Here are my notes for the 2/23 Wed. 7:15 PM class this week:
The theme of the class was to balance the energetic and dynamic quality of Shaki with the relaxed and receptive quality of Shiva. To find the place where creativity and play meet with stillness and reflection. Great theme for "The Big Shebang" week (last week of the term).
The main alignment teaching principles were a continuation of the Universal Principals of Alignment that we've been working on: inner & outer spiral, shins in & thighs apart.
Warm-up poses included Supta Padangustasana with 2 straps (one strap in a large loop around toes of base leg and deep into the hip crease of the leg in the air, the other strap around toes of leg in air as usual) and Sun Salutations.
Cool-down poses included Supta Virasana w/one leg up straight in strap, "Windshield Wiper," and Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolving Twist) with knees bent. Resting pose was Savasana.
Other poses included Utthita Trikonasana, Utthita Parsvakonasana, Ardha Chandrasana, Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) from a close-to-standing-splits starting position, standing splits against the wall, and Anjanayasana. Resting/transition poses included Balasana and Adho Mukha Svanasana. Climax pose was Hanumanasana (front splits) three times, with Urdhva Dhanurasana between the 2nd & 3rd attempts.
Things I now have a deeper understanding of are (1) the importance in Anjaneyasana of backing off the front of the leg on the ground and putting the stretch more into the bent leg, (2) another trick for going deeper in Hanumanasana is to inner spiral the front leg, then sink deeper, then outer spiral the leg, then sink deeper, (3) start out more pigeon-toed in Urdhva Dhanurasana, tone inner thighs & soften the butt, and (4) soften the jaw, soften tops of shoulders, breathe!
Peggy, Awesome post! I now have an excuse to go out and buy another strap after this week's class.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to be able to attend two classes this week. The second, on Saturday really helped solidify a few things and actually brought something new to light. In Hanumanasana, before descending into splits, turn front toes up and stretch the back leg as far forward as you can. Then back off the stretch on the back leg and isometrically pull the back knee forward which should move the hip of the back leg deeper into the hip socket. Keep this as you move the front leg down into the splits. This really kept me from overly stretching the front hip and focused the stretch more on the front hamstring.
Also, the close-to-standing splits into handstand was really solidified in the second class (benefit of practicing) and I had one of the smoothest transitions I can remember. All of the concepts of stacking the hips over the shoulders, keeping a curve in the back, and finally moving the legs to vertical have really started sinking in for me. It's hard to remember them all, but there are those small moments when it seems like they all align themselves at the same time and place!
Have fun, y'all!
I don't know how to edit the above post, but I'd like to correct one thing:
ReplyDelete"This really kept me from overly stretching the hip of the back leg and focused the stretch more on the front hamstring."
I had to type the comment twice because i was accidentally signed in as my husband and he couldn't post any comments! The whole thing disappeared.