I like “The Cop”. I have a visual for it (heh heh)

    A video of him mountain biking in uniform would be okay, though.

  19. Wow Karen, I’ve met you in person and also never would have guesses your age. And the Cop is a toyboy, I love it!!!

  20. Okay, Liz, I believe we’re trading a mountain-biking in uniform vid for a yoga-teaching in cowboy gear vid? Hey, we can start a business!

    Susan, kind of you to say. I was a little horrified about travelling around sans makeup to the studio — usually I just get in my car and drive in the dark to a dimly lit studio. Sitting on the Tube first thing in the morning, jet-lagged and makeup-free, was a humbling experience. :-)

  21. 52 no way!

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