Bright and Shining Velocity Control
I woke up enthusiastic and playful and I wanted to be sure to take that energy to the mat. I set the intention of a solar (as opposed to lunar) practice that would be upbeat and challenging. I found myself very well-balanced and able to pay attention to detail. It surprised me to find that I could slow poses way way down and maintain vibrancy. I actually found the partnering of high vibrations and slow movements to be very vitalizing and will intentionally slow down the next time I find myself with naturally high energy.
I focused on the following key actions: psoas opening and balancing poses.Specifically, I did wave sequencing that incorporated deep lunges with back bending, variations on side angle pose, modifications leading up to the full variation of the wheel, half-moon and warrior three, all leading up to mermaid and eka pada ardha chandrasana (which is half-moon with a quad stretch/ back bend added).
Personal Story: Part of the reason I am engaging in this 365 day commitment is because I am really excited to teach yoga again. I taught ashtanga yoga seven years ago when I lived in Charleston, S. Carolina and I recently completed Shiva Rea’s Prana Flow (a form of vinyasa yoga) certification program. (check out her website at: http://shivarea.com/).
I’ve been spending the last few months doing a solo practice, no classes or workshops, diving deep in to my inner knowing. My practice has evolved very quickly and I’m extremely excited about the transformation my body is undergoing.
In May, as I completed the teacher training program with Shiva, I took stock of my physical strengths and weaknesses and vowed to focus on my “problem” areas. Specifically I wanted to open up my psoas, quads, bicepts, and hips, while gaining greater awareness of my inner thighs and upper back. As I began to sequence classes for myself I tried to imagine what group of people would most benefit from these sequences. The answer: endurance athletes.
My body was sculpted in to what it is today via lots and lots of repetitive motion. I have been a competitive triathlete for years and even before that I was a high level swimmer and runner. Basically every muscle that controls my legs is tight and over developed and my chest and shoulders have been overworked for years. I am wicked strong for a woman, but susceptible to injuries. Many of the classes I have designed lately will benefit endurance athletes and I hope someday to create a class specifically with them in mind.
New Goals: As I write this I am encouraged to provide my sequences to the public either in written form or via videos. I will work on accomplishing this in the near future. As for now I will try to focus specifically on lessons I learn while practicing that I believe are useful to readers.
The Learning Process: Today I learned the most out of a simple standing forward fold. After grounding the feet in a simple standing position and inhaling the arms above the head I began an extremely slow decent to a forward fold. I basked in the awareness of every separate millimeter of movement, applying gentle awareness to each of the muscles groups responsible for the action. Through this simple transition the whole body plays a role and watching as one muscle engages just as another releases was a poetic reinforcement of the teachings on nonattachment.
I was particularly pleased at what I learned about the muscles behind the knee and the balance between hyper extension and true straightness. The longer I could could make my legs and the more grounded i could keep my heal, the more I was able to witness my femur bone pressing back deep in to the belly of my hamstring. I was able to enhance this awareness by lifting in to a half way lift and diving back over my leg, multiple times in varying degrees of speed.
I look forward to playing with the speed of my practice more and more in the future.
Lesson for the day: the same pose can become an entirely new learning experience by changing the speed of the vinyasa.