Are You Stepping On My Toes?

I'm liking writing about my (almost) daily practice. I find it helps me process better when I write about it... um... because it forces me to think about it. Otherwise, I'd just be practising and going through the motions. (although I've had a teacher once tell me "Don't think, just DO! I can see you're over-thinking the pose!")

Don't ask me how he could tell. James is Super Yogi, he can read your thoughts (and no, he didn't wear his underpants over spandex tights).

But anyways, I guess my point is... yeah, I think this is really turning into a yoga blog, innit?

First half of today's practice was laborious and slow coz I didn't really want to be there. But it got better when it came to the seated postures. It always does. Somehow forward bends force me to concentrate a bit harder (also coz I love all the forward bends?) Plus, with drishti on my lavender pedicure, that also helps.

Dropbacks - I was hanging back at the Limbo-Rock point, when Teacher's Assistant came over. Today, she stood on my feet to prevent my Spatchcock Feet Syndrome (SFS). You know Spatchcock Chicken with its splayed out feet?

(Photo credit here. Yes, it's not a pornographic term at all, people!)

That's my SFS in dropbacks.

I'm fine in UD - I do 3x Urdvha Dhanurasana and consciously keep feet turned in and that's not a problem, but somehow after dropping back, when it comes to standing back up again, SFS occurs. Especially when standing up.

So she stood on my feet, I dropped back, and she hung onto my thighs at that last point when I hit the abyss. I can't believe I have to stand up on the very next inhale! I feel like I need to rest here to catch my breath first!

She's no longer offering assistance for me to stand up, since I've been standing up on my own after the 3rd UD.

It was just lots HARDER with her standing on my feet. I had to think of pulling my navel up to the ceiling in order to get the lift. Plus, the non-stop moving with each breath! No time to rest and catch my breath! It's so much easier to go down and come back up again when it's assisted, I am just getting my head around how much MORE energy it's taking me now.

When it came to the 3rd (or was it 5th? I still can't tell) dropback, I had no more strength to stand up, and had hurled myself halfway back to the Limbo-Rock point and was just hanging there for what seemed like forever. Somehow I couldn't find my way back up to standing again.

I was almost starting to panic when the voices in my head said "Don't Panic. Just use the inhale to come up and ground through your legs." And it worked. Bravo. For once, there's a good use for these voices in my head.

It was one of the weirdest backbend experiences I've ever had. Like... WHY AM I HANGING IN LIMBO-ROCK WITH NO CONCEPT OF HOW TO COME BACK UP AGAIN?!? It was like my brain and body were disconnected. Brain says "UP!" ...Body says "Say whaaat?" I guess when your body is tired it just goes on the fritz and does stupid things.

Wow, I've been dissecting this today. I guess coz it's part of the take-the-training-wheels-off stage in dropbacks and it's all still new and fascinating to me.

In other news, Kai linked to an old post of Arturo's where he spoke about Kino McGregor's talk on nutrition for yogis. It's making me re-think the way I eat (yet again).

I've gone vegan for about... 3.5 months now, and been trying to up the raw food intake too. But I've always done it the other way around - lighter salad for lunch, heavier meal for dinner. Makes more sense to do it the other way like Kino recommends. Er... although her idea of "heavy" is a salad for lunch. No, I need more than that! I'm Chinese, pass the rice! (only at lunchtime now though)

So let's see how a much lighter raw food dinner goes in the next few days or weeks. It's good to mix things up.