Tictac D-Day ( UPDATED ) and one approach to challenging aspects of practice

Part 3 of David Garrigues' Vipraita chakrasana ( tictac, tictoc or whatever ) online tutorial is up and today's the day to nail some reasonable semblance of it so I can stop obsessing and get back to my regular practice.

It's almost there, I have the tic and can tac/toc from two cushions and just about hold it from one. That single cushion is thin and squishy so I'm not that far off the mat. If I can get the timing right, if I can send my pelvis forward (or is that backward) as well as up, if I can bring my shoulders over my hands and if I can bring my head and chest through at just the right moment, if I can hold it and if I can just bring my legs back up to handstand and back down to the mat..... then it should be there.

OK I admit, six big ifs or three big ifs and three small ones.

So why today, day 13? It was supposed to be tomorrow which would make it two weeks and mirrors the two week Karanadavasana project* from a couple of years back but my day off got switched to today I have some extra time to work on it.

Mainly though I just want to move on, get over it. The plan was to use this as a little raja burning asana in place of my Vinyasa Krama short evening practice, which is mainly prep for my pranayama and meditation. It's taken over of course leaving me no time for meditation and the last few days, no time for pranayama either. Practicing Ashtanga in the morning again, I need my Evening Vinyasa Krama practice.

By the way, when I refer to my Vinyasa Krama practice, take it as read that I'm referring to an asana element (some subroutines from Ramaswami's book), Pranayama, pratyahara and a meditation practice, (Japa mantra, vipassana or perhaps some chanting).

Ashtanga is a nice practice but it's hot and sweaty and though I still do some pranayama and a little japa afterwards they don't seem to marry as well as with the slower VK practice, for me at least.

So do I stop working on tictac after today, whether I nail it or not?

No, but it goes on the back burner, ticking over as it were.

I find this works well, whether it's working on the jump back/though, dropping back or coming up, Kapo or Karandavasana, leg behind head poses, Marich B and D, Pasasana, whatever challenging aspect of the practice we come up against. Give it two weeks focus, obsess about it, blog about it, Video it, slow it down, take screenshots, watch others nailing it on Youtube, pick over every element and then see where you are at the end of the fortnight, you might not have nailed it but you'll be closer I guarantee it. Meanwhile, other aspects of your practice, under less of a gaze will often come along nicely on their own. I remember obsessing over the jump back and hardly noticed that I had begun to bind Mari D at the wrist, it just happened on it's own.

And of course it doesn't have to be just tricky postures. Your Vinyasa and general timing a bit out, practice a little untidy, too much faffing about or modifications? A couple of weeks or, indeed, a month of practicing along to a counted CD or DVD can do wonders.

Not an approach that works for everyone perhaps but it's worked well for me.

So after today, Ok perhaps tomorrow... no make that Wednesday because then were off to Athens early Thursday morning and I'm not going to tictac in a tiny hotel room. So from next week, I'll go through my Primary to kapo as usual, dropback  three times then throw in one or two tictac attempts and move on, let the action settle and work itself out. Then perhaps in a month or so I'll have another serious look at it and see if I can polish it off once and for all, get three in a row or something.

* Re the 14 day Karandavasana challenge mentioned above, I managed to come down but not up that time, a month later I had another Karandavasana week and nailed it, see HERE, the exit came on it's own two months after that.

and so to practice.....

UPDATED




I'll settle for this, feeling relatively comfortable flipping back and forth on the two cushions, it's fun and something to look forward to after dropbacks in the morning. It feels pretty much like a done deal, couple of weeks of this and the action should be solid enough to switch back to one cushion, which is almost there but not quite. Perhaps another intensive look at this a month from now.

Lots to work on, holding the handstand longer, bringing the feet closer to my head and dropping into a tighter Urdhava Dhanurasana and the same flipping back.

A big thank you to David Garrigues for inspiring me to work on on this and thus getting over the fear of dropping from headstand, the tic. Splitting his tutorial into three parts encouraged me to stick with it long enough to get the tac too, if only from a couple of cushions.