Thursday, February 17, 2011

Scorpion series: Jumping into the scorpion



I am planning to run a few vidoes here on doing the scorpion. This one is the first of the  series.
Here u jump into the scorpion. This is initially a good way to get over the fear. I am  midway showing off wih a pincha mayurasana and butterfly in the scorpion, moving into these occasionally:)

Advantages of jumping up into the scorpion:
  • Half ur work is done in this version.
  •  Ur back is already curved.
  • Your head is off the ground.
  • The elbows have already gotten used to the shift in weight (in the headstand flow, most below flare their elbows, thus bringing the face too close to the ground, which can be unnerving to the instructor.  
  • You are looking up, the most difficult bit. So it is an easy vrsion if u are not sure how far u go or curve your back while flowing from the headstand (which will be second of the series).
  • Plus, the fear of falling leaves u because unless u lose that, u simply cannot jump up:)   When I learnt scorpion, this is the style I preferred though the Sivananda tradition uses the headstand flow version. And I have fallen several times and my belief is that whether it is the headstand or the scorpion, u never get to that `feel-ultra light' zone unless u have fallen:)
Disadvantages:
  • Since you are kicking into the pose, more chances of u falling backwards, which frightens beginners.
  • Also, since  u are kicking into the pose, you have to use strength and sheer will power to locate the center, which is shuffling about, to get the pose at first attempt. U may have to kick up twice or, even thrice, to find that center and stay up:) I often even now have to do that before getting it right!
Happy sadhana!

2 comments:

Anila said...

Shameem,
You kind of read my mind :-) Since you've been enticing us into doing the scorpion, I was about to request you to start a series on how to prepare for it. thanks!

Crazy Eddie said...

Excellent video. I'm not even close to being there yet but you have inspired me. Thank you.

Tantra Euphoria