Ashtanga yoga: New to Ashtanga and have been following this video. Is there a better one? |
- New to Ashtanga and have been following this video. Is there a better one?
- Questions about virtual Mysore classes
- Stuck at Dwi Pada
| New to Ashtanga and have been following this video. Is there a better one? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 07:17 PM PST |
| Questions about virtual Mysore classes Posted: 24 Nov 2020 07:18 AM PST Hey guys, first time posting, glad to finally be putting myself out into the community :) A About 6 years ago I began practicing full primary in a Mysore setting roughly two days a week. I unfortunately never developed a home practice, and would supplement the Mysore with power yoga classes. This lasted about 2.5 years, at which point I completely stopped for reasons I'm not even fully sure about. I even stopped doing yoga altogether for probably a year. I have tried multiple times to get back into Ashtanga, there's just something about it that's always pulling me back, but I really struggle to make a habit of it once I've started. I've never lived close enough to a shala to go with any true regularity, but I did what I could and also attended whatever workshops that came close enough to me. For this reason I feel like I've never really had a teacher. Fast forwarding a bit, a little over a year ago I injured my shoulder in a vinyasa class. I did not seek the physical therapy I should have and the injury has lingered, but I do feel like it's easing up a bit now. However, on top of losing some physical ability due to lack of practice, I now can no longer bind on one side or do poses like purvottanasana or prasarita c to anything near their full expression. I even feel completely foreign in my body when attempting sirsasana, and don't feel comfortable even taking my feet off the ground. Definitely a downer. I've also gained about 30 lbs since I was doing full primary which is not helping. Anyway, I've been trying lately to do what I can and I just feel like I'll never be able to fully dive into or commit to this practice if I don't get a teacher. I want the guidance and increased accountability that a teacher can provide. I want a teacher to know me and my unique physical and mental struggles. I don't want to always be going at it alone on shaky ground or go to a bunch of different teachers who don't know me. So all of this to say... I want to take advantage of all of the virtual stuff happening these days. There's a shala two hours away from me that I'd like to try virtual Mysore with, and attend in person on rare occasions. So what is virtual Mysore actually like? I know it can't be as good as in person, but it has to be better than nothing at all. Is it a good idea to do with someone who has never seen you practice in person, especially when dealing with an injury? Will I just be wasting the teacher's time? I have no idea what to expect. These are all questions I intend the ask the shala, I just wanted to get some feedback from others first. Sorry it's so long! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Nov 2020 06:01 AM PST Hi all! Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I've been practicing Ashtanga in the traditional Mysore style for the last five years. My teacher closed his shala last spring because of Covid, so I'm currently doing self-practice. I've actually come to like self-practice a lot! I went back to primary at the start of quarantine and refined it, and I feel much stronger and safer in second. My former teacher (who is great in so many ways!) probably progressed me too quickly/overlooked some of my bad habits. So now I'm back to where I always get stuck: Dwi Pada. In the past, this is where I've tended to get injured, usually some kind of SI thing. Partly this is because I was working Eka Pada wrong (it's much more of a strength posture than I'd realized), and I wasn't actually ready for Dwi Pada. I also think this pose is always going to be tricky for me: I have a very short torso, short arms (barely go past my hips when standing) and long legs, including really long femurs. Good in some ways for leg-behind-the-head, but not-so-great in other ways! I recently read in Gregor Maehle's book on the intermediate series that Dwi Pada is not ideal for some body types and those people shouldn't push it, so I'm proceeding with a lot of caution. (For what it's worth, I also do extra stretching and strengthening for the hips and glutes.) So my question is, if I can't execute Dwi Pada safely and with integrity, do I take that as my stopping point indefinitely? On the one hand, I am very happy to do my current practice for the rest of this lifetime! There's still plenty to explore. But on the other, I'm wondering if I'm letting myself off the hook—like, oh well, no Karandavasana for me! Am I being a little complacent? Is there a version of Dwi Pada that I might take as sufficient? I look forward to working with a teacher again, but I don't think that will happen for a while in my part of the world, and in the meantime, I'd love some advice on when and how you progress, especially if you've been doing self-practice for a while. Thank you so much! [link] [comments] |
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