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| This is a two-parter...
First, I'm doing well with the primary series, I can do nearly every pose, though I've recently suffered a mid-back injury (Silat again...) so i've been holding back on the back-bending poses (sometimes even updog.) My first question is, when you come to a pose that is totally beyond you, what do you do? Repeat the previous, if it's similar? Try, somehow (I'm thinking of garba pindasana here, i'll explain in a moment)? Or sit-this-one-out?
Second: Garba Pindasana. I've got a nice tight lotus, ankles right up to opposite waist, etc. I've been meditating for years, so that's no problem. The issue is, I have pretty muscular legs (calves in particular) so when I do lotus, my hamstrings and calves are super tight against each other, so much that I couldn't get a finger through the gap, let alone my forearms. I've found that I can do it lopsided, in which one arm goes where it's supposed to, and the other goes in below the other heel (sort of in the crotch if that makes sense). I'm not beefy, by any means, but without an intense cycle of laxitives and starvation, I have no clue how I'm going to accomplish this. Do I continue to do the lopsided way, or could someone give me a hint as to work toward it somehow?
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Regular
Posts: 86
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | The lotus I use in garbha pindasnana is a different lotus than the lotus I use doing scales or yoga mudra. I have monster thighs and calves, too.
I leave just enough room to fit my forearms behind/in-between my legs to do the pose. It ain't perty but it sher do work. |
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| Thanks yogabear! I was messing around with it last night, and after rolling around, jamming my arms through my legs, tearing out leg hair, and blathering profanities, I was able do a semblance of garbha. "It ain't perty," is an apt description |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | It really helps if you are sweaty...
.. bg |
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| Not to fear. I'll be sweaty. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| If you want, you can do the posture that is totally beyond you to the point where it isnt beyond you. Then you can internalize sensations more to help yourself discover why you cant do it. However the Ashtanga teachers I know have no clue how to help here apart from say keep practising or try harder.Just be more gentle and scientific about it, then you can achieve what is normally beyond you. |
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Regular
Posts: 86
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | And don't forget to relax the muscles in your face as it could translate to tension on the mat esp. this particular pose. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Good point yogabear-many people who do ashtanga yoga look facialy like they are having a hard time on a toilet because they try hard in certain postures. |
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Regular
Posts: 86
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | ROFLMAO! |
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