Blogging about dwi pada
Posted in Uncategorized on 08/12/2010 12:27 am by karenNot yet.
I’m getting the right foot to within 4 inches of the hook, but as I tip forward a bit to catch it behind the left, boing! out shoots the left from behind my head.
And in kapo news, it finally dawned on me that the whole thing is much easier if I put my forehead on the floor instead of the top of my head. Duh?
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08/12/2010 at 9:37 am
no… not “duh”… sounds like something that works for you but would send someone like myself into the mental institute! ha ha!! But that’s the pose that challenges me more than any other, my Achille’ heel of Ashtanga yoga.
Dwi Pada is just a wait till it happens pose. Your hips will keep opening and one day you’ll have it. And yes, it will be thrilling!
08/12/2010 at 11:47 am
Hi Liz! Putting your forehead on the floor would drive you crazy? Why is that?
08/12/2010 at 2:15 pm
Yes, forehead, not top of head! Look to your hips! That gets the upper spine moving, and the shoulders follow suit.
I would also say, don’t lean forward in dwi pada. Instead crank the bandha action and stay as upright as possible….
08/12/2010 at 11:19 pm
well… yeah, putting the forehead down is preferred, but that means (for me) that my shoulders and chest are even more open allowing my head to do that without feeling strangled. Susan, looking to your hips is something that YOU can do, my friend. We should all be so lucky! I get my heels, and use all my power to stay calm and try to attempt to sink into the pose. I’m feeling pretty good about it, even if the top of my head is on the floor!
08/13/2010 at 4:27 am
Ha! I take the looking toward my hips as a Freemanesque teaching metaphor
08/13/2010 at 5:59 am
dear Karen
since i’m stopped at Laghu Vajrasana at the moment, i am not envisioning the forehead on the floor rather than the top of the head thing. let’s see, what would it mean in terms of cranking? oh, it means you have to curl the cervical spine more. yes, that would make sense since you would be bending more and, let’s see, looking towards the hips, as Susan says. why would the forehead be on the floor, though, to allow for some rest time while you grab the toes? Regarding Dwi Pada I have similar challenges. Although I’m not doing it yet in the intermediate practice, in our shala everyone does Dwi Pada as an entry into Supta Kurmasana. I just do Eka Pada on both sides as my preparation.
hugs
Arturo
08/14/2010 at 3:45 am
Um, yes it was a metaphor. I didn’t really think about, it but that really does seem impossible
When you get deep enough you can take your head off the floor – Cary asked Sharath about it. After a certain point touching your head/face down prevents you from curling back more and actually brings you out of the pose a bit. But before that, ‘correct’ is head touching (whichever part touches, I guess!)
Yeah Liz, I agree don’t choke yourself or break your neck, LOL. I think like so often, the correct position for the neck here is something that has to be felt out individually.
08/14/2010 at 3:51 am
And I see why the head has to touch… until the body really ‘takes on’ the pose kind of permanently… it completes a circuit like touching the head down in prasarita padottanasana. Energetically sort of pushes the chest out, boing! (am I making sense??)
08/14/2010 at 3:56 am
And if the top of the head is down, can you push into it to push your hips forwards??
All right I’ll shut up now, sorry, you all got me thinking about this and I’ve been in the pose mentally for the last ten minutes. Maybe I should stop and do mental tictocs instead. LOL.
08/14/2010 at 5:45 am
It’s an interesting part of the yoga transformation (or maybe part of being a Freeman fan) when people can say things like “look at your hips in kapo” and you actually try. If it works, great; if it seems impossible, it’s one of those metaphors that capture the imagination and instruct further practice.
I was working with someone on my team re: conceptualizing and documenting strategy. It’s tough to sort out all of the different elements and then articulate them clearly. At one point she looked at me and said something about it being impossible. I must have looked puzzled, because she said, “You really don’t think anything is impossible, do you?!” I had a total “thank you, yoga” moment when I realized that I have indeed thought things were impossible, but practice has taught me that I’m wrong.