Week 4 - Jenny

Same sequence as Week 3.

Feeling really focused right now.

For some reason, I focused immediately as I went into the first pose, Extended Triangle (Utthita Trikonasana). I'm grounded today. I did a little juice fast last week and, though I had trouble focusing during the fast, I've been finding more and more focus since. Anyway, I took a second look at Revolved Triangle (Parivrtta Trikonasana). Ariana mentioned her difficulty with this pose last week. It's hard for me, too. And I've never met someone who has an easy time with this pose. So I went back to Mr. Iyengar's description of the pose and looked at his instructions. He mentions one thing that I was leaving out - "stretch the shoulders and shoulder blades." So I gave it a whirl. I went into the pose a second time and I stretched my shoulders and shoulder blades out and away from each other. And . . . surprise. Freedom. The action of stretching the shoulders and shoulder blades pulls your waist out of your pelvis. You end up moving your torso forward, creating more room for your spine to twist. And your spine twists. It just happens - no extra work required. The body moves instinctively, almost relaxes, into the proper position. Your twist relies less on the assist of the hand that's on the floor - because the spine already has the room to twist. It's like the spine was compressed into the pelvis, preventing me from twisting at the base of the spine. Now the lower vertebrae could get involved, and voila! - more twist. I'm not saying this was my entry into easy Revolved Triangle Land, but the increase in mobility was shocking.

And the rest of the sequence was magical, of course. More and more stretching of the sides of the body. I've been doing this thing lately in Extended Triangle and Extended Side Angle (Utthita Parvokanasana) where I let prana find my position. I rotate the chest to the sky, as we are directed in all yoga classes. But I'm really adamant about it - I won't touch my hand to the floor if it causes me to lean forward in any way. I keep the body sideways and rotate chest to sky at all costs. And then I look at the prana flow. And I feel it coursing up my rib cage on the extended side. And I take subtle movements that allow more prana flow. And I end up finding more alignment and more connection with the pose and my body and in fact, with the unexplainable. I wish I could explain more, but as I said, it's unexplainable. It's that thing that happens in a good meditation. It's beautiful and serene and sensational. Lots of adjectives, but no noun. I can't find one. Sorry, I'll have to go without. I'll live with the unexplained - with the magic. 'Cause it's glorious.