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rkishan
USA
102 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 3:51:32 PM
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I recently joined a yoga class to learn asanas. I learned the shoulder stand and I am doing it at home. When I do the shoulder stand I have this fear that my legs will fall down in the opposite direction like the halasasana (plow pose) and my total weight will fall on my neck and break it. I am not sure if this fear is valid or unfounded. I am about 20 pounds overweight and I am not really flexible. When I put this question to my yoga teacher, she just said that won't happen if I do it properly as taught!
I am not really convinced, some times my legs move very fast in that direction.
I need some advice to overcome this fear. It is bothering me while I do the Shoulder stand. Right now I have to keep my attention so that my legs don't suddenly fall on the other side. |
Edited by - rkishan on Oct 28 2007 10:44:18 AM |
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 3:55:05 PM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 4:20:28 PM
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Hi R,
Funny, I thought I was the only one with that fear...  Good to know someone else who has the same fear.
Well its true, what your teacher says.. it will not happen.
Here is how I got over it...
When you do the pose.. do it with a bed or chair or the wall behind your head.. that way if your feet/legs fall backwards.. the bed/chair/wall will catch it..It may take a a few days/weeks to get over the fear.. but soon you will see what your teacher means by what she says.
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2007 : 12:34:19 AM
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Ah, nice easy one!
Teacher is right: you're not going to fall over. Teacher is wrong: if you're worried about this, then you're not doing the pose right.
Back your feet away from your head. Further. Even further! Take them so far back that they practically go out of view! Believe it or not, at this point your legs are probably still not quite perpendicular to ground. But it's closer. And there's no feeling of caving over backwards. Back the feet even further. Use the hands bracing on your back for leverage and balance, and keep moving those hands higher up your back, toward your neck. Now do you understand why those hands are there? :)
Anyway, now it should be less scary, PLUS you're now in better alignment. The problem is you'll find it hard to hold. Here's some advice on that...deeper stuff to move forward on:
Push strongly skyward from your sacrum and down your legs to your heels. The action is heels pressing firmly against the sky. Meanwhile, the fronts of your legs pull the other way...suck the fronts of your legs back into the hip sockets (put attention on the knees, which should be pulling up, toward your head). It's like an energetic loop. And make sure feet are perfectly parallel to ground. And revolve your inner thighs inward (left thigh counterclockwise, right one clockwise). Lots to think about, I know (it'll eventually become habit), but it will fix your alignment still more, and make it much easier to hold the pose with your legs in the correct position, per above (which you'll experience as difficult to do at first).
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Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Oct 27 2007 01:00:21 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2007 : 10:36:18 PM
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woops, I meant:
left thigh clockwise, right one counterclockwise |
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rkishan
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2007 : 10:50:22 AM
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| Thanks Shanti and Jim. I am going to start Shanti's suggestion right away (sounds nice and easy to get rid of the fear initially!). Jim -> Your advice on alignment sounds a little complicated to me being a beginner. I am not sure if I understood it correctly. But I am going to try doing one by one what you have suggested starting with backing my legs as you have suggested. I understood that I am moving the leg actually towards the opposite direction from my head when I am on the pose. Correct me if this is wrong. |
Edited by - rkishan on Oct 28 2007 11:01:01 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2007 : 11:12:39 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by rkishan
Jim -> Your advice on alignment sounds a little complicated to me being a beginner.
The more complicated stuff I called "deeper stuff to move forward on:" is more advanced stuff to think about later. You don't have to understand it right now. For now, just back your legs away from your head. That's all you need to do to solve the matter at hand. And this will increase the work of your hands in supporting your body, so make sure they're nice and firm, and keep inching them higher up your back (i.e. toward your shoulders) as you hold the pose |
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zzzMonster
Singapore
38 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 03:37:53 AM
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Hi, Jim, I don´t understand anything that you have posted on shoulder stand. So,with respect to the bed,what is the angle of inclination between the thighs and the bed ?
Thanks |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 10:25:17 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zzzMonster
Hi, Jim, I don´t understand anything that you have posted on shoulder stand. So,with respect to the bed,what is the angle of inclination between the thighs and the bed ?
Thanks
First, I'd suggest doing this on something solid...i.e. the floor rather than a bed. Only because it's hard to establish conscious alignment on a mushy surface. Carpeted floor is ok.
To answer your question, keep your knees straight and move your feet away from your head. If you follow that instruction, you'll do it right, I promise! And, yes, it will greatly increase the work your arms do to support your back. That's part of it, and, don't worry, you'll get used to it! Keep edging your hands closer and closer to your head (i.e. up your back).
Finally, it's very important to practice this pose with support for the neck. The standard way to do it is with your head up on blankets. But to learn that, I'd suggest dropping in to an Iyengar yoga class. Here's a directory: http://www.bksiyengar.com/modules/T.../teacher.asp |
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Victor
USA
910 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 12:53:18 PM
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| Jim, saying that the head be up on blankets might confuse people as the recommendation is for the shoulders to be supported by blankets, not the head. You know this of course but an inexperienced person might read it backwards |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 8:57:08 PM
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| Yep, thanks, Victor. I wasn't trying to get too specific about the blankets because if the leg position is confusing when read in an online forum, it'd be impossible to explain blanket positioning, so I was encouraging people to go to a class for that one. Classes, of course, are a real good thing to do, anyway, at least in the beginning! |
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zzzMonster
Singapore
38 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2007 : 05:46:29 AM
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That is the problem,what do you mean by away from the head? Let's say I am now currently vertically on my shoulders,how do i procced from there ? Btw,my bed is very hard :)
Thanks |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4514 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2007 : 11:52:49 AM
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Hi Jim
quote:
Ah, nice easy one!
If this is an easy one, what does a difficult one look like?
Christi |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 18 2007 : 1:02:30 PM
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zzzMonster
Unfortunately I can't draw you a picture here!
There are four directions your feet can go if your knees stay straight. They can go off to the left or to the right (which you know isn't correct shoulder stand). They can go forward toward your head...or they can go back away from your head. Do that last one. And, yet again, be prepared to take more weight onto your arms in order to achieve this.
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Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Dec 18 2007 1:16:49 PM |
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zzzMonster
Singapore
38 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 09:34:27 AM
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Finally understood,that means the best is the feet is flush with the legs.
Thanks again Jim |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 11:43:43 AM
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I'm not sure what you mean, but I'm pretty sure we're unsynchronized. Let's try again. In shoulderstand, you make the letter "L". Your head and neck are horizontal part, the rest of your body is the vertical part.
Instead of this (where your body is 90 degrees from your head):
L
You are doing this (where your body is less than 90 degrees from your head):
/_
which makes you feel like you're going to go crunch.
Instead, aim for this (where your body is more than 90 degrees from your head):
\_
and what you'll actually be getting is something more like this:
L
....and you won't feel that fear anymore (and you'll also be doing the correct pose).
In doing this, your feet move toward your head:
/_
In aiming for this, your feet move away from your head:
\_ |
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yogibear
409 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 4:43:24 PM
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<--, feet
.../ shins
../ thighs
./\_o head
Don't know if this helps at all but thought I would throw it in.
You have to imagine the upper arms between the shoulders (horizontal slash) and forearms (lowest forward slash). Hands support hips, which are at the top of the back slash. Legs should move back over hips, like Jim is saying. Just get used to being upside down, like Shanti says.
Best, yb. |
Edited by - yogibear on Dec 19 2007 4:58:35 PM |
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Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) question?
