Coming To Terms With Laghuvajrasana

Sorry, another post on my "favourite" pose. Bear with me, I'm trying to work things out with her so I need to talk about it! (Yes, I have personified Laghu and made it a "Her" coz she's a BITCH.) HAHAHA!

OK, so here's something new from yesterday's practice: I wasn't angry with Laghuvajrasana.

*SHOCK* *HORROR* *GASP*

I'm also sure it's only for that ONE day, yesterday. HAHA.

I'd been reading Osho's book on "Courage" all morning and I guess I was living that day in my head, thinking about the things he wrote about. So I think that also helped to get my practice in the afternoon to an extremely quiet place.

Don't get me wrong. I was dead beat by the time I got to Ustrasana. And even more so by the time I got to Laghu... but I didn't have that mental tantrum playing up in my thoughts like I usually do. I just went about it methodically remembering what Teacher H had said... "Knees slightly closer together, feet slightly further apart. Hands grab ankles, bent elbows and firm arms. Push shins and tops of feet into the ground. It's OK if your knees lift off the ground."

That's what I distilled of everything he has said in the past week in London. Well, for where I'm at with the pose - it works for me now anyway. It may not be the right thing to do for anyone else coz... well, you know how I'm a baby with this pose, right?

So as I was going down and thinking "Legs! Legs! Legs!" (y'know, just to remind myself NOT to backbend into it)... it felt like the pose made a little bit more sense to my body. For once, I wasn't thinking "What the fuck am I supposed to be doing with what now?!"

I just got on with it. (Who knows if it was "right" or not? HAHAHA!)

At one point, it felt like my knees were starting to lift off the ground and I started panicking, but then remembered H said that for now, it's OK if they lift off. So I let that fear go and got on with it. My head's still nowhere near the floor, but that's OK.

AND THEN!!! ...Massive, sharp cramps in my calves! Both sides! This always seems to happen at some point in Laghuvajrasana.

So I stopped, pressed an acupressure point beneath both second toes (another trick I picked up from Teacher H), and did Laghu again another 2 times. I suppose a good indication of physical progress with the pose will be the day that comes when I don't get cramps in my calves. Hehe.

Laghuvajrasana and I are not friends yet. No, not yet. But I'm hoping I'm coming to understand her a little bit better.

After practice, I went for another floating session. Ahhhhhh... complete post-yoga bliss. I think I almost fell asleep coz I was both so tired and relaxed.

Ooh look! Iyengar-style Chair-Laghuvajrasana. (But dude, you're not using your legs enough this way).