Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rope yoga and mallakhamb yippee

This, rope yoga, is a mad place:) I tried mallakhamb also today and what fun, I can actually do it. This is third proper session at it:) Did a forward bend on the pole and what a high. So much strength to stay up it is unbelievable:) Sheela Sharma and Shruti Jasani were very helpful and most of what I achieved today, thanks to Sheela who has now been doing for three years. But she is still a student she says, and comes weekly for practice from Uday Deshpande( have blogged on him earlier, u will find him on the net, and he teaches for free:)
In rope u hang on with strength. There is a lot of co-ordination. Pain tolerance has to be in maximum mode. The rope cuts into you everywhere, and it can strain your hands (thank god I have no hassles working around the house -- this  yoga is not for the manicured people:) and the big toes like CRAZY-- do they HURT???
It is a rather fearful practice, but I love it. I tried it a few years ago -- but being based in Kandivli I could not sustain the travel  all the way to Dadar on the only off day I got.:(  So I am now back, living in Bandra. feeling a bit stronger at the upper arms, more confident and not so fearful of being `limb-coordination dyslexic'/

For the rope yoga, what u need:
  • The most important thing, an absolutely on scale-10 ability to withstand pain.
  • Upper back strength. 
  • Co-ordination. 
  • Focus, since if you release something or the other, one is that u feel a slide down the rope (makes you anxious) and then, of course, the rope just cuts into you most viciously:. 
  • Watching others and learning from their mistakes and from their strengths. 
  • BUT, the most important thing in all the poses is the ability to let go. If you don't let go, the pose won't happen, you'd have wasted the stamina u created and tire yourself out, esp as a beginner. Most poses involve you to leave your hands. And then, the poses then are developed into a deeper fall -- dropping back is the beauty of the rope:) In the headstand (holding with one leg), in the forward bend, falling back in the lotus... 
I'm lovin' it...


Yoga on the pole and the rope, with help from Sheela Sharma:)

1 comment:

Yoga for Beginners Guide said...

Wall ropes are great for use in yoga stretches.