OMG, my crazy shoulders

Posted in ashtanga yoga on 09/02/2010 10:57 am by karen

I haven’t grabbed any video in a while, so here’s one of my weirdly dark vids. It’s kapo time!

kapo 09-02-10

I laughed out loud when I looked at this and saw how crazy my shoulders are. Some day my elbows will reach the floor. But you know, for as insanely tight as my shoulders are now, they are a billion times more flexible than when I started. And it’s too dark to really see in the vid, but I am managing to touch my feet before my head touches the floor, which is bouncy and extremely entertaining. (If anyone wants to opine on ways to get my elbows to the floor, go for it!)

But that’s not the fun part. The fun part is that after three years of kapo pain and anxiety, this posture now feels delightful and I actually look forward to doing it! It actually makes me happy! But that kind of begs the question, when you look at it from the perspective of a normal person: why in the world would you do something that hurt and was scary every single day (except Fridays and Saturdays and moon days!) for three years?

Then I thought of Dogen:
To study the way is to study the self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.

And then I thought of what Sharath says in Guruji:
It is a way of worshipping God.

Oh, and this morning’s practice was topped off with a terrific dwi pada sirsasana adjustment by The Cop. He’s getting really good at it!

 

14 Comments

  1. Can we have it on YouTube? Macs don’t read wmv.

  2. Alrighty, V, YouTube is processing it — eventually it’ll show up. I’m kinda horrified about this, though, ’cause it’s not like this is a Susananda kapo or anything!

  3. You can make it private – no one will find it unless you give them the link.

  4. Oh, and Susan’s kapotasana is exceptional. The rest of us are allowed to be normal :-D

  5. Karen, your kapo looks like mine feels — I can get my toes but elbows are off the ground, and when I push up, I can’t keep my hands planted. The last week or so, after looking at Susananda’s amazing kapo picture, I found a little more space by rotating my thighs in/not letting knees splay out. But the shoulders!? Oy! Not even sure where to start!

  6. Thanks everyone, my kapotasana kind of scares me when I see the pictures! I’m very lucky to be able to do that :) . It feels good which is the most important.

    Karen, if the cop’s so good at dwi pada, I recommend recruiting him to bring your elbows down to the ground and in, that’s the most important kapo assist I see everyone get. Hey if he’s up for it you could get him to pull your hips forward in ustrasana too, that feels wonderful and is the most excellent prep for kapo :)

  7. He sleeps through kapotasana time (slacker)! LOL! What’s the prob with the elbows, though? Is it triceps, do you think?

  8. I think more traps, neck tension, general tightness around the shoulders? And lats too! Thinking about it, when I bring my elbows in, I really feel the stretch through my lats.

    A LOT of people can’t get their elbows in and down at first, assistance is useful. Lazy cop ;)

  9. You know, it’s always the same thing with the shoulders. In order for them to function properly the elbows have to come in, shoulderblades spread across the back, and tops of the shoulders come away from the ears. Then the muscles on the back and sides of the body which connect to the core can get involved. We start to learn this in virabhadrasana A (hopefully – I do wish more teachers would focus on this and tap away at people’s traps here till they make the bodymind connection to just DROP IT – but it is a Sisyphean task). And then it applies very very directly in urdhva dhanurasana and headstand, for example, and here in kapo. Meanwhile we keep the knees in as well as the elbows, as there is a parallel process going on in the lower body. Knees and elbows must keep moving in, that’s kapo in a nutshell :)

  10. Sisyphean, indeed! I like to keep all of my daily stress in my traps. So it is close to my brain where I can review it obsessively. Ha!

    You know how sometimes an adjustment really “takes,” and you just remember it forever? There was a verbal adjustment in headstand that involved releasing the traps, which is easy to do if I expand the chest forward. It made a world of difference to the relaxation level of my headstand. And now I see that it’s the same action as in kapo and virabhadrasana A: duh!

    The point of this post was mostly how giddy I am that the pain and terror part of learning kapo seems to be over, and that means I can now have the presence of mind while in it to consciously consider my shoulders and neck, etc. Pretty sweet.

    For the elbow adjustment, I can use the kapo machine prop. And I found a way to grab under the bed frame during hangs where I can draw my elbows together as I stretch.

  11. That’s it, keep the stress close to the brain! Hahaha!!

    I am more and more discovering how every pose is the same. Different position, same old actions.

    Sweet. Being able to slow down there… MENTALLY… and with the breath, and find the constant micro-adjustments. Oooh, I love how you’re being creative with the bed hanging. I do kapo there too :)

  12. dear Karen
    maybe i should do bed hangs before going to the shala. tight shoulders are my nemesis. Susan’s description of how they have to relax and function in the poses is helpful. i can visualize it. for now, i just tell myself to relax and pay attention to tension in that area when doing chest opening asanas. appreciate the Dogen quote. will try applying it… (i wonder if Dogen knows i have to double cloak to post in this wordy press blog. i hide myself then find a proxy then can say something. shady stuff. haha.)
    hugs
    Arturo

  13. *likes* the vid and *likes* susananda’s comments. A lot.

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