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June 30, 2003
Intro To Ashtanga
Tonight I took the Intro to Ashtanga class in Encinitas. It was fun. The teaching at the beginning of the class was interesting and the abbreviated practice was good for me since my joints seemed achy today. The room was packed and we were inches from each other's mats. The room was hot, the sun was blazing, I don't even know if the heater was on and, if it wasn't, it didn't need to be. We started off the practice by getting into sun salutations from our knees first, holding chatarunga, moving through to upward dog and back to our knees. We then did all of the standing postures up to balancing... One of the assistants came over during Utthita Parsvakonasana and adjusted me... then at the end he touched my lower leg, hip, shoulder, top of hand sort of saying "dooo" at each spot. I couldn't figure out if he was asking me to be mindful of my alignment or sorta whisping his hand over to say "See, look straight line..." It was the only adjustment I had all evening which was okay... because after class I asked Tim about my hyperextended elbow problem. It's never a good sign when a teacher as experienced as Tim looks at your elbows and his eyebrows sorta twist. My wrist problems are definitely a result of my hyperextension which, on the right side, is dramatic. My inability to balance, to put all of my weight on my hands is directly related too. Basically, Tim told me to keep working on retraining and that it would take "time and more time" in order for it to work itself out. He also encouraged me to use a strap above my elbows in all of the arm balancing, handstands, backbend asanas. Easy to do with my own practice, harder to implement in a fast moving first series class but I'm going to try. Interestingly enough, I was doing a web search on hyperextended elbows and apparently this trait is sought after in Cambodian dancers. So much so that they have developed a set of exercises they teach children in order to retrain their muscles/joints to hyperextend.
Tonight I experienced something I've only ever heard others talk about --- being right next to someone who's sweat creeps their way to your mat. The guy next to me, WOW, by the time we were done, he had a lake on his mat. I'm not exaggerating. It was only slightly disconcerting to move into my first forward bend and find I was staring into someone else's sweat.
I also know that I need to find a new type of yoga pant with a different material than my Prana asana pants... in the heat of the room, with the sweat, they stick to me everywhere and I have to struggle to push my arms through in Garbha Pindasana where I don't normally.
Posted by shanti at 9:20 PM | Comments (2)