I just came across a blog called What’s That Pose? The woman who put it together shows pictures of poses with all the names that she knows for each one. It’s great.  The other day Jill emailed me mentioning Agnistambhasana.  I didn’t know the name, and found it on What’s That Pose? Check it out.

Upside down version 1

Upside down version 2

I got a new yoga sling! I’ve been wanting to have one that I could leave hanging up.  Ever since we moved into this house I’ve been irked with how difficult it has been to attach my old one. The contractor didn’t ever get around to going to the Yoga Center to look at how to do the rope wall, and so the way he did the attachment really doesn’t work. So I bought a new sling that is designed to hang from the ceiling rather than from the wall, and my husband made a cherry beam to hang it from. It’s not against my rope wall, but the spot is slightly better because it’s out of the way.

Now I’ve tried three different kinds of yoga slings.

• The Yoga Center has what Jill referred to as the Cadillac.  I can’t remember where it came from, but it’s very cushy, has numerous ways it can be hung, and includes a sort of belt that allows you to hang with your legs vertical and straight. It’s nice, but I don’t really like all the extra straps.
• My old sling came from Tools for Yoga.  It’s pretty basic, and it has served me very well.  I am going to continue to take it with me to the Yoga Center.  I don’t do headstand, due to disappearing disks in my neck, so I hang upside down instead. The only thing I don’t like about it is that adjustment requires re-knotting the ropes, which can’t be done quickly or easily.  It’s currently adjusted to work fine and dandy on the hooks at the Yoga Center.
• The new sling came from Yoga Props. It’s cushier than the old one, and the adjustments are easier to make.  Having it hanging from the ceiling rather than the wall allows for lots more variation in how you use it.  I’m very happy with it, and I look forward to playing with it more.

These photos are of my friend Dana. Ack!  I see now that I need to adjust the straps so that the cushioned part is even.

By the way, a yoga belt fastened tightly around the sling at your hips (or a dowel between you and the straps) holds you in enough that you can straighten your legs.  No need for additional special equipment.

Sometimes I use the wall when doing a) standing poses and b) balancing poses.  I think the wall is a wonderful prop, but not if you use it all the time.

Examples of times to use the wall:

• Some early morning and I feel just on the edge of dizzy.  Often if I use the wall for the first time through the pose, then I gain some stability and move away from the wall.
• When I was sick last year I gave myself permission to use the wall all the time.  My joints were too immobile for me to steady myself.
• If I want to work on some particular aspect of a pose where I don’t want to worry about falling over, I’ll do it at the wall. This works well for me for Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch) and Virabhadrasana I, where I can’t get my heel to the ground.

I have to say, though, that I always think about it in a judgmental way and have to have a little conversation with myself about it.

“You are such a baby, wussing out and going to the wall.”
“I have good reasons today.  I want to get the big stretch of Ardha Chandrasana without worrying about falling over.”
“Well, OK for this time, but don’t get dependent on it.”
“I won’t, I promise.”

And if I DID need to do it all the time, it wouldn’t make me a bad person.

Boy, this post sure falls into the self-talk category!

Parsvottanasana

Virabhadrasana I

Ardha Chandrasana

My sister and I went on a little yoga retreat to Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, thanks to birthday gift certificates from our wonderful brothers and sisters.  You can go for a specific program, or you can go for “retreat and renewal” or R&R, where you take whatever yoga classes and other daily offerings they have.  In addition to the daily yoga classes, we went to a posture class, a cooking demonstration (two kinds of sweet potato cakes with accompaniments), a pranayama class, an element yoga class (the elements being earth, fire, water, air, and ether), and a yoga-off-the-mat class which was essentially about paying attention to your own intuition.

The pranayama class was my favorite.  I’ve been trying for some time to establish a regular pranayama practice, and so this was very helpful.

It was interesting to go to the yoga classes.  I was afraid I would be too stiff and old and injured to do the poses, but it turned out to be no problem.  The first class I went to was an early morning gentle class, and it was reeeeeeeelllly gentle.  Practically a sleeping class.  I realized I could do more, so the next day I went to the moderate class.  I’m pretty sure the vigorous class would have been very uncomfortable for me.

Deb and I had an excellent time.  I’d go back, but I’m pretty sure I’d go for a specific program, where you’re in class with the same small group of students, rather than with whoever wants to show up.  Kripalu is a huge place.  The dining room serves 400-650 people a day.  This means that it can be rather impersonal, and when you’re there for R&R nobody is guiding you in any direction.

The location is just beautiful, nestled in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, and the leaves were just turning for fall.  The food is excellent, locally sourced when possible, fresh, and thoughtfully prepared.  No dessert in the cafeteria though!  Take chocolate if you go.

Now I’m on my way out the door to my regular Yoga Center class, and so looking forward to seeing familiar faces around me.

I love Malasana (garland).  It’s such a great stretch all down your back, and so good for those adductor bones.  Someday I may be able to get my heels to the floor.  Or not.  I don’t care – I’ll keep doing it.

Jill’s granddaughter Evy, age 13 months, sometimes comes with her mother Holly to practice with us. She’s into it.  So are we.

I had to crop this so as to include Evy. Look at how nicely curled up Jill is!

I use a blanket under my heels for stability. When my shoulders are feeling OK I can wrap my arms around and grab my ankles. Not today, though.

I hope my readers aren’t getting sick of seeing these photos.  For Jill and me they’re very instructive.   It’s hard to get them right, though, because we’re trying to get poses where our alignment is good, no distracting junk is in the background, the photos are in focus, and we’re not looking grim.  Keeping the face and neck relaxed is part of breathing properly and being at ease in the pose – effortless effort.

This pose is very difficult for me because my hips and hamstrings are so tight.  If I do it on the mat away from the wall, it’s a struggle to keep from flipping over backwards like a bug.  All my focus goes into working with my hands and arms behind me.  If I sit up on several blankets then only my heels touch the floor.  Using a block at the wall gives me the benefit of being able to sit upright with the entire backs of my legs getting feedback from the floor.  I can pay attention to extending out through my heels and stretching those adductors.

Even here I'm not quite vertical in my trunk, but working on it. Compare the location of my feet, way out on the second mat, to Jill's in the next picture. I'm not whining about this, just pointing out how wide the differences are between bodies.

Jill is very upright here, and the flexibility in her hips and hamstrings is evident. Incidentally, in the other pictures her feet were upright, not tipped back, but the photos were otherwise bad.

I picked this photo and the next one so you could see that we really have a good time in our practice and are not all serious and tense.

(I also posted this batch of photos so my sister in Massachusetts could see my new haircut.)

We have been using blocks in Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward facing dog). I’m finding it very interesting. It makes it possible for more weight to go back into my legs. My hamstrings are so tight that I am usually totally bearing down in my arms. My heels never even come close to the floor. In this variation, I can get closer.  I often use a strap around my elbows to lessen the strain on my arms.  It helps, but it’s a hassle if you’re doing variations and/or sun salutations.  It keeps getting in the way.

Jill told me to inhale and then lift my sitting bones. It made a visible change.

Look what a nice angle Jill's legs and arms make.

Savasana

Savasana (corpse) is a pose that seems so simple that it could hardly be having any effect. Beginning yoga students joke about it being naptime, and yes, sometimes it is.

I always feel great after yoga practice.  I can’t remember ever coming out of a class feeling dissatisfied, even when the class has been really hard for me. The same is true for my home practice. Of course it has a great deal to do with the whole practice, the sequence, the selection of poses.

The largest reason for those feelings of peace and energy is Savasana. It’s the last and longest pose, and the one that allows our bodies and minds and nervous systems to completely unfold.

It’s in Savasana that I’ve become aware that we are all breathing one breath.  The crazy guy who shot George Tiller?  Same breath as me.  The Dalai Lama?  Same breath as me.  The children starving in Darfur?  Same breath as me. You and me? Same breath.

Don’t skip it.

Dvi Pada Viparita Dandasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Jill and I practice together once a week. It’s a very casual sort of practice. We have a routine we’ve been doing, and each time we have to perform some triage in order to fit it into the time we have. It’s a delightful practice. We talk about various things, yoga and otherwise, and we help each other, and lately have been taking photographs.

I love Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (two-footed inverted staff). I love it in the same way I love Ardha Chandrasana (half moon), because it’s such an extended stretch and yet I don’t have to be propped any more than anyone else. But boy, look at the thumbnail illustration! Not propped at all. Ah, maybe someday.

Jill

Me

I decided recently that I could work on Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand, or, translated more directly, downward facing tree) with great respect and tenderness for my shoulders and wrists.  So I’m doing just a little bit each day.  My tight hamstrings prevent me from kicking up into this pose and others like it.  Another student at the Yoga Center told me he has overcome this with practice.  I had stopped even trying, so one of my tiny bits of practice is to just work on the kick.

On the days when I’m not practicing the kick, I get into the pose by climbing up the wall.  We have a spot under the staircase that is just wide enough for climbing up.

Jill and I have been taking pictures of one or two poses at a time.  I’m finding it very helpful.

Here I am in the doorway of the Yoga Center storage closet. I'm pretty well propped with the doorframe, a strap around my elbows, and the wedge under my wrists. It looks to me as though my neck is not relaxed, and I'd like to get my upper back in a bit. I'm delighted that I can get this far again, though.