I wanna fall again!!

Hi everyone! I haven't had much to say lately on the yoga front until today so I've been laying low. I did a pretty cool thing in class last night. I fell....over and over again. For a lot of us, inversions are scary because we're afraid of falling and hurting ourselves.

My teacher wanted us to do forearm stand but no walls were allowed. She knew everyone in the room so she wanted to push us a little. She wanted us to experience falling out of Pincha Mayurasana so we wouldn't be afraid to do it again without the wall. It was like a tumbling class for toddlers.

We did it first in partners; one person spotted you as you came up, bend your knees, started drawing your feet to the ground. So yes, there is a point where you do find yourself doing Scorpion before your feet hit the floor.

Once it came time to do it on our own, I have to say it was kind of fun! Those couple of seconds of me perched up and doing the pose with no support before bending my knees and falling back (or is it forward?) was so exhilarating. It was the same feeling I had the first time I did a handstand.

After I learned how to do a headstand away from the wall, forearm stand was my next mission. I've been practicing this pose for a while now trying to engage my chest and shoulder blades more to not crunch my lower back so much. That was my issue, I wasn't drawing my chest forward enough. I can't wait to try again!

UPDATE: It is important that I add to TUCK YOUR CHIN! Since your head shouldn't be touching the ground in this pose, this will be easy, instinctive even! :)

karate kids

karate kids 2
Originally uploaded by pipingrock76

A big THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my last entry. It is an interesting that topic that will always surface no matter how secular and commercial Yoga may get.

So with that, here is a treat. Karate Kid cupcakes! Hiiieeee-ya!!!

Yoga Minus Hinduism

In the latest issue of Newsweek, the "BeliefWatch" section has a piece about Christian Yoga.

Yoga minus Hinduism

Did I miss something? I'm suppose to be Hindu? The article is about a group of Christians tweaking the practice around to cater to their beliefs, renaming poses because Sanskrit is sacrilege or something.

Yeah, at first I did get a little offended as it's safe to criticize Christianity. But then I started thinking, is Christian Yoga any different from Punk Rock Yoga, or Disco Yoga (I'm not making that up)? There's always going to be someone trying a new kind of Yoga to attract a certain audience. I guess I can't fault them as long as they DO it.

What bothers me is the division, Ashtanga is better than Iyengar, Christian better than Hindu...who cares!!!! Just enjoy it and gain something positive out it. No judgments.

I'm going to bed, good night!

**Waves**

I went to yoga last night, the first time in two weeks! My teacher, Lippy, gave me a few tips on what to do to take care of my hip in forward bends (ie: roll up a blanket and folder over that). I didn't go crazy with the forward bending. I have an excellent forward bend where my palms can lay flat on the ground and my forehead touches my knee but last night I checked my ego at the door and used blocks, blocks, and more blocks. Even in Trikonasana I used blocks.

My teacher has now forbidden me from using my right leg to kick up into Handstand. =*( It's my "A side", my left leg gets neglected a lot. So I tried to kick up with my left leg and it truly is like learning how to do a handstand all over again. Kinda sucks but I understand why I must do it, balance baby! It's crazy how you can get your body to move a certain way on one side but when you try the other side you are completely lost and your legs are just flaring out like crazy.

It was nice to be back in class. The anti-inflammatories I was taking for my hip did the trick and I haven't felt any pain in about a week. I may refill the prescription and just keep it in the cabinet in case it flares up again. The doctor thinks that's enough to do the trick. I'll stick with that.