Wednesday, September 26, 2007

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! :)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to learn both poses without the wall (Scorpion tickles me no end). How do you end up when you fall out of Pincha Mayurasana? Are you in like a modified wheel or something? Having done Pincha against the wall, I can see my body tipping to one side or the other if I went solo (I flip over to the right when I fall out of handstand too). I wouldn't know what to do with my head if I fell straight back.

I can see how having someone spot you is a big help here.

Marilyn P. Sushi said...

Yes, you're in a modified wheel with your forearms still on the floor. Kind of like you're doing a forward flip.

Melissa said...

My husband thinks I'm going to fall through the ceiling when I try handstand in the middle of the room upstairs.;-)

Anonymous said...

Inspired by this post, I laid out a bunch of cushions and practiced tucking and rolling. I think I bruised my butt. :oD One way or another, I'm going to learn Scorpion...I see a lot of Advil in my future.

shinyyoga said...

omg that is great!! I have been helping my students up into handstand from a standing forward bend - so no 'jumping' up, but rather me holding their hips as they lift themselves up.

I can't do either (hand or forearm) without a wall or support - but headstand is ok.

I'm gonna work on this!!

Marilyn P. Sushi said...

Shinyyoga, we have practiced handstand in the way you described it too. It is great to build core muscles (which mine are very weak).

Marilyn P. Sushi said...

Lori, you would be surprised at how painless it is, you actually come down kind of slowly instead of crashing completely.

Kris said...

Have you done handstand w/o a wall? If so, any tips?? I've worked on it for years--kicking up at a wall and then taking my feet off. The most I've been able to balance is 4 or 5 seconds. Once I can balance longer, maybe I'll give it a go away from the wall. Any suggestions?

Mary said...

Hey hon, how awesome are you! It's such a great feeling to progress in a pose and have fun with it. I'm still a little scared to try handstand and can only do half-headstand. You sure need to have that upper body and core strength. Love your posts :-)

Marilyn P. Sushi said...

Kris, haven't been able to do handstand away from the wall yet. I still need the wall to catch me when I go up. I try to balance away from it once I'm up there but that doesn't last too long.

The only time I had a GOOD balance on my own was when I brought one leg down to 90 degrees and when I went to pull it back up, I found myself shift away from the wall for a few seconds. I guess it's the whole drawing your weight upward that helps.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone tried doing the handstand right in front of your bed? You aren't using the wall as a crutch, and you land relatively softly.

I've been doing that in the hopes of training myself to flip over when I lose my balance. I hope to move from the bed to something lower and then eventually ~*crosses fingers* ~ the floor. Maybe once I get that, I can move on to Pincha.

Kris said...

Thanks for the tip on bringing one leg down 90 degrees and then back up. I'll try that out as soon as my moon cycle is done..... sorry, more info than you needed ;-)