My Student: Walking in the wheel

Mayank walks here in the wheel. In fact, barring the headstand which took him a little longer to master (only because he kicked into it initially), he is amongst my quieter, more focused students who gets other poses faster and before most others. Now saying all this -- it is not a competition in my class, for heaven's sake! But the thing is, seeing one do a difficult pose encourages the stragglers. And I know Sonia, Mayank's friend, used to lag behind a lot initially simply because others were just starting then. Then she sees Mansi do some stunts phatakse. Then Mayank is also quietly picking up things fast (he got the hands up variation in the wheel, first from any group to do that.) So that way, while Sonia taught him a whole lot of things before he came to me, and very well, Mayank has taught her a lot in terms of breaking the resistance she unnecessarily put before learning new things.  He is also the first amongst the groups to pick up the extremely difficult nirlamba sarvangasana (also called candle pose). Halasana gave him some trouble (his hips are locked!) but he is also amongst the first of the men in all the groups to crack it.. and holds it, with a sense of achievement though:) Once that goes, then the pose is his! Today his headstand had finally fallen in place. And since his wheel is strong, I have hopes of reaching him into the scorpion soon.
The witch-like wild cackle u hear in the backdrop of the video is yours truly... Initially, when he started the advanced hands up variation, Mayank used to reach in all the `wrong' places:) So, that is me, telling him to resist that urge!!
He also has a good grasp over the crow variations. Initially, he usually may make a face -- since he believes he is very stiff etc -- but gets into the heart of the pose. Today his side-crow was also marvellous. On both sides too...So yes, I am glad to have students to whom I can teach. ... Glad for students like Mayank who can reach beyond the body, and get into the pose, with the mind.