Thursday, July 14, 2005


subtle change?

ok, so as long-time readers may have figured out, i've been doing this yoga thing now for, oh, about 6 years. it's true that when i began i couldn't even touch my toes.

i was well past 35 when i learned to do headstand, forearm stand, and handstand. everyone knows i'm still studying to learn how to float up into handstand from a short down dog, no hopping, piking, or kicking. . .

walk your feet up as close to your hands as you can, shift all your weight down into your fingers and knuckles, pressing down like a mad dog, and it's true -- your feet will begin to float up off the floor (it's called physics, you know).

for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. or, what goes down must drive something else up!

the trick is to keep your balance while this process occurs. yes indeed.

so while i work on this little feat, i continue to go to my usual classes, including my twice weekly basics. basics classes are great, because the generally slower pace means you can really focus on co-ordinating your movement to your breath and honing your alignment.

i've never been a big believer in one universal "perfect" alignment, altho' it seems to me from experience that some alignments are better for most people than others. anyway, one of the supposed benefits of yoga is that over time your actual body will begin to naturally adopt some of these maybe-better alignments, improving your posture, etc.

those who've had the great sorrow of meeting me in person have no doubt noticed that i do have this habit of walking like a duck. big ugly turned-out flop feet, on which i go galumphing around.

almost everyone in my family has this unfortunate gait, sadly, with the exception of my aunt judy, who i think was adopted, because she is naturally as slender as a stalk of celery and as graceful as a swan.

sorry you got stuck with us, judy! the crux of this whole bit is to note that in yoga today i looked down at my feet.

this is unusual because the feet aren't a common dristi, or gaze point. ok, so i was wandering a little in the pose!

but i noticed for the first time that the left foot was actually parallel to the mat's side of its own accord. wow.

yoga slowly works. one side at time. . . check back in 2011 when my right one has likewise straightened out. . .

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