Saturday, December 8, 2012

Paul Gold on getting it up in Karandavasana

Continuing with my recent theme of getting it up in Karandavasana, I just read a great post on Paul Gold's blog about coming back up in this posture. There is a great video of him doing this posture in the post; be sure to check it out. Here's what Paul has to say about coming back up in Karandavasana:

"First of all, it’s only men that are required to lift back up. There are some women that have the strength to do it, but it’s not a pre-requisite for women to learn subsequent asanas. Lifting back up is a real hurdle for men making their way through this series. [Nobel: Tell me about it...] It’s not uncommon for gents to have to spend a little time sorting out this pose before advancing."

This is really interesting. I did not know lifting back up is not a requirement for women in order to "pass" Karandavasana. I wonder what the rationale behind this is: Is it simply because women tend, on the whole, to have less upper body strength than men? Or is it because women simply have nothing to get up? :-)
  
Anyway... I probably should quit making double entendres about Karandavasana, and just, well, get it up already (couldn't resist making that last one either...). Paul continues his post by elaborating on the technical aspects of coming back up in much detail:   

It’s important to have strong bandhas and good breathing in this asana. In order to get the legs into lotus and lower down, one has to have a good strong waist to maintain balance, especially bringing the second leg into lotus.

The big problem when lifting back up is there’s a tendency to let the hips and seat sag and drop once one’s lowered onto the arms. It’s important to resist gravity and try to keep the hips and seat as elevated as possible. With each of the 5 breaths taken on the arms, fatigue increases and the hips and seat will want to drop. If the hips and seat get too low, it’s very hard to lift back up.

When it’s time to lift up, engage the bandhas strongly, take the weight forward and press the forearms straight down into the floor while pulling the hips and seat upward. All of this occurs on a long, full inhale. There is also a swinging movement bringing the knees up towards the ceiling as well, but the hips and seat lead the knees...

Don’t worry about ‘style points’ at first. It’s the mechanics of using the breath, engaging the bandhas and taking the weight forward and upwards that’s most important. Try not to get discouraged if it takes some time. Keep practicing and it will come."

Three things are key here: Bandhas, breath, and resisting gravity. I'll work on this. Well, I hope at least some of you out there will find all this useful as much as I do. More later. 

10 comments:

  1. I think that this post is very helpful. I don't omit this pose. I do what I can. Giving up this pose is not how I am, even a woman, hahaha.....

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    1. No, definitely don't give up. I know many women who have no problem getting it up in this pose...

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  2. It is surely one of the most difficult asanas in second series.

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    1. Yes. Only Kapotasana is as difficult.

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    2. And as I understand it, in Kapotasana a woman has to be able to grab her heels on her own to move on, whereas if a man can get his heels with help from a teacher, he can move on. So Karandavasana isn't the only posture that comes with gendered differences. I assumed that women are allowed to move on in Karanda once they can "land the duck" (but before they can come up on their own) due to their lower center of gravity, which makes the pose much harder, in addition to the upper body strength part, but that's just a guess.

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    3. Thanks for sharing, MM. I didn't know there is a gender difference in Kapotasana as well. Your guess about the rationale for the gender difference in Karandavasana sounds like a good guess.

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    4. I've heard some different things about Kapo, too, though, including differences in what people have seen in Mysore, so I wonder if some of it is case-by-case depending on what a teacher knows about the student? Anyway, I don't think my word is gospel :)

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    5. I don't have the last word on this either, but it is quite possible that Kapo is decided on a case-by-case basis. Although, then again, I've always had this feeling that, on the whole, women seem to be more natural back-benders than men; which lends itself to a case for a gender difference in the standards for Kapo...

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  3. Hi Nobel, I am glad we are both working on the same pose, I like hearing your musings. I had never heard about these gender rules about Karandavasa or Kapotasana. I suspect that there is always a little bit of adapting to the individual as MM suggests. For my own part I was given the next pose when I could land Karandavasana by myself. I thought that was the rule, that you had to be able to land it, to be move on. That is mostly assumption on my part though. I think very few people can actually get up again, yet I am enjoying the challenge.

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    1. "I think very few people can actually get up again..."

      Perhaps, but it seems that those who can are those who are making the videos ;-)

      In any case, I'm actually pretty happy with being able to land for now. Getting up will come when it comes ("do your practice..."). I'm also happy that we are working on the same pose :-)

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