Health & Fitness

This morning E and I took a taxi to E’s car. It was parked close to the restaurant where we’ve been yesterday night with colleagues of E. “I’m still tired”, I said when I leaned back in the taxi. This was the sentence the taxi driver seemed to have waited for. “Since I started swimming again I need only 6 hours of sleep”, she said. Enthusiastically she described how well she feels since she’s moving again. I know, I know, baby, I thought.

Yeah it feels good to move. No matter what it is.

In my last post I’ve forgotten to mention 2 points that I realized while going through the poses of primary.
1. When I want that my neck is in line with my spine I have to move the chin towards the chest, actively.
2. Having a slight smile on the face would be good.

Time to dress. We’re invited to a party in a bar downtown. I’ve never been there. It starts at 10pm, a bit late for yoginis like me, lol. I shoo away the thought that I hope to be in my bed before midnight. Am I my own grandma or what??????………and my grandma would have danced till the morning hours. 

Let’s look back. This month, the first month of 2012 I took  pictures of all the asanas of primary Ashtanga series.
Have I learned anything?

I think I know now what are the next steps here:

1. Most asanas look rather beautifully, don’t you think so? Hahaha…..Some need still a bit more love, like upavistha konasana, urdhva dhanurasana, supta parsvasahita.
2. Much more attention need the vinyasas. I saw the importance of it much too late. I think I’ll do extra sessions to learn finally to jump through, back and forward.
3. The breath: I realized that I get out of the pose in the middle of the last exhaling. Am I in a hurry or what? hahaha. Yeah, I can eliminate this sloppiness. Good that I realized this.

4. What I’ll do next time is to put a block in front of my feet when practicing the forward bending asanas. I realized that it’s not parallel to the wall. I must get a feeling again how it is when it’s 100% parallel. These are details, but details count.
5. Dristhi? I will surely pay more attention to it. Sometimes I don’t even know it.
6. I studied again the book by Lino Miele and P. Jois “Astanga yoga. I learned that the practice can be practiced with full vinyasa from the beginning to the end. I use this book as a bible when it comes to full vinyasa.

7. Astanga yoga is a life style. In the book by Lino Miele and P. Jois I read sentences like this near almost every asana (this quote is from page 26): “This group of asanas (prasarita padottanasana, remark of the author of this blog) reduce the accumulation of fat deposits around the waist and increase the strength and tone of the mucles of the legs and back.”
For me this is more a pointer to eat healthy. A slim body makes things, at least the asanas and vinyasas, easier.

Setu bandhasana (see picture): When the body is weak or not engaged all the weight is on the neck and this can cause neck pain. If the body is engaged the weight is everywhere and this pose can become even relaxing. Being strong and flexible is the secret to perform these crazy asanas and to love them.

I tried to practice primary and second Ashtanga series in a row, but with not so many vinyasas. I wanted to practice like the first yogis practiced when they were in Mysore. After having done primary I had enough. I was not yet sweaty. It can of course also be that my practice was spoiled due to my taking pictures. However. For the time being I think it’s better for me to practice primary on one day and second series the other day. I still need strength and I want to work on the vinyasas.

Once is not enough, but for the time being it shall be enough.

Purvottanasana (see picture): To myself: Not to give up too early is always worth it. I found a solution to take a picture of this asana in my tiny yoga room.
Press the index finger in the floor, M uses to say. This helps to lift up the body, it opens the chest. This pose is a counter pose to paschimottanasana. Strength is needed. It’s one of the few back bending asanas of primary.

Yeah, it was a bit disappointing today. I prefer the shorter, but more intensive practice. Next time I’ll practice again primary with full vinyasa from the beginning to the end.

Janu sirsasana C is another asana I’ve not yet talked about in 2012. The position of the foot is important. In the meantime my leg touches the floor. When the balls of my foot is in position, I shift my weight forward and to the knee. The heel is a bit below the navel. It shall massage the inner organs. I think this pose keeps the toes flexible. It’s also a not so loved pose. It’s a pose that prepares another pose of 3rd or 4th series. In that pose the toes even show backward. Many poses of primary prepare of asanas to come. If one knows this one is more motivated to practice intensively.

So time to move on…………