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Yoga success!

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I had a really good yoga class today. The instructor cued crow and talked a little about it. Maybe I got tricked because she started out just describing the position, not saying we were going to be doing crow. Anyway, I FINALLY got off my feet and got my knees up there on my arms. It was maybe a millisecond and then I dropped - but I wasn't feeling that fear of getting my feet off the ground and relying on my hands to support me. This is especially big for me because my wrists have been a mess for years, and my right shoulder has been a problem the last few years, and I *just* stopped seeing a PT for my latest shoulder stuff last week. But somehow I forgot to worry about my wrists today, and ... it was fine. I didn't even remember until after the class that my wrists are bad and I "know" I won't ever be able to do crow.

I also had more success with tree pose than I've ever had (static balance is hard for me - dynamic balance, different beast). And even plank felt better than I remember it feeling, ever.

Today was a good yoga day in a lot of ways. But as I lay in savasana and then again as we were stretching in hip openers, I kept feeling a grin creep onto my face - thinking about crow.
 
Yay, love that great feeling. Awesome.
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
I love it when that happens. My first successful jump back to plank from crow was a similar experience. I had halfheartedly tried it a few times, landing my feet about 6 inches behind my hands and thought there is NO WAY this is happening. But then my teacher incorporated it into her vinyasa and just described what we were doing instead of saying "jump back to plank". I was focused on my breath and just following cues and the next thing you know I was like WOW, that actually happened and wasn't very hard at all. The impossibility of it was only in my head.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
In my head . . . I pretty much don't jump back to anything from anything because all I can visualize is catching my toes on the mat and crunching/breaking them! Jumping forward, like from down dog to the top of the mat in a forward fold is the same. Can't get past it to fully embrace trying.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't generally jump into anything, either. I figure when it feels right, I will.
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
I had a huge fear of that happening. But it's never happened in reality. I think I also used to have a fear of tipping forward and smashing my face into the ground in crow and likewise, that's never happened either. I've somersaulted forward once, and kind of slow motion landed on the side of my face, and was like huh, that was uneventful. Especially after all the time spent fretting about it thinking it would be catastrophic.

If I think about jumping back, I can't even picture what's going on with my toes, but apparently they know what to do on their own. Which kind of surprises me because I manage to trip on things walking with ridiculous frequency. Go figure.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Well, that's good to know that it hasn't happened - and that someone else thought about it. Sometimes I have to wonder at what goes through my head.

I managed to tip sideways in a forearm stand last week - that was pretty exciting. I reacted the same way I do when I fall skiing - just laid there and laughed.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, I just had to look up forearm stand ;-)
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
Eek!

I did flop over in a headstand once (at home at least, so minus the audience/people to land on), which was not comfy landing flat on my back. But also not catastrophic.

For handstands, I was taught that if you are falling, just lift up one hand. That way you cartwheel out to that side and don't crash. That does take some of the fear out of the free standing handstands. (Assuming you have space!)

But, wouldn't really work for forearm balance or headstands.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
I'm not sure I really made it all the way on that attempt. I might have been going up all crookedy from the beginning. It was pretty funny.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yoga question: is baby cobra the same as cobra, just less deep? Or is there more to it?
 

Pequenita

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yoga question: is baby cobra the same as cobra, just less deep? Or is there more to it?

Yeah. Usually baby cobra is something that you could do without your hands to sustain. Cobra is straighter (but not straight) arms, but pelvis and legs still on ground, so more intense backbend. I've seen cobra as part of the vinyasa in the Sivananda tradition's sun salutations (which also does the knees, chest, and chin) and I think Dharma and Jivamukti traditions, too, but I can't remember accurately. And then pretty much everywhere else, I see plank/half plank to chaturanga/half chaturanga to upward facing dog/baby cobra as the transition/modification.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
And then pretty much everywhere else, I see plank/half plank to chaturanga/half chaturanga to upward facing dog/baby cobra as the transition/modification.

Yup, that's where it usually comes up.
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
In my head . . . I pretty much don't jump back to anything from anything because all I can visualize is catching my toes on the mat and crunching/breaking them!

Heh, well I did this going from plank to warrior 1 the other day (stubbed my second toe as I was bringing the foot forward). I've never done it any other time, so I guess I need to win some sort of clumsiness award!
 

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