Handstands, backbends, Saganaki in Rethymno

Almost through my first ever full week of shala practice, Led tomorrow then a rest day....

Loving shala practice, perhaps I'm just loving THIS shala practice, perhaps all a shala's are essentially the same, I can't say.

Love the work going on here, there are practitioners passing through their practice composed, elegant others grinding it out and still others composed through part but putting the work in on troublesome postures and frankly grunting and groaning through their new postures (which before long they'll be practicing with a lightness of touch and breath leaving them to groan through others ), Felt like my whole seven years of practice is here in this room. 

Which am I, I would have said (hopefully ) relatively composed up until this morning but now we're on to a whole new ball game.

I thought I'd stick with a straight primary for my first week, settle in, let Kristina and Niko (kristina's assistant)  have a look at my Primary, get used to the shala. Next week I'll come in a little early and practice up to kapo and then in the following weeks see about dusting off my full 2nd. Karandavasana in frount of Kristina's alter again this time I shall be fearless, hmmmmm.

So, relatively composed up until this morning. Last night Kristina and I were looking at old Pattabhi Jois videos on Youtube, talking about the handstand work she practices here leading into backbends.

This morning I tried to surreptitiously move to the wall for the handstand work, Kristina has us do 30 breathes with the feet at right angles on the wall to build strength in the back before going up, thought I could just hop up to handstand with the wall as a safety blanket, do my 30 and move on to drop backs at the wall, nope. Kristina misses nothing NOTHING.

So Kristia has me do my 30 breaths then gets me to bring my mat back to the centre of the room for handstands and then this taking the legs over a little way before flipping back down into down dog and finally straight over. I've explored it before on my own a couple of years back,  dropping over from handstands to cushions, gradually taking them away one at a time but it's a different ball game in the centre of the shala. 

And, then Kristina wants me to drop over from handstand into urdhva danhurasana and immediately come up to standing, I seem to stubbornly refuse to ground my heels and tend to keep my head tucked in, mental block although the last couple were better. Get the feeling I'll be exploring tic tocking/tacking over the next couple of months and seeing as we were looking at Guruji's old heel grabbing approach perhaps that too. 

Shala practice, she's the boss, my teacher, it helps that I love, trust and respect her, I am in her hands. 

Besides, all asana are the same, may as well be working on breathing in handstand as in kapo or paschimottanasana, much of a muchness.

Here's Pattabhi Jois taking the team through backbends, check out Tim Miller, majestic at dead on 3:00, lifting back of to handstand from urdhva danhurasna, do we really want to take handstands out of the practice, perhaps the flourishes but this is serious business, composed controlled, focused.... bandhas breath, drishti, tristana innit.

The bit I'm playing with in the shala now comes five minutes in