The idea here, then, is to land the feet a little lower each time and then flip back out. I tried to string a couple together as if I was going all the way.
...and here's what I'm aiming, the marvelous Laruga from her blog Peaceloveyoga. There are a lot of videos of this on Youtube, I like this one best because of it's elegance and how she brings here legs low towards her head before dropping her feet to the mat.
The ones where people drop to the mat all the way from an erect handstand scare the hell out of me.
The plan is to work on this exercise a little each night and then move on to the next exercise as and when David posts it, think he mentions it's in three parts. I'm labeling it 1.1, Exercise 1, day 1.
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14 comments:
Hm, very nice. Doesn't Laruga make it look easy?? That's the way you're supposed to do it, at least the way I've been taught.. straight legs at the top and kind of passing through vshchikasana, not just crashing down from handstand.
I have that control on a good day, but jumping from backbend up to vrshchikasana-ish position is taking a loooong time to come. Lots going on in my shoulders, armpits, chest.
But the assisted ones have gone from being terrifying to fun :)
Ow... my back hurts just looking at Laruga's demo. Beautiful demo though. And you're doing great Grimmly.
i'm still feeling this morning's backbends, Looking at her video, i'm convinced that (1) Laruga def has yoga fairies with her and (2) she's immortal.
You're doing great :)
She's wonderful, I remember watching her jump back and through ( straight legs by the way) over and over, back when I first started this blog and was obsessed with jump backs.
There's a guy on Youtube who drops to the mat right from the top of his handstand, terrifying.
It's stupid, I know i can drop safely into UD from where I am now but still freaks me out.
That return is funny, I tried it, half tried it but nothing really happens, think you have to commit yourself a 110% to making it. Hopefully David wont get around to that until the third part.
Good luck with yours.
Thanks Yyogini, should probably have waited till I was back doing 2nd series ( end of this month) not that much backbending lately with the Led primary project.
Thank you too Cory but a long way to go. Think Laruga was pretty much self taught too, though she's been to Mysore several times for extended stays. If you go to her youtube page there are loads of video's, all perfect.
Personally I think she does it with wires.
Thanks Grimmly for linking to David's site. Now I understand why my teacher in SF used to emphasize the importance, when practicing UD at the wall, to lift the chest way up and push the arms strongly. David explains why the alignment there is important.
Cheers
Arturo
thank u for sharing Laruga's video, wow, wow, she is so perfect indeed, im speechless
Hi Arturo. i like how he's not afraid to use props occasionally, look out for hi video on using a pad under the shoulders in shoulder stand 9 think he uses a boogie board).
Check out her other video's on her youtube channel Daisy, all wonderful, largely self taught i understand too 'though she's spent quite some time in Mysore. Her blog is Peaceloveyoga and is in my blog list.
So does Laruga class herself as largely self-taught? (I don't know her or I'd just ask!). You've said that about her several times now, but I was under the impression that as well frequent trips to Mysore, she learned from an authorised teacher.
I mean by your logic, you could class Kino as 'largely self-taught', because apart from yearly Mysore trips, she's always practiced alone. But I don't think she would agree with 'self-taught' at all.
There's a huge difference between seeing a teacher for a couple of months a year and practicing alone the rest of the time, and being 'self-taught'. HUGE.
Just wondering where this idea comes from, I mean has Laruga told you she's 'largely self-taught', or is that your spin on it?
Oh! Comment moderation! I'd noticed censorship becoming rampant in the blogosphere again.....
Hi Susan, how was Trafalger Square? Saw some pictures, strange Sury's.
Comment moderation is on posts a week old, because of spam.
I'll try and find the post where Laruga talks about this.
Hey... I didn't make it, largely because I couldn't get myself to practice early enough to get to the office early enough to be able to leave before 6. But Mel was there!
I guess that makes sense, you probably get a lot more spam than I do! It's just annoying when you spend a lot of time and thought composing a comment that just gets flushed down the toilet - not that you've ever done that, you've always published my comments whether I'm disagreeing with you or not - thanks.
Couldn't we just ask her? Do you class yourself as 'largely self-taught'? Or have your teachers been hugely important?
Been going through her old posts and my email, can't remember where we talked about it. I was surprised, if anyone appears classically trained it's Laruga.
As I remember the it there was no Shala near so she learned from books, dvd's etc then took the odd workshop when someone was in town, went to Mysore for a couple of months where everything was tightened up, then back to self practice and workshops and then mysore again. I take that to be self practice/self taught. Serious self discipline and attention to detail, she's my hero.
That's how I remember the gist of it, Apologies Laruga if you read this and I've misremembered a little.
It would be great if she would read it and comment! You should invite her!
I guess it comes down to what your definition of self-taught is. I have kind of a similar story, but wouldn't class myself as 'largely self-taught' even though many, many discoveries came in solitary practices, or through experimentation, much was learned from books, I was teacherless for long periods, I trust my own body and intuition above all, I didn't start doing regular Mysore till I'd already given myself up to pincha, etc.
From one angle, any yogi is self-taught. Only I/you can experience it, feel it, learn.
But I think it's important not to de-emphasize the impact of a teacher. If they are really your teacher, then even if you don't see them often, you won't consider yourself 'self-taught'.
I don't think i was de emphasising the role of a teacher, what I said was
'largely self taught i understand too 'though she's spent quite some time in Mysore.'
'Largely' and 'quite some time in Mysore'
But agreed difficult to pin down self taught. I've only been to a shala twice but have worked through all the classic Ashtanga books and practiced with most of the DVD's had tips and suggestions from you and all the other bloggers and now for instance working along with Davids tictac exercise.
And yet I suppose I do tend to think of myself as self taught in the sense that I don't work with a teacher every morning and choose for myself which areas to work on or which books and dvd's to follow for a while, like now and the led primary for a month to tighten up my practice.
It's that sense I think I was referring to in Laruga's case, in that my understanding was that she didn't have a local shala for a long time or a regular teacher, perhaps it;s better to stress home practice than self taught.
I agree too though that ultimately it's always self practice whether you go to a shala or not, a teacher can help, the sangha can be supportive but it always comes down to you in the end.
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