I have to admit, my core strength sucks. For the life of me I don't know how to use it.
But today in advanced yoga class, I experienced just how to use just that, thanks to Rochelle, the lovely military yoga instructor! =D
Eversince I was in highschool, I could never do a hand stand because I'm scared of toppling over. There was one instance wherein I was supposed to do a back flip while being held by two girls by the arms. I ended up with my legs in the air and could not go down. Since then, being upside down wasn't really something I'd do, much less do it on my own with a hand stand.
Specifically on the handstand, my arms aren't strong.
Unfortunately or fortunately for me, the head stand is part of the advanced yoga class postures. Ryan would help me out before, he'd lift me and leave my legs on the wall, then ask me to use my core strength to balance on my forearm. Yeah, that was an epic fail. My legs were planted on the wall. I was too scared.
Today, I tried it one more time. I got myself into this, I have to give it my all otherwise I'd be cheating myself and forgoing the opportunity to do more yoga postures.
So I got into the set up and Rochelle was nice enough to guide me each step of the way.
She basically talked me through each of these steps:
Ok, steps 1 to 3 is pretty simple. It's getting to step 4 that's crucial.
But as I got into step 3, Rochelle told me to walk up slowly, lifting my hips higher and higher... and then again, I was told to "use my core strength"... what the hell!?!?
So she told me to support my weight with my arms first as I walked my legs closer to my body... et voila! The "core strength" just miraculously did it's job! I don't know how it happened really. All I did was strengthen my arms and walk my legs closer to my body and the next thing I know, getting into step 4 was as simple as sniffing. I'm not kidding!
After step 4, Rochelle told me to stay there first, sort of get used to it and such. But I'm still me, I'm stubborn and I like to push myself to the limit at every try. I got into step 5 and I basically used my core strength to straighten my legs in air and my arms strength to balance. SO I know that it really is possible, very possible to do that posture without a wall behind you. Actually you're not supposed to. Doing it with a wall behind you is really just to help you feel at peace with the fact that you have something to lean on. That's all.
But Rochelle, the military woman that she is, insisted that I don't start off relying on the wall. She calls it a "cheater's way" to get into step 4 and then basically just bounce off the wall to get into step 5. The moment she mentioned the term "cheater" I immediately thought "the wall does not exist." I either get to step 5 without a wall or stay in step 4.
I was so happy to find myself being able to do it and oh my god I really am amazed to realize that my core strength isn't as weak as I thought it was. I merely didn't know how to use it, but as soon as I did, I realized I had it all along. It's like an untapped resource that I finally figured out how to use and it totally took away my fear of being upside down. I may have sucky upper body strength , but at least my legs and my core strength are awesome. 2 out of 3! =)
See, yoga for me is just like anything else in life : everyday you should do better on something you sucked at. Baby steps. Focus on getting the form right, and along the way, perfect it. So in beginner's class, yes, I've gotten the form right in 25 postures out of 26, I still suck at standing head to knee pose. But today in advanced class, I was able to do the standing head to knee, for some reason. Alls I need to do is practice more to keep getting it right so that I can move on to perfecting in. The postures that I've gotten right, well I've started perfecting them. I feel like I'm back to square one in terms of beginner's yoga. But that's why we keep practicing. In yoga, much in life, practice makes perfect.
So I got this one done
and the weirdo in me, once again can do the more complicated poses but can't do the simpler ones... like the crow pose:
What the hell right?! Well I suppose I just need to be coached on this. I'm a process oriented person, which is precisely why Rochelle's coaching worked well for me because she talked me though each step of it. So this one's next in line. After this I can work on getting all others better. The thing with advanced class is this: as opposed to beginner's yoga, if you don't get into the right form , you break your bones or pull your muscles . That happens in beginner's yoga too, but it's not gonna break your bones as much as those poses in advanced class. Well that's my perception.
Anyway, I'm just really happy! I'm actually so happy I want to keep practicing the head stand at home. =D (addict!) It's a goddamn headstand, man. It can be done outside a heated room.
So that, the front split and the russian split, there are classic cheerdancing stunts. It can be done outside the heated room. The rest of the yoga poses, dude, don't even think about it. Haha!
Fun fun! I'm really happy about today! Small victories make for stronger motivation to do better the next time! Woot woot! Yey me! =D
So till the next advanced class! Hopefully I'll have a new accomplishment next week! =D
Namaste.
No comments:
Post a Comment