Daily Practice
Oct. 10th, 2011 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Well this is somewhat of a misnomer, since I'm not going to jump right into daily, but I did want to participate! As I said earlier, I had a wrist injury but I think it's finally healed. I'm starting very slowly--I did one gentle hatha practice last weekend and this morning I did Yoga for Strength from YogaDownload, which is my favorite for when I'm afraid of my own motivation (it goes by very quickly so it's good for building confidence).
Unsurprisingly, I'm very tight, so I'm trying to be gentle with myself. I only move forward a few inches in forward bends, and I'm keeping my feet very close together in warrior poses. I noticed that my calves and feet were especially tight in warrior poses, which are some of my favorite poses, so I hope that remedies itself quickly. One of my biggest challenges for sticking with yoga is that my hands slip in down dog and I get very frustrated. I read the recent post about this but I'm nervous about shelling out money when it might not work. I've tried putting my hands on blocks and on a guest towel that's pretty thin, and neither of these really work. The towel will work at first but then I'll start sliding steadily along. So annoying!
I'm going to shoot for every three days for the next couple of weeks, and then drop to every two.
Unsurprisingly, I'm very tight, so I'm trying to be gentle with myself. I only move forward a few inches in forward bends, and I'm keeping my feet very close together in warrior poses. I noticed that my calves and feet were especially tight in warrior poses, which are some of my favorite poses, so I hope that remedies itself quickly. One of my biggest challenges for sticking with yoga is that my hands slip in down dog and I get very frustrated. I read the recent post about this but I'm nervous about shelling out money when it might not work. I've tried putting my hands on blocks and on a guest towel that's pretty thin, and neither of these really work. The towel will work at first but then I'll start sliding steadily along. So annoying!
I'm going to shoot for every three days for the next couple of weeks, and then drop to every two.
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Date: 2011-10-10 11:23 am (UTC)Of course, that might just mean that your feet start sliding, but it's worth a go.
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Date: 2011-10-10 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 01:38 pm (UTC)Yoga does not magically circumvent laws of physics.
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Date: 2011-10-10 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-10 03:52 pm (UTC)I get where you're coming from; when I'm on a slippery enough surface, I do still slip even though the dog is one of my favorite and most solid poses otherwise. You could probably tell how much I like it by how much I have to say about it below :-D ; read on if you would like suggestions.
I second
There's so much going on in Down Dog, that to find stability may call for changes in more than one part of the pose. For instance, the hips/low back, calves and ankles--where you said you experience tightness-- are very involved in the balance of the whole pose. Sometime when you're not worried about keeping up with a video, you might try just playing with Down Dog, changing one body-position variable at a time to experience all the variations available in the position. Some of them may feel more secure. Changing alignment can also bring the stretch to different areas of the body --you might find a version that better releases the tightness you feel.
Yoga Journal has an article by Paul Grilley on the mechanics of Downward Dog, especially longer or shorter stances. Sounds like a shorter stance, or with bent knees, might be useful for you to experiment with.
When you're working with a video, and you want to do something to keep up with the video's sequence of poses without so much frustrating slipping, you might try
substituting another pose for Down Dog in the flow. Depending on what fits with the poses before and after, a high plank (make sure shoulders are directly over wrists), puppy pose, dolphin pose. This isn't "dumbing down" -- Dolphin, especially, can be more work for the upper body and more stretch for the hamstrings/calves than Down Dog. Puppy is an excellent stretch for the shoulders, high plank is a core and upper body strength builder.
Best wishes.
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Date: 2011-10-10 04:11 pm (UTC)I have tried some things that make it a little more comfortable, such as adjusting the rotation of the arms and putting a bolster under my heels. I found the bolster to be particularly helpful, though it still is hard to work on getting comfortable when my hands are gradually sliding forward, haha. If I can find a sweet spot, that'd be great, though I have played a little bit with trying to ground through the right place in the hands and haven't quite found a solution. I could try shortening the stance a little, certainly that would mean that the pressure is more down than "across," which theoretically should help slipping.
I do want to at least make an effort at Downward Dog, because I do like the pose and how it works on a number of areas that could use work for me--arm strength, lengthening the back, lengthening the calves, etc. But I might experiment with variations. Sadly, yoga is something that I think could improve my flexibility, but I think it'll take a minimum of 10-15 years of sustained practice, and it's hard to motivate that practice when it's constantly frustrating. (This sounds melodramatic, but I danced for 20 years and could never get my leg even parallel to the floor when lifting it from standing, so I'm aware of my limitations in terms of flexibility). I'll keep trying though!