April Discoveries

[Yogamum]

Post your sequences and experiences with April's assignment here! This is the assigment:

Pick a pose that is either difficult for you or that may bring feelings of aversion, helplessness or despair when you imagine including it in your practice.
As you reflect on the difficulty of this pose, ask yourself, what is the source of this difficulty? What actions are required to do this pose? Are there simpler poses that would allow you to work on theses actions? what poses will help the main pose?
Create a sequence of 6 poses that you beleive will help you progress in your pose. Practice this sequence a minimum of 5 times a week.

[CJ]

For me at the moment it's finding the will to carry on with the series instead of calling it a day, and some days to be present on the mat every morning no matter what, even if it's not for that long.

To do this I'm not sure yet what the 6 actions should be as yet.

cj x

[(un)relaxeddad]

That's a scary one! I don't think I know enough poses but I do find anything (after 23 years or so of sitting at desks in ergonomically appalling situations for the most part) that involves bending with a straight back a serious challenge. Any suggestions?

[Ovidia]

Hi Yogamum--great idea (I know I need to do it because I hate hate hate the idea of doing it...) for me it's going to be Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana because the very thought of doing it makes me wince--& lose balance. There are times I'll can manage it easily--5 breaths chest forward no problem--but when my head gets clogged up... yes, I know. Yes, I'll work on it this April.

rats rats rats rats rats i wanna play with more fun stuff. but yes yes yes yes yes. I need to do this.

(& thanks, Yogamum--good nudge!)

[CJ]

Ovidia,

this became much easier for me when I realised that my body knew how to balance all on its own and didn't need my intervention, that all I had to do was be there. Tree pose with my eyes closed helped a lot.

All the best,

cj x

[Dark Orpheus]

I have thought about this before -- what pose challenges me the most? Right now I am trying to master Bakasana -- my fear of falling on face is keeping me from flight. It's something I really need to work on.

But my balance poses are my real Achilles' Heels. Especially Virabhadrasana III. I hate hate hate hate hate that pose. Because I suck at it. Because I really, really SUCK at it. I growl when my teacher throws it into the practice. Really. It's a teeth baring rumble from the deepest, darkest pit of my stomach.

This is a great idea. I will try to draw up the sequence to help me in Virabhadrasana III.

But I will have to do this in May instead. I'll be going for surgery this week and the doctor tells me I need to take 4-6 weeks break from work and vigorous exercise. Can you hear my growl?

But this is a great idea. Thank you for giving us this assignment.

[Laruga Glaser]

Love this idea...I'll be picking 2 asanas. Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here...hehehe. Anyway...mine are Karandavasana & Eka pada bakasana A...jeez...its gonna be an interesting month to say the least. Thanks for the great assignment. Many blessings...and good luck to everyone. xoxox.

[Patrick]

I randomly checked in, to see if this site was even still up and running, and suprise! Not only is it up, but still going strong, and with new tasks! Hurrah!

It's been a while since I had a real live aversion to a pose: Ashtanga gives one a big pose vocabulary to begin with, and I keep doing this one vinyasa class per week, and so I've already made a sort of peace with poses I don't really care for, like half-moon and standing split and virabhadrasana 3.

But there are poses I feel fear and anxiety about: for example, the standing dropback into the wheel. I did this a few times last summer, and didn't break my head, but I find that indoors, I'm afraid of crashing to the ground and breaking something important. I have a set of things I do to practice this, which I'll get more into later (blog returning to life soon), but I think it will be very juicy to make this April's yoga task.

For the folks who've posted so far: if you want it, I have advice on ways to get into/get peaceful with:
Bakasana
Vira 3
Eka Pada Bakasana

Cheers!
Patrick

[Sparky]

There are so many difficult poses to choose from, which one...... I settled on Bhjuapidasana followed by Tittibhasana and Bakasana. They all go together. I think, I'm still fearing a little in this pose. I don't want to fall on my face and end up with a bloody nose. I've been using a brick to put my chin on - the floor is still too far away. I can hold the exit pose, Tittibhasana, for a breath and then I'm stuck. It's still difficult to bring my hips up into Bakasana. Practice, practice, practice.....

[Emma]

So! I picked my pose (camel) and then promptly did nothing about it for 12 days! =)

Today, I found myself in a class where we did a sort of almost-camel pose - legs/feet in position, hands on lower-back/upper-butt, backbend a little.

I am going to do that every day this week.

I've got to keep my goals very, very small right now, I think, or I'll end up doing nothing. If I can do that, I'll be pleased!

[(un)relaxeddad]

My practice has also gone to hell over the last week or two! (Mostly over an essay). Though I finally realised that the pose that actually terrifies me and that i do everything to avoid addressing properly is yoga nidra of all things!

[CJ]

31st March i replied to this thread saying how hard I was finding everything, just the getting on the mat part was hard mentally, and staying on it hard physically and mentally.

I found a solution. I still practiced even when I really felt low, and even when I really didn't have heart. I did exactly how much I needed. Sometimes it was sun salutations and that's it, sometimes also standing, sometimes half primary. Sometimes just sitting. Just doing what I needed to sustain my practice, to be kind to myself, to be happier. I felt complete those times where I just did sun salutations, because that's all I needed that day.

When you're physically injured you practice less or modify heavily. When you feel depressed, you should do the same thing, as much as you need to be kind and helpful. To feel better.

I've come out the other side, i want to practice and I really enjoy it again and get through my whole practice with no resistence. I think sometimes you have to let it lie, do what you need to. Not forcing and pushing and using so much effort...just being, easily practising. And if anything past sun salutations is too hard right now...so be it.

I learnt to not force it. Be happy of having practiced, however much I did, giving myself a break. Compassion for myself.

Phew, I'm glad I learnt that this month :)

cj x

[Parthena]

Backbends!
Open my heart, expand, trust. Could those really be issues for me to address?
I've always been athletic, but even with my early life's handstand into flips, I could never stay in backbend. How I admire those who can....

I actually despise backbends and with the ashtanga primary series, you almost feel pretty safe until the beginning of finishing sequence. Setu-bandhasana is not as bad as full urdva dhanurasana, but....

Here are my 6 postures that will hopefully lead to a better and more full backbend for me.

Ustrasana (camel)
Setubandha Sarvangasana (bridge)
Purvottanasana (eastern stretch)
Matsyasana (fish)
Dvidpada-Pitham (two leg bow)
Dhanurasana (bow)

And maybe something else, like an emotional release or addressing an early life trama that I can't even remember? Oiy.

Hey, it's worth the challenge.
See what happens!