Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Week 25 - Jenny

Okay.  I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the blog.  I was opening a yoga studio and I was rather busy.  But I swear I was still working on all these poses in my daily practice and I did the full sequence a couple of times.

Today was a very interesting day with this sequence.  As I mentioned before, I've been working delicately since I hurt my knee.  And this is really bringing up so much info about the hips.  In the past couple of weeks, I've been working a lot on centering the hip joint.  I like that approach.  Heard it from Rodney Yee at a workshop.  Rather than "opening the hips, " which doesn't resonate with someone like me who has "closed hips," he talked about centering the head of the femur in the hip socket.

In most all of my daily practices for the past two weeks, I've been doing what I call the "3 bases" of the poses in this sequence.  Those bases are Baddha Konasana, Virasana and Malasana.  Baddha Konsasana is a base for Bound Half Lotus Seated Forward Bend (Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana), Lotus (Padmasana), Bharadvajasana II, Marichyasana II and all the other poses that involve Lotus or Half Lotus legs.  Virasana is a base for Triangmukapaida Paschimottanasana, Bharadvajasana II and all the other poses that involve Half Virasana legs.  And Malasana is a base for all the poses where one leg is in the squat position - Marichyasana I, II and III.

So I've been doing these poses every day, looking for both sitz bones to drop to the floor evenly, reaching the side ribs forward and lengthening the low back.

I've been finding that in the Half Lotus position, I need to move the knee towards the midline to get that hip centering.  Today when I did Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana on the right side (the uninjured side), I had a moment where things fell into place.  When I do this pose, the quad muscles on the straight leg have a hard time dealing with the pressure of the bent leg shin/ankle.  There is some discomfort heading towards pain, though not the kind of pain that causes an injury.  Well, I had this moment - I knew something was up - when the pain/discomfort escalated, and then it just let go - the tension in the quad dissipated and then it was gone.  The hip felt like nothing.  The knee did move more towards midline.  And there was room - so much room - and I almost fell forward, my head almost touched my knee.  It was crazy and super cool.

I don't know if I'll be able to move onto the next sequence next week.  I'll see what there is in store and decide if I need to stay with this one for longer.  Either way, I'm loving this exploration.  It's so foreign to me - the hip demands.  But exploring foreign places can be a lot of fun . . .

1 comment:

nobodhi said...

I've been doing the same sequence and it's working directly into my hips. I feel like I'm practising right alongside of you!
Nice to hear about your lovely moment of release in Ardha Baddha, but it reminds me of a similar moment in Marichy 3 a couple of years ago when all the struggle unexpectedly ceased and I rotated into the twist an extra few inches completely effortlessly! I was exhilarated and stunned thinking something had 'opened up'! It turned out to be an injury, which I didn't feel until the next day. Something must have torn. It took months before I could even bend up my knee again on that side. I'm much more cautious now...
Thanks for posting.