This is not a race. Nor is it a competition.
I don't need to gauge myself against anyone else, nor compare, nor wonder where I fit into some imaginary shala ranking system. I don't have to be jealous of somebody who can do the things that I can't.
I have the rest of my life to figure this asana stuff out. I don't need to have perfected it all by next week.
An injury needs to be rested, not pushed through and ignored.
Lastly, and most importantly, there is no spiritual benefit to be gained from bending further that the person on the mat next to you.
I know all of this stuff. So why is it so hard to remember sometimes? *Sigh*....yes, I am going through one of those phases. And yes, (surprise surprise), it coincides perfectly with my discussion this morning with our cover teacher that I should stop dropping back while I allow my newly paining SI joint to get better. And how did I hurt it? Oh, through my misadventures with eka pada/dwi pada to get into supta kurmasana, that's how. Hello ego!
I can manage to read this -it's my kinda length! ;)
ReplyDeleteAll is coming. Give yourself a break love! xxx
Dwi Pada entry to Supta Kurmasana...I'd leave that until later. What's wrong with just making the teacher work a little? ;-)
ReplyDeleteyes, yes Mel! take it from me, old lady ashtangi, I may NEVER drop back — and if I do manage at some future date it will just be seen as a bonus — but just because my pushing-50 body can't do all it could do in my 20s and 30s, doesn't make me any less a sincere aspirant... also don't let yourself be pushed harder than you can manage, back injuries take a very long time to heal. You don't want a real one (shudders!)
ReplyDeleteDear Mel
ReplyDeletebeen there; done that; last november. had to go to home practice or would break my body.
hugs
Arturo
It's so simple, so true but so easy to forget ...
ReplyDeleteThank you to remind it me. ;-)
Metta
Thank you all my lovelies :)
ReplyDeleteV I am now leaving the dwi pada thing - I don't know what possessed me really, I've just been having this urge ...as you may know at our place we (happily) get left alone for supta k if we can do it, so i am happily binding, crossing feet, and feeling like my left foot *could* just go behind my head. But in trying it without direction, I popped my right leg back into eka pada immediately after cradling the leg to warm it up,so I didn't level out my hips first. and OUCH! Sore SI. 4 days of dropbacks where I got a sharp pain for the last 30 degrees of standing up and finally i decided to listen to my body instead of just ignoring it and carrying on. So now it's no dwi pada, no dropbacks...just for now.
Loo of COURSE, sincerity is not measured by bendiness. I'm just having a mini one of those phases where all the stuff you know doesn't matter seems to matter a LOT. Like "I can't dropback and thus I am less of a good person". WTF?? If I know that it's crazy-talk, does that help?! I'm hoping this is a short phase...
and also am hoping that resting will mean the injury is short-lived too.
Arturo I'll be having a few days homepractice (or no practice!) over the easter holidays so that will help too i think.
And Metta maybe you can remind me of these things next time I am being crazy :)
I need to print this out and stick it on my yoga mat for those crazytalk days! ;) A bit of rest never hurt anyone, I hope that SI joint will be as right as rain in no time.
ReplyDeleteThanks D, you and me both! I have to write these things down sometimes in an effort to remind myself of what I already know (but can so easily forget). And "rest" at the moment entails working extra hard on lots of other stuff so it's keeping me out of trouble for now :)
ReplyDeleteHuge hugs mel, it is SO hard, but please remember that the most bimportant thing of all is to be nice to yourself, both physically and emotionally xxx
ReplyDeleteHello Mel,
ReplyDeletevery sorry to hear about your SI joint pains. I've had that too. But if you take your practice slowly and patiently, it will get better.