Yoga - CD/SD

Inverted triangle is fine on one side, on the other (left) I nearly fell over.

It happens!

Teacher said I wasn't ready to go upside down yet so I did a part dog pose with my head touching the floor to prepare. Hard times at the moment but still learning a lot.

Sounds like what I know as the dolphin pose. There is a secret trick that makes head stands really easy to get into but I hesitate to offer it.

do them against a wall first? why hesitate to say that? it's safety-minded.
it made them easier for me. i use a support beam in my basement but same concept.

Not wall-related (I personally don't like doing headstands against them). My hesitation is if people aren't necessarily ready for it, because THIS ONE TRICK will get them upside down easily.

ok well i don't know this trick then!
i don't care about doing headstands against the beam because the benefit is the same and i feel safer. i usually do yoga alone and will do p much anything to avoid injury.

(btw I almost always fall over in half-moon pose, so yeah its cool.)

Thanks Leee, its the Dolphin - although my head was closer to my hands.

Yes I tried doing it against the wall first. I did do it at first but actually didn't trust that I was doing it right so came down, asked for help (class of ~ 10 so teacher was helping someone else), called her over and she told me to not get into it right now..

is it bad to do yoga on carpet (w/or w/o a mat) when i goog search all i get are ads for expensive platforms

It's harder to balance certain poses like tree, but I just went to a studio that was carpeted, but I don't think it's actively bad. The cushion will make certain other poses more comfortable, in fact.

Maybe contact a yoga studio if they are getting rid of some and you could get a cheap 2nd hand mat?

I would use a mat as I am getting precise about using that space to measure my stride for triangle and right angle poses. Also my feet are placed at the back edge of the mat for those, it all helps alignment.

Also prefer to place blankets on a mat.

Otherwise I wouldn't think it as actively bad.

the mat isn't the problem, i just dk if it, like, compromises your yoga if you have a carpet underneath. my carpet isn't too thick anyway so i'll just deal with it. thx

I don't think carpet should be the factor that keeps you from doing yoga!

Amazon search shows a zillion options for between 15 & 20. Don't do it on carpet my for slipped and I got hurt one time

what are you searching for that i'm not? all i see is "lifeboard" which is way too much

just like a yoga mat right? like the foam ones that roll up? i just searched for yoga mat on amazon, unless you mean something different?

you can buy a yoga mat anywhere, like i think you can even get them at walgreens
they're probably even under $20

the $20 mats kinda suck tho

Well fine but they're easy to find and acceptable for a beginner. It's probably disgusting but I've been using the same mat (on and off) since 2000.

yeah i dunno i've never had a good one, seems fine, keeps you from slipping i guess

http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt258/aufrog/Smilies/Favorite%20Smilies/siren.gif there has been a misunderstanding http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt258/aufrog/Smilies/Favorite%20Smilies/siren.gif

i am talking about portable floor/something flat to put under the yoga mat so it is not just a yoga mat on carpet, i am buying a yoga mat

Then I'd say don't worry about it?!

Plywood?

i'm just going to not use anything if that option has officially been deemed non-life threatening

yah um i do yogers with mat on carpet all the time and im not dead, maybe a little TWISTED though!

Yoga mattresslessness.

j/k i like hard surfaces more but what are you gonna do? no patio, the park a block away is not convenient enough so my bedroom it is

going on a yoga holiday in July (organised by my teacher) (obv I don't see it as hol as I don't really go on holiday - its necessary work)

she is then going on a sabbatical for six months so I will have to find someone new.

I went to a kundalini chanting event/gong bath and it was very enjoyable. Wasn't quite sure what to expect outside of the promised wall of gongs but I'm glad I went.

Just came back yesterday from mine (and then went back out for London catch-up over drinks so a bloody long day). It was an Iyengar yoga retreat so worked on lots of poses (and a Pranayama intro) for up to five hours each day. Got to talk and exchange ideas with a few yogis. Besides it being a holiday, of course!

Great and worked out what I can and can't do so a home practice that I am confident with is in sight.

Got to know my teacher (we both love similar sorts of films!), shame she is moving away from London for a while (and possibly for good). She can handle a class with all abilities and I'll miss her, though I will see her in a workshop in a couple of months.

So now the task is on finding another teacher. But at least I know what a good teacher does - Iyengar has several levels of qualification and teachers have had to do it for a few years - but you tend to get tricky customers. A lot of fun to come!

Got hurt at a studio while doing a shoulder stand -- thinking because I'd gotten used to placing a blanket under my shoulders, and doing it without was enough to throw off my alignment -- and in a fit of pique went on a hiatus for about a month.

Went back to the same studio, but a different teacher, and I'm enjoying it again. Looking forward to trying her Ashtanga primary series when I have the time.

And probably off-topic (because it's more ballet-related) but I now have something resembling a forward split!

ashtanga primary series damn dude

u intense

the year I practiced that series every day was amazing, I was in my early twenties and def th best shape of my life

I'm not that good at it tbh! I'm a weekend yogi at best, I have to cheat if I want to get into bakasana, my shoulders are too stiff for a forearm stand, my balance is terrible, etc., etc.

And my Ashtanga experience has been almost exclusively with an intro-level class, so who knows!

full primary is the bomb but def takes time and consistency

Did my first bakasana into chataranga today! Most challenging thing though was staying in crow because I kept slipping off my arms because of the sweat.

congrats!

I still haven't mastered the slippy arms problem. theoretically real ultimate core strength will overcome that but i am not there yet. more lolasana for me.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/23/yoga-classes-cultural-appropriation

As someone who has practised yoga for a good couple of years I am looking at this story of the cancelled yoga class and the link above from a slightly different angle. Have black or fat women been stopped from going to yoga classes, or are they strongly made to feel unwelcome?

Who is it that builds this perception that yoga is for fit blonde women? Obviosuly the way its reported by the media and sold has its problems - but from what I've heard of the class at that uni its open for everyone and free so that isn't part of the problem and not where I would go to use words like 'decolinised'. The Guardian is also part of it and people who have a couple of brain cells should try and separate it from the way its reported to the way it is - classes are made up of older people and many who have some form of disability. Anecdotal evidence of overheard conversation at a fkn festival and having a quick scan around the room isn't journalism.

Doing Iyengar still but taken up a yoga where we do Ujjayi breaths. its very relaxed, the teacher isn't that bothered about straightening legs all the time (she tells me to 'unlock' them). Still learning but its interesting.

thinking of trying a few classes

is there such a thing anymore as normcore yoga? like i dont want a hot room or rope or any high energy nonsense, just quiet calm etc

i'm not sure what to look for, there's so many types!

nb am not super flexible/athletic

Veg, Hatha's quietude sounds like it'd be your thing. Mostly holding relaxed poses for 1+ minutes.

And you don't have to be flexible when you start yoga! You develop your flexibility THROUGH yoga.

thanks! looks like there's a studio not far from my house that offers asha :D

Second hatha yoga -- that's how I started

Ropes etc can help get you into poses although there can be too much faffing around if the Iyengar class isn't well directed.

My current teacher doesn't use as many.

excited to start trying this imo

isn't hatha yoga just, like, physical yoga eg any type of yoga in which you practice asanas?

eg iyengar, ashtanga, bikram, vinyasan flow whatever all these popular schools/systems/types of yoga are just various interpretations/instances of hatha yoga? idk i could be way off

ime iyengar is the most accessible to beginners and is the most "no frills" type - no music, no hot rooms, no new agey western yoga mysticism. there are definitely ropes, blocks, straps etc but those are all just tools to make the poses more accessible to practitioners

Maybe I'm conflating Hatha with Yin/restorative yoga; I sort of associate Iyengar with holding Warrior for minutes, whereas what I'm calling Hatha is like holding a forward bend for minutes.

Veg, by asha do you mean ashtanga (which is a more vigorous style with arm/head balances and fancy jumping).

Hatha is general yoga. The two main styles that grew off Hatha are Iyengar and Ashtanga - and both of those were taught by Krishnamacharya: http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/yoga/youtube.asp?id=krishnamacharya

Svastha is another style but way less known.

Bikram is quite limiting - you are meant to do it in a hot room and its the same sequence of asanas over and over which doesn't sound v appealing. From doing a couple of styles I'd say they all do similar things - its the emphasis on various aspects that's different. Then again different teachers in one style will teach an asana in a slightly different way as well.

well this place offers hatha among other things & it sounds exactly as chill & normcore as I'm looking for

Hope you enjoy it! Stretching and getting stronger are top notch physical sensations imo. I've been working on my headstand for like a year and I can finally do it without wall support. Nothing helps me shift perspective like a solid headstand!