Friday, February 5, 2010

The International Laghuvajrasana Conspiracy

I think I must have the words "I lurrrrrrve Laghuvajrasana. Won't you make me do it over and over and over again? Please?" tattoed on my forehead.

Either that, or my teachers in Sydney and Singapore read this blog and enjoy torturing me... or it must be plain obvious from the expression on my face that I actually have a problem with this asana (a problem of the "MASSIVE HATRED" kind)... Or maybe I just plain and simple suck at it.

Oh, hello from Singapore by the way.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of eating, drinking, catching up with family, running errands, running more errands... and I just haven't had the time to really get online and have a bit of a brain-fart here.

Just that I thought it was funny how my teacher here made me do THE SAME THING my teacher in Sydney made me do with Laghu. Go down, come up. Go down, come up. Go down, come up. Go down - find that edge before your legs give up - Come up. Do it again. Again. Again. Again. AGAIN. It's a conspiracy!!

FANG PI!!

I actually said out loud at one point "I fucking hate this pose" after coming up (call me the cussing yogi). Teacher James was right in front of me, assisting with pulling my hips forward. I said it into his face.

He replied "You and almost everyone else." (in essence: GET OVER YOURSELF)

I KNOW I just need to shaddup and DO it. Get over this mental resistance. But at this point, I can't. The moment I'm finishing Ustrasana, doom & gloom sets in and I feel like jumping straight to the closing sequence.

Or just laying down on my mat kicking and screaming and saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

But I still have some semblance of dignity. I'm just silently throwing a tantrum in my head. Blech.

Anyways, in today's Primary practice, James got a bee in his bonnet about my jump-throughs. He stuck his leg under me while I was in down-dog, about to jump through to the next seated pose.

Okaaaaaaay. He wants me to jump higher, over his leg.

So I kinda sorta did. Clumsily. (The guy's leg was THERE! How not to be clumsy?!)

But after a few tries I kinda got it. My down-dog's been too short... he made me take my feet further back, which then allows you to jump your hips higher up, which then makes your jump-throughs much more graceful and actually easier in a weird way. (...which will then eventually lead to straight-legs jumpthroughs.) NOW I see how straight-legs jump-throughs could be physically possible. Not that I'm anywhere close to doing it, but the mechanics of it kinda makes sense now. Had a bit of an AHA! moment.

I mean, I had a bit of a mini-pause in mid-air as my hips were at the highest point and I was pressing down through my palms like in a handstand and my bandhas were fully locked and everything felt aligned... and then I felt like a rockstar (OK, not rockstar. Maybe Swenson-esque. Even though it definitely didn't look anything like a Swenson-esque jump-through AT ALL. It just felt like it in my head!)

And then after that, Teacher got a bee in his bonnet about EVERYONE'S jump-thoughs, and stuck his leg under everybody as they were jumping through (there were only 6 of us this morning, so it was nice and intimate). I had a good laugh and almost fell out of headstand because of the distracting commotion of everyone getting Teacher's leg shoved under them.

It's after midnight and I'm falling asleep writing this, so this Cinderella's taking me back to my pumpkin dreams. Apologies if this has been a disjointed post. x

6 comments:

  1. Practicing Laghu over and over

    and over

    and over

    makes coming up from Kapotasana easier.

    So, to paraphrase,

    do your Laghu and all is coming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh skippetty, i hate hate hate laghu vajrasana too...it is pretty hilarious that you ended your laghu with an expletive in your teacher's face, hahahaha - you know, it probably happens a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So funny!!! Laghu is a challenge for a lot of people, you are not alone! (and you know I reported my own cursing episodes)

    You've only been at it for a tiny second of your life- don't worry, it will happen and eventually you'll think, "eh, Laghuvadrasana, not such a big deal after all". Trust me.

    I was going to suggest something along the lines of what Patrick wrote- bribe yourself into working on it for ease and grace in other poses (Kapo and strong drop backs).

    Meanwhile, FANG PI!!
    (word veri: teters)

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi Skippetty
    buhahaha, you're cursing my strength pose. it sounds a bit abusive for your teacher to have you do it over and over, though. that bee in the bonnet has stung too far in the brain, perhaps?

    another approach to the jumpthru, instead of putting the leg there, is to ask to visualize there is a fire with burning coals down there and you have to jump over it.

    hugs
    Arturo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks guys.

    Patrick - Yeah, I know I just need to shut up and do it. Stop resisting and kicking and screaming. It will come and blahblahblah so I dunno why I'm being like a petulant child with this pose here.

    KMB & Liz - I thought of Liz after I cursed. Haha.

    Arturo - Basically Teacher said I was doing everything right, I just had to lift my hips higher. To do that I had to make my downdog longer too. So instead of thinking of "his leg is in my way", I just thought "jump hips UP!" and didn't bother about his leg beneath me and it worked. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey, it may well prove to be the case that the curses you levy on Kapotasana will make you forget all about your Laghu struggles :)

    ReplyDelete

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