It is afternoon time here and while my
oldest son just got home, I was watching him sit at the dining room table
diligently doing his homework. I was inspired by him. I thought to myself that
if he can come home every day and stay on task with his school work, I can
follow in his footsteps and take the time to sit down and write my story. It's
amazing what we can learn from our children.
Like
I promised myself last night, today was my first session back on the yoga mat since
I injured my knee. I didn't push myself to finish the whole primary series.
Instead I worked on surya namaskara and the standing asanas. I'm still babying
my knee. I was very careful to avoid anything thing that would keep my knee in
flexion for long periods of time. I was also very cautious about any external
rotation of my hip joints. After a few days of reflecting on my injury I noted
that lotus pose (or any pose that deals with the ankle being higher than the
knee) must be obtained by a full external rotation of the hip. It takes roughly
145 degrees of rotation in the hip to safely enter lotus pose. The thing is
that lotus can only be obtained by
rotating the hip joint fully. If the hips are not open then entering lotus is
very dangerous because instead of rotating the hip, you are rotating the knee
away from the femur in a unnatural way. Thus causing injury to any one of the ligaments
and tendons in the knee. Plus its very painful!!! So word to the wise, do not
push yourself for Lotus pose or any pose like it. It will come in time.
With
all that said, I worked very hard on technique in my practice today. Trying to
keep my bandhas (locks) activated, my drishti (gaze) focused, and worked
extremely hard on my pranayama (the extention of life force) and Ujjayi (breathing). My work on these few techniques
were very rewarding. Physically I felt my muscles strengthen and was able to
easier enter poses. But the amazing feat was the stillness in my mind, which
was given to me by the breath and the gaze. For the first time I was really
able to relax into my poses.
So
the overall lesson of today was technique is more important than being able to
fully enter any pose. The techniques are what allow us to understand and obtain
the true physical yoga experience.
I
want to end today with a quote....
"Yuva vrddho'thivrddho va vyadhito durbalo'pi
va Abhyasat siddimapnoti sarvayogeshvatandritah."
"Whether young, old or very old, sick
or debilitated, one who is vigilant attains success in all the yogas, by means
of practice."
-Hatha
Yoga Pradipika i : 64
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