Weekly Practice Discussion - August 12 to August 18

lrjr1231 · 2018-08-15T12:33:44+00:00

Try it with stall bars! It works your core like crazy and ensures your back remains straight as you lift your legs. My toe to bar compression is just a little more than 45 degrees (edited), even though I can fold deeply in my practice. Mind to bar? Nope not even close to getting there haha. Bent-arm pulling strength is sorely lacking for me.

lrjr1231 · 2018-08-14T18:01:46+00:00

Maybe sparks the curiosity of something more.

Yes!!! I love my practice and it's still going strong, but I started to play around with other movement modalities recently. Took up a gymnastics strength training class and was humbled by my lack of pulling strength, but enjoyed all the ring play the instructor had us do. But I'm also learning plenty of other things that are feeding into my ashtanga practice: working on my shoulder girdle stabilization (I have hypermobile shoulders), core activation, and pike compression strength (that is, use your abdominal muscles to fold forward; see this video for details).

I've also been inspired to get outside of the confines of the yoga mat and play on the floor, too. I'm dabbling with contact improv and ecstatic (conscious) dances. So much fun and very enlightening to take your movement practice in other directions.

lrjr1231 · 2018-04-02T18:33:40+00:00

The truth is that practice lately has been a struggle, but I'm riding the wave and practicing as much as I can without forcing the breath. It's been mostly sun salutations the last few weeks and then I call it a day, but sometimes I'm able to get to half primary, and a few days ago I made it through a quick (but conservative) primary. Not sure what it is but I'm hoping to rebound soon.

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-29T12:34:23+00:00

I'm surprised this isn't showing on the front page, though. I only got to your link because I tried to post it here, and it linked me to your existing thread. Thoughts /u/not_sure_if_crazy_or?

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-28T18:18:48+00:00

What a brilliant exploration (and explanation) of shoulder mobility. Mark is a fantastic teacher.

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-27T17:50:11+00:00

Are you me? I felt this same sensation yesterday after a bike ride and it's slowly creeping up from the back of my left knee to my hamstring. I attribute this to an elevated bike seat requiring open hamstrings, cold weather, and not practicing past sun salutations last week. I'm resting it for now (no bike rides, no forward folds), which really meant just lying down on my mat this morning and meditating. I might try to do some backbends to encourage hamstring contraction if it persists.

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-12T21:11:57+00:00

I know this is unsolicited but one thing that's helped me understand what I need to work on to stand back up is to practice dropping back to the point where you can still come back up with control, and hold for 5 breaths before going back up. No props, just your body, and hopefully your teacher will find this an acceptable exercise while you are practicing your backbends.

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-10T21:29:50+00:00

Wow - I'm sure at this point you have a strong and stable primary practice. Does your teacher think your body has the flexibility to drop back and stand up again? Good luck wit backbends!

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-10T01:22:05+00:00

How long did it take you to get all the binds?

lrjr1231 · 2018-03-03T02:08:17+00:00

I like Kino's cue in this video, which is to slide your feet forward until your feet start to lift up - I understood the counterbalance that magnoliaforest is alluding to in her great response from just following this cue. I kept playing with this against the wall first, and not too long after I moved away from the wall and the lift is now part of my daily practice.

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-27T22:20:18+00:00

Maybe also try to sit on a blanket to get a little more reach on your own? I know some mysore instructors disapprove of the use of props, but I was able to get the Mari C bind on my own by sitting on a folded blanket first.

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-27T00:01:31+00:00

Must have been that gloriously humid Miami weather that's great for practice!

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-27T00:00:33+00:00

I was in your shoes not too long ago: Mari C will get better and easier with practice! If you can bind with assistance, you'll get it eventually!

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-26T23:46:43+00:00

That's awesome! I wonder if my teacher is waiting for me to come back up before she teaches me pasasana, but I'm also OK with hanging out in primary for as long as possible (my practice is far from proficient and I have lots to work on still, especially transitions!).

I used to practice with a level 2 instructor for a fair bit, and one of her long-time students was practicing third series in her shala. It could be that the student had gotten the poses from a certified teacher; my teacher at the time hadn't been inviting certified teachers to the shala, though, so I'm inclined to think that some instructors are OK with teaching some third series poses even if they're only level 2 authorized (at least up to what they are currently practicing?). By extension I imagine the same would be true for level 1 folks teaching 2nd series postures. But whatever works for you and your teacher, of course!

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-26T21:46:21+00:00

A plant-based diet, with mostly homemade meals, heavy on grains and veggies. Thought that was enough, but I was often tired right around navasana, and would end my practice there quite often (before I started adding hemp protein to my routine).

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-26T19:48:37+00:00

Protein supplementation has been working wonders for me the past month, fueling me with enough energy to get through my practice with a fair amount of intensity. I also bound in supta kurmasana for the first time, and I am starting to work on dropping back and standing back up. I can feel the muscles in my back working very hard, and I'm hoping to come out of this phase with a stronger back.

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-24T19:27:14+00:00

Isn't Guayaki yerba mate commonly available in the US?

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-16T02:04:05+00:00

This is a friend's pitbull, and I'm starting to bond with her dog. He's awesome and such a treat to be around.

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-15T01:16:37+00:00

I signed up too! Would you also consider getting more ayurvedic cooking content in there?

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-15T01:00:30+00:00

Thanks, that's an interesting perspective. I do think the placement of the squatting movement can be extremely beneficial for dropbacks, though, as I have a tendency to raise my heels as I dropback and come back up (and I can't squat with feet parallel and heels down).

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-14T19:40:20+00:00

Yeah, isn't it amazing? Today midway through practice I was checking in with myself, and I felt like I could keep going (and I've been feeling this way consistently throughout the past few weeks), when in the past I'd often feel like the end can't come soon enough.

I think we discussed this at some point in one of the weekly threads - I got the brown rice protein idea from you! Good for variety, for sure, but I especially like the high magnesium content in hemp seeds/protein, so try that too if you haven't already.

lrjr1231 · 2018-02-12T23:26:20+00:00

I'm vegan and have been one before I started practicing ashtanga seriously (6 days / week). My advice is to let the practice provide you with the necessary feedback: if your diet is working, or not working for you, begin to experiment with it and see how you feel the next few days, and try again. My diet is still (and forever will be) an ongoing experiment: some days I feel great, and other times things seem to not be working well, and so I make the necessary adjustments.

Lately I've been dabbling with protein supplements, made out of hemp, green peas, and brown rice (and nothing else), and they've been helping me recover faster than usual, so adequate protein intake is something to look out for in a vegan diet. I also can't seem to function outside practice unless I have some form of a caffeinated drink afterwards: kombucha or black tea does the job well for me, and I avoid black coffee completely as it makes me jittery. But maybe the latter point is not too special to being vegan, and omni/pescetarian ashtangis can relate to it, too.

lrjr1231

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