Ashtanga Traveler

What can I say....I am sitting at my work desk, in the usual kind of chair (with a low back) trying to keep an ice block on my sore as intercostal muscle, top right side...between spine and scapula....of course I do not really know it is an intercostal, could be rhombiods, traps?....just hurts to breath.....the posture I am in is probably doing far worse things to my back....I cannot really pinpoint what I did when.....it just hurts....so ice it is off and on today, and then I will try fluttering my eyelids to get a massage tonight.....which I probably should hold off on until tomorrow but I KNOW it would feel great....so I will be sure to ice before and after.

Highlights of practice this morning....

Well there was that moment when tears welled up in the Eka pada adjustment...my favorite pose. God, my hips are trhe place where all the tension goes.....shoulders, way open...no sweat...hips....urgh.

KV just plain sucked. Only one attempt, got down okay and then had serious help lifting...now what I mean by serious help is along the lines of please lift me up, cuz I am goin nowhere. There was a bit of a discussion about this pose following my ridiculus attempt.....about what it is like to be ata seeming standstill with a pose. I have to admit, this is probably the first time I have really, really just plain not been able to do something, even remotely, and the thing is there does not appear to even be a little handy shortcut.....it is do or die category....even going down there are baby steps to take....make you feel like progress is happening...but not here, not trying to press back up....now what
I am curious about is how many people move on before they can actually do the entire thing; ie master it? I am guessing that it probably depends on the person, the teacher etc. I asked my own teacher today (in the midst of this conversation about it) whether the poses that followed this one were of any use to it....meaning would they provide more foundation for it. Of course PM is necessary in order to do KV....but what other things in second up to that really help you prepare? There is bakasana A and B.....there are jump back and thrus, salutes and chaturanga. There are a few times in primary....bhudja P and Kukukt, taken forward a bit. But the basic movement of pushing back up into a proper forearm balance from the duck, is like a two phaser thing, requiring almost a slingshot sort of action with the arms....and these pups are no slingshots believe me. In all of this I have noticed that my right arm is way bigger than my left. SO to try and work the left more I have been trying to take my weight more obviously onto the left arm, for instance in jump thrus and backs.

My person preference about all this is not so much that I am not strong enough (well entirely) but that I have also not worked out the breath bandha connection yet....the coordination is seriously lacking. I know this is true because I can do somethings if I coordinate properly, which I would never have the brute strength to do otherwise.

I have been focussing on making sure my heels do not move one little fraction of an inch in my drop backs, coming up....little blighters have a tendency to do this little wiggley thing.

Did I mention eka pada....ya. It has had me spun out all day....I have the chills....oh wait that could be the ice.....

Kapotasana was cool. My focus here is to try and spread the arch out, further up the spine...seems to be working, as my lower back has not been as sore. Plus I am double checking my spine during practice with my hands, to see that I am getting the most extenion as possible (in between asanas).

And I am tired...like I feel like going home and having a nap.