Sunday, September 22, 2013

Notes from my Practice

This is just a short post on my observation in my Mysore Self-practice this morning.  As I am still recovering from my shoulder injury,I have been doing variations in some of the poses for the past few weeks of my self-practice.   I have also skipped some of the poses in the series if I feel that it will aggravate the injury especially if I feel pain in my right shoulder when I do the pose.  

This morning, I did most of the poses in the Primary series; doing a variation of the pose when necessary.   When I reached Setu Bandhasana, the last pose of the series, I was contemplating whether I should do the pose as I have been feeling a crushing pressure in my neck when I do the pose.   

I decided to do the pose as I have been told that the pose you avoid most is the pose you need the most.  As I did the pose, I paid attention to the feeling in my neck by not settling the weight on my head.  Instead, I kept my sternum and upper back lifted and open and my legs engaged and internally rotated.  I did not feel any crushing pressure in the neck and was able to stay in the pose for five breaths. 

Below is a video with clear instruction from David Garriggues on how to do the pose.

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