Saturday, March 6, 2010

Heels

I've been so preoccupied with LBH, that backbends haven't been something I have really been pining for. This morning, however, after it happened, I felt (and feel) like a five-year-old on Christmas morning.

I got my heels! Towards the end of a fun and intense non-traditional class, including just the right mix of quad, groin and shoulder openers (along with many others), I reached my heels in kapo.

Dropping back I hung and held and waited and breathed, finding the balance point with the hips far forward. I could see my toes. I tucked my tailbone in a big scoop and aaaaaaaaaarched my thoracic (yes, with 9 a's) and let my hands land quietly on my mat just a short distance from my toes. Spider-crawled my fingers in and heard A instructing someone else to try walking along the outside of the feet...changed tactics and crawled up the outside...past toe, footpad, midsole...holy crap, past midsole??? Kept going, scoop hips, take bandha, push hips forward, crawl aaaaaaall the way up to heels and BIND. Glorious!

I let my elbows descend to the floor and breathed deeply 5 times. No panic, no pain, it felt amazing (which is remarkable considering the bitching my back has been doing lately).

So usually when I have a breakthrough like this, it shows up and blinds me with happiness and excitement, then goes away for a while. It always comes back though. So I expect the same for heels in kapo. Now that it has shown up, I know it will be back, so I'm going to let it go. But only after treating myself to a massage to celebrate :-) Happy Saturday everyone!

2 comments:

Liz said...

Great news!!!

Heels is big. I mean, it was in my world of Kapo. Didn't you feel (once you grabbed them), that it was actually easier than being close? That's what motivates me to keep going for the heels, even when it feels impossible to do it again and again and again...

I'm excited for you!

KMB said...

Thanks Liz! I agree completely - having that hook to hold onto really helped me to distribute the bend more evenly and made the whole thing oddly more comfortable.

I think it is harder to do all the things I'm supposed to (bandha, arching thoracic, hip orientation) when I'm kinda floating or hanging on by a thread. I loved the grounded/connected feeling of heels...and it will definitely motivate me to keep trying!

The massage yesterday was the icing on the cake :-)