I've always tended to drop straight back as soon as I took my hands over my head. This morning I managed to hang back for the first time. I think it has something to do with the exercise I was working on in the previous post. There, I was bending the knees which was creating a steeper angle between my feet and shins. This morning I kept aiming for that steep angle but without bending the legs. This meant that my hips were much further forward and my body was constantly wanting to spring back up on it's own accord. I used that to give myself the support and confidence to hang back. The further back I went the more I tried to increase the angle at my feet and get my hips forward and retain that springing action.Does that make sense, not sure what else to call that feeling of riding the spring back.
Coming up was not so successful tried the coming up onto fingertips that Boodie is talking about, but once I was up there I wasn't sure where to take it next, how to avoid pushing up through the hands and arms. I suspect it's to do with finding that springing action from the bottom up, probably increasing that angle again to get the hips forward, possibly bending the
legs to deepen the angle, then straightening them yet keeping the angle, voila, up you'll come, oh so easy to write, I can visualise it and everything, and yet........
This is what the Springiness reminds me of, kind of like I'm Jacob and the springiness is the Angel in Epstein's sculpture, holding me up. (If you ever come this way again Owl, this is the one I wanted to show you at the Tate that was all boxed up and in storage).
On the VK frount, Lotus sequence is going well. First day I had to unbind and stretch my legs a lot, this morning I only had to do that once, when you think your spending forty minutes in full lotus in this sequence, that's pretty good going. The most I tend to meditate for is Forty minutes at a time so if I can become comfortable in lotus for that long, I'll be most pleased. Nice sequence.
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Well.. that is the best backbending I've seen you do yet by far, so much more controlled, now you just have to practise hanging there and the last bit will come. It's so much nicer to do it with control! (I've lost some of mine of late due to this back thing)
I agree with you, the angle at the feet is of HUGE importance. That springy feeling, once it's controlled? I experience it as proper grounding through the feet.
Hi Grimmly. As of now, I can do the backbend only in one way: bent knees. My understanding is that bent knees allow to put more pressure on the thighs and straight knees put the pressure up on th lower back and abs. Springing is also done with the arms/shoulders to initiate the coming up and the weight shift in the waist/hips is also a thing. You seem to be more controlled when you shake the hips less, but sometimes it's needed to do it in order to come up. Hangback indeed helps to get the momentum out of it and focus on the controlled strength aspect of coming up.
Hey Susan : )
Was pleased with it, want to work on hanging longer, breathing through it more and seeing how the weight of the arms drop the shoulders etc back and down, then try and shift the same experience to Kapo.
I'm not experiencing the springiness as a grounding of the feet though, more like Epstein's Jacob and the Angel, perhaps a substitute for a teacher taking you back slowly those three times.
...of course it could be that I just haven't tied the feet angle thing and the springiness together yet, both are still new.
GD, I think all that work on the Iyengar multi drop back's helped. I was riding the spring there and am comfortable with it enough now to do it slowly and trust it. Coming up slowly is still tricky though. Day off this morning as I mashed my finger up at work, no raising onto fingertips today
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