I went to speak with Sharath. I asked about Setu Bandha and my practice. He showed me, which part of the head should be on the ground and it’s pretty close to the forehead. That pose is a killer for me, I don’t understand the pose and that’s why, it’s so hard for me. I do better with the poses, which I can do inside my head, too. Image counts for me.
He said that I should relax into the poses. He also said, that I am sometimes holding my breath (I am aware of this, but it’s just so difficult for me to breath freely). Maybe there is some strange control freak inside of me. Free breathing was his advice.
And then he said that I should start back bendings next week (this means drop-backs). I am dying. He said that only with him, but I am still dying. This is not just some little fear, this is crazy fear of dying or injuring myself terribly. I said that my back is better (which is true), but now my hip is hurting. He asked, if it’s muscle pain or something else. I said that I think that it’s muscle pain. But I still don’t know about those drop-backs. I can’t do chakrasana and muscles around right hip are cramping after practice. I should massage the hip with oils, but I am not sure, if there is still something else than just muscle pain.
Sometimes I just think, how crazy I am to be here. And how crazy this practice is.
I felt the same way for a long time about setu bandhasana, seemed a crazy posture, couldn't see how it could be good for the neck so I just skipped it and went straight to urdhava danurasana. i came back to it a year or so ago after spending some time doing pelvic lifts in a vinyasa Krama routine, the first posture, just lifting the hips, pushing them up
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there's this gentler variation of setu in this routine
http://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-60-madhya-sethu-mid-region-bridge.html
Not saying you should practice the routine's, know your an ashtangi but just those two postures back at your hotel. the focus on lifting the hips seems to take some of the pressure off the neck and feet.
Dwipadapitam, the desk pose I find good for working on getting my hips forward in backbends too.
Good luck with the drop backs, it'll get easier.
Enjoying your blog Spark, thanks for sharing your experience of Mysore.
While writing a post at my place i just came across a seth tutorial by Kino, no doubt you've seen it but here's the link
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/C38P8-T_sG4
Thanks for the links and tips, Grimmly! I have been actually doing those extra exercises at home before my practice at the shala. Dena Kingsberg taught me a nice morning routine to protect my back and make my core stronger.
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