Backbending, March 2023
The best protection against injury is to practice every day. You know your limits and can go beyond them. But because you know your limit, you also feel when you are going too far. When you practice daily, you know that the process is just as important as the goal. Phrases like 'splits in 30 days' are great promises. Some may succeed. But if you force your body into asanas too quickly, you risk injury. And then what happens when the 30 days are up and you have learned the splits? Then comes the next goal. Goals are always just intermediate goals. Learning happens between two goals.
Situations that make injuries more likely:
1. breaks that are too long. The mind still has stored what was possible. But the body has already adapted to another way of life, has become more inflexible and weaker.
2. practicing in groups also carries a greater risk of getting injured. Whether you like it or not the group dynamic has an influence on practicing. There is a different energy in groups. Positive competition often makes you rise above yourself. But sometimes that is too much.
3. being too ambitious can also be counterproductive. One must always be attentive. Being patient is a skill that can be learned.
Next weekend I will attend a workshop. The teacher is a contortionist. The course lasts four hours. Two hours are devoted to leg work, two hours to the back. That's a lot. The best preparation is to practice every day until the course (and after, of course). This insight also made it easy for me to start my yoga week today. Injuries always mean frustration and regression.
To the picture:
It shows a backbend. The hip flexors are stretched and also the upper body. Exercises to learn the splits overlap with the exercises for the backbends.
The other day I had the idea to use a box of water as an aid. With the pillow I used as a base, it worked well.
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