Anything is Possible

I've been thinking about posting more regularly at this blog for a while and a new year seems like a good time to do that. I don't know what "regular" means, actually; I guess it just means "more often than twice a year!" I'd like it to mean weekly, so that's what I'll shoot for, and if I manage to post more often, all the better.

Just for fun, here are some photos of me moving into Crow pose (Kakasana), which is an arm balancing pose. I'm not naturally built for this (it helps to have broad shoulders and narrow hips!) and frankly, I never really thought I'd be able to do it in this lifetime. At some point I stopped fighting the pose and just starting playing with it and of course, after that, I began to feel it becoming possible.

I've read and watched so many different variations from different teachers on how to come into this pose, but the one that helped me most was actually a video done by my own teacher, Tias Little. He approached it from the perspective of needing to have open hips - you need to be able to access a full squat in order to position the legs properly on the arms.

I still need to use a bumper - either a block on which to rest my forehead to steady me first, or a bolster and some blankets in front of me to take the fear out of doing a face plant. That little security blanket makes all the difference for me to be able to actually come into the full pose for a few seconds.

I couldn't do this at 25, but I can do it at 62, and that's pretty cool. As I said, I never thought I'd be able to do it at ALL, so I have to say, if I can do it, anybody can! I'm going to carry that thought into 2018 - let's make this a year in which anything is possible.

Watch me take flight:

From squat, tuck arms under legs like a bug

Lift the hips, come up on balls of feet

Shift weight forward, coming higher on toes and tuck legs tight to torso

Shift weight forward, forward, bearing more weight on arms, push the earth away

Shifting weight forward more, forehead moving toward block, light on tippy-toes 

Weight on arms, forehead touches block to steady you, feet press together and toes lift away from ground.

Press feet together and lift them away from ground. Lift forehead off block.
Here, my weight shifted back a little when I lifted my head, and that made my hips and feet drop a little too.
I need to work on keeping my weight forward and hips and feet high when I lift into the full pose.
It continues to be a work in process!