Thursday, November 10, 2011

Practice report: Second series backbends, knee

During practice on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, I re-introduced the second series backbends into my practice for the first time in two weeks, since I injured my left knee a couple of weeks ago. After not having done these backbends for a couple of weeks, they feel different in my body. Especially Laghu Vajrasana and Kapotasana. It appears that I haven't lost any backbending flexibility: I am still getting my heels in Kapotasana. But the feeling in these backbends is different now from what it was before two weeks ago. On both days, I felt this powerful pulling stretchy sensation in my quads (almost painful, but not quite) in both Laghu and Kapo. On Tuesday, I also felt this achy sensation in my thoracic spine after coming out of Kapo. I think these are good signs: It seems that whatever it was that was hurting my knee is somehow also making my front body work harder. Which also makes me wonder: Is whatever it is that is hurting the left knee related to some kind of front-back muscular balance in my body?

In any case, as a result of this re-introduction of backbends into my practice, I have been walking around with sore quads these last couple of days. I think that means I walk around with legs that are more extended, with less bend at the knees (because bending the knees more when you walk also activates the quads more, I think). I don't think anybody around me is actually noticing anything about the way I walk ;-) But hey, I much prefer walking around with sore quads than trying to walk with painful knees; the latter is very not fun.

As for the left knee, I am cautiously optimistic that it is getting better. During yesterday's practice, I took a chance, and got into the finishing lotuses with the left leg first. The sensation in the knee as I folded the left leg into lotus was more of an intense achy sensation than a sharp pain, and it passed after about a second in lotus. This seems to me a good sign that something is healing. But I should probably be more cautious here, and try to follow Megan's "any sensation is too much sensation" mantra. It's just that I'm always curious as to how far I can move things without hurting myself; and sometimes, as they say, curiosity kills the cat :-)

9 comments:

  1. Speaking of 2nd Series back-bends, it looks like you've been reblogged: http://yogadudes.tumblr.com/ That's you in the upper right, correct?

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  2. Yes, Frank, that is indeed me in the upper right. So while many people may not even know how I look like, they will know how my kapotasana looks like :-) Funny, isn't it?

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  3. Yes, I was posted on there last week (page 4), in Urdhva Dhanurasana, so you can't see my face either. Kinda strange.

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  4. Is that you in the black shorts with red trimming? Or are you the one in the black Nike shorts? In either case, nice U.D. :-)

    P.S. Now I don't feel so bad about having my feet turned outwards in U.D. It appears that I am not the only one who does this :-)

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  5. I am in the Nike shorts. My feet (thighs, actually) turn out naturally, so totally straight feet does not really seem to work for me. I do have to avoid turning my feet out further than they need to be, but I don't obsess over it. Having the feet turned out more than the thighs is not so good, though, as you can hurt your knees that way.

    Strange--he posted only the U.D. pic of me, though there were two much deeper (and cooler) back-bends on the blog site he pulled it from (you have to click on the white November 2 wording that pops up when you scroll over the pic). There are actually a bunch of cool pics on that original blog as well, including a couple of ladies doing 3rd Series (which I was not doing at the time).

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  6. Very cool! I got to see your face in the other pics too :-) So you are a student of David Garrigues?

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  7. Oh, yes, I am David's student, since about September of '09 (with a handful of drop-ins in the couple of months before that). I try to drop in on others who pass through here as well(for a while Noah Williams, and now Greg Nardi), which ends up being maybe once a week, as I like supporting the other shala and teachers if I can. But I am primarily David's student.

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  8. Very cool. So I'm guessing you live and practice in Philadelphia? I was there once a few years ago (in '08). While there, I went to a mysore class at YogaSquared. Have you practiced there before?

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  9. No kidding! That's where David taught when he moved here, though that wasn't until '09; he basically took over teaching Mysore (when he wasn't travelling). Then the shala basically split when Noah Williams came to live here for a while. With Noah long gone, the shalas ended up merging back together in April, and that's essentially where Greg Nardi is teaching now. When David got back from India in April, he started teaching on his own and opened a new space. So, yes, I practiced at Yoga Squared for quite a while, though it no longer exists in name or in the same place, and everything has shuffled around a bit.

    And while I am mostly in Philadelphia, last year I decided to take up "Ashtanga tourism" and drop into the shalas whereever I travel for work (which is pretty rare lately) or for pleasure. It's been fun seeing how different shalas operate and to meet ashtangis everywhere, from London and Edinburgh, to DC, Toronto, South Beach, and even North Jersey. I guess it serves as a proxy for not being able to go practice at the "Mother of All Shalas". Perhaps one day I will make it there, but for now I take what I can get.

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