Patience

August 08, 2022 in Ashtanga yoga

Long-term goals require patience. When practicing yoga most of us face challenging asanas. In order to master them a lot of time and energy is necessary. We make mistakes. We have to deal with frustration. In the long run we learn not to give up so quickly. We learn to achieve goals that take years to master. This gives stamina and self-confidence. Many people are no more able to focus on something that is rewarded in the far future. Book titles and promises on Instagram tell me this: Learn split pose within 30 days, lose 20 pounds within a week and so on…….People search the quick high, the quick reward. Yet some skills need more than 30 days, often years or decades.

In the meantime the ‘self-help-industry’ focuses on the process and not so much on the goals anymore. I think both are not in competition. Without a goal one cannot define the steps to get there. Without a goal we have no orientation. The process itself must have joyful moments. Otherwise we are most likely to give up. My daily yoga practice is despite the stretching discomfort, despite the difficulties to perform asanas joyful. Sweating on my mat for 90 minutes in the morning is my daily highlight.

During today’s practice I felt impatience. It must go forward, I want to see results, were my thoughts. Results will come but it takes perhaps more time than I wish. I work on asanas for a decade already. Thoughts and feelings come and go like clouds in the sky.

When we practice yoga we learn asanas, yet we also learn to learn, we learn being patient, we learn not to give up, we learn to handle frustration. There is also a lot of joy and tiny and greater accomplishments on the path.

For today my practice is done. Halleluja.

Ashtanga yoga - stretching OFTEN is the key

August 07, 2022 in Ashtanga yoga

Moving from salamba sarvangasana to a back bending position. August, 2022

“You have to stretch all the time to get a result.” Ugi

Ugi is a contortionist and teacher on Omstars. I watched a video on back bending yesterday. Kino was the student.

The quote is a general most important learning tip. Stretch all the time. The more you stretch the better. Stretch twice a day or three times. Integrate stretching exercises in your life. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

If one has no time, no problem, yet the consequences are clear. Progress comes slowly, if at all. Those who practice once a week won’t see much progress. There are many reasons to go to a yoga class or to practice yoga. It might be that someone wants to relax and to breathe deeply. It might be to meet yogis and to enjoy society. Fine. Absolutely OK.

Yet if one wants to improve asanas that require a lot of flexibility, stretching is the key. And stretching must get done often to get results.

Getting back to a daily practice with few breaks is my goal No 1. One can know the best exercises, it they are not executed they are pure theory.

The videos with Ugi on Omstars are inspiring. I’ll try out exercises.

Today my practice was hard. These 90 minutes almost killed me. The ups and downs are part of the journey. Tomorrow can be totally different.

Back bending exercises

August 05, 2022 in Back bending, Ashtanga yoga

Pictures help me to stay motivated.

They give feed-back. They inspire me and help me to make plans re future exercises.

A yoga week is over again. I practiced 5 times this week. Once I had to go to the dentist due to tooth pain. Sometimes there are reasons to omit a practice. To rest is important as well.

On Sunday another yoga week begins with 6 morning practices. The hot weather is ideal. It makes the body flexible.

The goal is to practice. The focus is back bending.

How to get into urdhva dhanurasana?

August 02, 2022 in Back bending, Ashtanga yoga

A decade ago I put my hands next to my ears. Then I lifted my body up. The weight shifted to the feet and then back to the hands. I pressed the feet against the floor to move the weight to the hands.

I learned a more sytematic approach. Often there are different ways to get into an asana. Re urdhva dhanurasana I work also on another vinyasa. I want to learn again to drop back from a standing position. Some people get from handstand into this pose.

When I went to the Sivananda yoga classes years ago we practiced first salamba sarvangasana. From there we lowered the feet to the floor. Then we pushed up into urdhva dhanursana, bow pose. This vinyasa allowed me to get rather deep into the pose.

Every vinyasa is different, feels different and has different challenges.

The pictures in the gallery show my countdown into the pose from lying on the floor:

I start from lying on my back und pull the feet to the body. Arms lie next to the body.
Then I lift up the hips. The arms can support this movement when pressing into the floor.
The next step is to pose the hands next to the ears. Important is to keep the elbows close to each other. Arms remain parallel.
Then the hands and arms press into the floor, the arms stretch slightly, and give room so that I can set the crown of my head on the floor. Sometimes I omit this step and I get at once into urdhva dhanurasana.
Last step is to lift up the body. This requires strength and the ability to stretch the arms. These days I take care not swing forward and backward. I want to lift up the body straight towards the ceiling. The weight is evenly on the feet and hands. It feels as if more weight is on the hands. The goal is to have en even bow. Feet and hands get closer and closer with time and patience.

A useful exercise:

In order to stretch the body and to get used to this asana I hold it for 1 minute every day. I use a timer. This little exercise shall make me stronger as well. 1 minute feels very long. I focus on the breath to distract myself from the discomfort. Today I realised already that it became easier to hold this pose. In the beginning I was not able to hold it 1 min. Progress came quickly.

Three possibilities to get into urdhva dhanursana (there are more):

from a lying position.
from a standing position.
from salamba sarvangasana.

Keep practicing.

Urdhva dhanurasana - back bending

August 01, 2022 in Ashtanga yoga, Urdhva dhanurasana

The bow looks good, it’s rather even. The hands are too far away from the feet. This makes it impossible to come up from this asana. That’s why urdhva dhanurasana is the focus in August. Yet, the arms are nicely stretched. The pose looks balanced and easy. Everything must look easy these days, even though it isn’t.

Oh, did I forget goal #1? Of Course not. I want to ramp up the frequency of my practice. Only when I practice yoga asana can improve. The time spent on the mat needs contents and focus.

Most of the time I practice second series till after the twists. I add so many asanas that time passes by too quickly. There is no time to do the entire second series within 90 minutes. Might be that I’ll limit all the additional asanas one day again. Right now it feels good. Bending backwards is no more such a horror idea. I think all the easier back bending asanas that I practiced before the more challenging ones made the approach to back bending more joyful.

I practice urdhva dhanurasana after my attempts to do kapotasana.

My most important exercise right now is that I hold urdhva dhanurasana 1 min. I use timer and I count my breaths. I need much more breaths than in a relaxing position. To focus on the breath distracts me from the discomfort that sets in after a while. One minute is not long, but it feels long.

Those who practice Ashtanga yoga know the urdhva dhanurasana sequence. After 5 breaths one lowers the head to the floor, the hands walk closer to the feet and then one lifts up the body again. This is done twice, so that urdhva dhanurasana is done three times in total. At the end one shall be able to stand up from this position. Not possible yet, that’s why I want to focus on that pose.

This routine frustrates many yogis. It’s integrated rather late in the primary series. It pops out as something that doesn’t belong at that place. After all the forward bending asana of primary such a deep back bending pose is neither logic, nor does it feel good. Most yogis struggle with this routine. I guess that many give up.

Life is not logical either. I feel ready to work again more intensively on that asana. I’m curious what is possible within a month.

Ashtanga yoga - How often shall one practice?

July 31, 2022 in Ashtanga yoga

Ashtanga yoga is practiced 6 days a week. This is the tradition. Usually the students of Ashtanga yoga practice early in the morning before breakfast. it makes sense. The asanas are so advanced that 6 training days every week are necessary. It’s impossible to exercise asanas with a full stomach or gut. That’s why the mornings are the best time of the day. Moon days are rest days. In August 2022 the 12th and 27th are moon days. It is said that it’s more likely that injuries happen on these days. I’m not sure. A day off gives the body the opportunity to relax and to integrate the exercises. It’a also an exercise to detach from the asana practice. A day off gives the opportunity to work on other duties.

The picture shows my habit app. I obviously had downloaded it in April 2021. I thought that it could be a good idea to record the frequency of my practice. When I remember well I didn’t use this app very often. So the result is falsified. Yet, I realised how important it is to have a daily practice. To record the practice is a very useful tool to check the reality. Feelings often deceive. I’f the feeling that I practiced more often as shown in the statistics of my app. Creating dream goals makes no sense. Making progress towards a goal might be more realistic than trying to go form almost not practicing at all to the maximum.

Since I record my pracice whenever I practice Ashtanga yoga, I also practice more frequently. To observe oneself has the power to initiate change already. It’s like a reward to see the rose color on more and more days. To practice daily in August seems doable. The conditions are almost perfect. It’s summer time. The heat supports the practice. I feel more flexible when it’s warm and I can practice at home. I’ll probably travel once. This is the true challenge. It’s not impossible to keep practicing. Many yogis travel and practice. For me it’s always a challenge to find the right place and time when on the road.

The frequency of any practice is very important. It’s the first goal. No practice means nothing happens.

How often something should be practiced varies.

Whatever I read about strength training is that one needs rest days. Three days of strength training every week is probably much better than practicing every day. The rest days help to avoid injuries.
Stretching exercises can be done twice a day. This would be very effective, yet who has so much time?
When learning a language It’s good to practice it every day for many hours if time allows it. This will show the best results. Living in a country is the best language school.
Julie Cameron suggests for creative people to have one Artist’s Date every week. For me this is enough to be inspired for one week, often longer.

It makes sense to plan the frequency of a practice.

My yoga week has begun today. There are still 5 more practices in the pipeline this week. I anticipate them.

What topic shall I focus on in August?

It will be back bending.

Ashtanga yoga - goals

July 24, 2022 in Ashtanga yoga

Reasons why people don’t reach their goals:

They have no goals or too many.
They forget their goals. Or do you still remember the New Year Goals? Who does remember a goal on a daily basis. Who writes down the most important goal daily? Not so many, I guess.
The goals are not realistic, not precise enough. A time frame is missing. The steps to achieve this goal are not planned. There is no control system.

There are surely more reasons.

And of course there are people who are successful and reach their goals easily because they have an effective method to get where they want to be.

It felt like a shock, when I checked the frequency of my yoga practice on my habit app. My goals are often ambitious. Learning the 4 Ashtanga yoga series, focus on kapotasana and coming up from urdhva dhanurasana is one goal. I want to take perfect pictures of each asana. And I want to practice 6 days a week.

My insight: It’s distracting, too much and the path to get there is missing.

Mentally and also in my apps I deleted these dreams that shall become true one day. I pick me where I am.

All asanas improve when I practice daily.

It feels modest, but it isn’t when I focus on one goal only. I want to increase the frequency of my practice from 26% to at least 50% till the end of August. This would be a huge success. The conditions are perfect. I can practice at home. I’m not staying at someone else’s home. I’m not traveling and living in hotel rooms. My home is the best place for my Ashtanga yoga practice.

Saturday is my day off. Yesterday was Saturday.

After a break it’s usually a tiny bit more challenging to start. Focusing on only one goal concentrates all the available energy. I practiced. It felt good. The feeling to have reached a tiny step is uplifting That’s how it shall be.

Picture:

I integrate soft and challenging back bending positions into my practice.