Karanda attempt

Plenty of work to do, but it's a start. The thing I'm holding between my hands is a flip-flop, I got the idea from a video I saw on Youtube - I think it was a pincha tutorial. It helps a lot with the stability, not something I'd want to use forever but it helps keep things lined up if I'm going to be trying it a few times in a row.

Been able to do lotus in headstand for a while but my pincha has never been stable/consistent enough for me to feel confident giving karanda a try without someone adjusting me. Something about Nancy telling me to learn to fall, and to just keep trying had me thinking about this one since I got back from Goa.

And long live the liberator in all it's black velvet glory!! Is there anything this prop can't help with? :-)

Dropback sans Liberator

Last night I was playing around and managed my first dropback without the liberator. In my shala few people do dropbacks at all because the custom is to do them only after you complete a full intermediate practice (yes, I know this is not the norm). Usually when I've done a full intermediate practice I'm wiped and tired and go straight to UD. My full intermediate practices have also been sporadic and inconsistent energy-wise, which may be why J hasn't pushed me to drop back.

I dropped to the liberator and then kept coming more and more forward for each one until I was off the liberator entirely. I hit the ground, quite thumpily (have to figure out how to deal with that impact and take it out of my shoulders) and rocked three times to come back up. Immediately banished the liberator and vowed never to use it for backbends again. Dropped back and came to standing several times sans-liberator to ingrain the memory of the movement. I'm dropping back! Euphoria!!

I will try to take a clip at some point to show the drop-thump. Been perusing others' videos and no one seems to have this crash-bang, so it might be a learning stage or something important technique-wise that I need to change.

Backbends

A few weeks ago I stood from UD to my own surprise. Then it left me for a while…I was accepting of it and didn’t dwell. This weekend it came back. So, I tried it a few times to be sure and I think it is truly here to stay.



Feet are still yucky but you’ve gotta start somewhere (nice little dance at the top…then my husband comes charging through…these are the distractions I live with while trying to work on my backbends…le sigh). I managed to do it without the dance later but didn’t catch it on film.

I also did some dropping back to the liberator (affectionately renamed Liberace) and coming back up from same.



I then tried to come out a little further from the liberator, to have less of a prop on landing. I came out too far, realized this on the hangback and lost my nerve going back. I'm a little disappointed I didn't go for it as watching this it seems a lot closer than it felt. Maybe if I bring my Manduka home from the studio, it would protect my wrists better than my travel mat. Then I might have the confidence to do it sans Liberace.

The Liberator

Months ago, on one of my favorite blogs, I happened upon a description of a tool/prop used to aid in dropping back from standing or into Kapo. It was called the Dune and basically it is a wedge-shaped mat used for tumbling drills in gymnastics. I decided that I needed to have one.

Thus began a months-long hunt for this product online, in gym equipment stores and industrial parks…I even emailed an acquaintance who works for the school board distributing gym equipment to see if he could hook me up. Turns out he is mostly into football and probably confused to no end why I needed such a thing. None of the online distributors could ship to Canada…disappointment at every turn.

Then….I saw the movie Burn After Reading, and realized there was another application (and therefore source) for the prop. So my traipsing online took a detour into Adult Furniture (yes) and I continued my hunt in sex shops throughout three provinces, online to many purveyors who would not ship to Canada and finally found a website that could help me out and promised discreet shipping to the great north. Sold!

Edit - the packaging was not as "discreet" as promised...:-)

I finally received "The Liberator", a wedge mat covered in durable black microfiber (I ordered blue, to make it less obvious, but they sent me black anyways).

Anyhoo – the point of the post is to draw attention to a couple other (yoga) uses for the liberator…I’ve been using it at the beginning of Pincha Mayurasana to get my toes up a little higher and therefore my hips/pelvis in the right place earlier in the attempt. It really made a big difference for me in my pincha mayurasana journey, and also relieved the tenderness in the pad of the bottom foot from repeated attempts at kicking up and coming back down onto one foot (I know I should do it double-footed, hopefully I can someday).

Karandavasana is a lofty goal. In all likelihood it won’t ever be possible for me, but I will still try, so I envision using the liberator to cushion my many, many falls.

H has trouble with Sirsasana and we used the Liberator to get her taking off from a higher point. She actually hung out in teddy bear stand for longer than she ever has (I don’t think it was just the liberator, she had E and I screaming supportively at her that she was “up! UP!”). I wish we’d had more time to practice together and work on it. I can totally tell from the attempts that I saw that she is so close. Like a couple hours of practice with someone beside her to debrief (too far with hips, not far enough) and she would likely nail it. I’m lucky that Sirsasana came to me so easily, I learned it as a kid.

I also use the Liberator in some of my Pre-LBH stretches and I recline on it after I get LBH and tire of holding my leg with hands and neck. I lean back onto the liberator and let gravity do some of the work while I continue the hip opening.

I adore my liberator - money well spent!