Have recently created a new "group" on Line for my yogi friends ~ and it's been great! Normally we just joke about certain classes and instructors that we all know (like, I got told off by very fierce Universal Yoga teacher at our studio who, in one class, said I had it "all wrong"! How embarrassing is that?!?) but there are other times when we share our experience about certain practices ...
Last week I tackled two challenging poses: svarga dvidasana (or better known in English as "Bird of Paradise") and tittibhasana. I've been attempting Bird of Paradise for, like, aeons ... well, ever since I started practising yoga more than five years ago and it's taken me all that time to just stand on that one leg; but even then, my shoulders -- and hips -- still totally NOT open enough to allow me to realise the full pose (hence I call my pose Shrimp of Paradise). However, I'm working at it and, hopefully, one day I can at least do a modified version of this pose. Note the photo on the left and how this guy's right shoulder is all the way back while his left hip is so loose it allows him to lift up his leg; the only thing that is preventing him from straightening his left leg are probably his hamstrings.
With tittibhasana is even more challenging because it requires Core strength. However, I've now learnt the trick -- at least to have my feet lifted off the ground. It is to push the thighs as high up on the shoulders as possible (while still standing up, in a forward bend) before attempting to "sit" on the upper arm, left the legs, and stretch. I could lift the feet off the ground (ever so slightly though, with both legs bending), so will now work and work on Core strength in order to lift the legs higher and, hopefully, one day, to stretch and straighten them too.
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