It is my dream to be this back bendy

Scorpions again

I have been revisiting my Scorpion pose. I may have held it once or twice for more than a second but since I can't just go into it, I don't really consider it a pose I have under my belt. Its such a work in progress!

Last week I took a challenging and amazing class at Thai Spirit. First we worked on doing handstand scorpion against the wall. I went into a handstand against the wall and then started to arch my back while I walked my feet down the wall. It felt pretty cool since it was my first time doing it but no way could I do something like that without a wall! THEN onto forearm scorpion. Here is my thing...I still don't really practice regular forearm stand! Previously, in my scorpion break down post I was attempting to get into scorpion from headstand. Its kind of a jolting way to get into it since you go into a headstand and then start arching the back, THEN plant the hands flat on the ground, which is where most people will lose their balance and which is why I only hold it for a split second. SO nowadays I started just trying to hop into it already on my forearms. This sort of works sometimes except most times I just flip over into a back bend.

So last week in class, I got this really helpful tip. I set my forearms up like I was going into headstand.
1- Sit on the heels, knees together.
2- place forearms on the mat by lining elbows up with knees BUT I bring my hands in towards each other. So elbows wider than hands and I even crossed my index fingers and thumbs, creating this sort of diamond shape with my hands.
3- Extend legs to a dolphin pose
4- apply mulabanhda and look forward
5- kick up with control, don't be afraid to flip over.

At first I really thought the whole overlapping of fingers would make the base so unstable. BUT that trick changed the pose so much for me. Don't get me wrong, I am still flipping over, but I am holding for a couple more seconds longer now! Kind of loving the scorpion now!

Some help with insomnia

Shakti Mudra is great for when you have trouble falling asleep.
How to do it: Put the tips of the ring fingers and little fingers together. Middle and first finger are bent downwards and the thumb is placed over them. Done with slow breathing and focus on the pelvic area.

I took great Yoga class today at Atmananda. We worked on lots of advanced poses like bird of paradise, peacock and scorpion. I didn't expect to, but I actually got my scorpion today! I was working so much on focusing that BAM! There it was. But I got kinda scared and got out of it right away. AHH that weird "AHA moment, it strangely freaks me out. Check out my break down of scorpion in a previous post here.

Deconstructing Scorpion Pose

Seeing as I busted out my Peacock last week..though its obviously not mastered yet...Yoga is a practice! I thought I would start to refocus back on my scorpion pose, which has been another difficult pose to get. Every once in awhile I can hold it for just 1 second. I believe fear is a factor in this as well and just finding that sweet spot aka the center of gravity while in it. Usually once I get it I am either excited or scared and lose it. So here is the weird thing about my scorpion practice...I can't do forearm stand, which many people do first then arch the back and go into scorpion.

Directions for getting into scorpion as I was taught by the Atmananda Yoga sequence:
1. sit on heels, and bring the forearms on the floor against your knees, grab opposite elbows then release and interlace fingers. Tuck the pinky inside the cradle you make with your interlaced fingers.
2. elbows still touching knees, forearms on the mat and interlaced fingers creating a cradle in which you will place your head for sirsasana -headstand.
3 Start too go into headstand. Place your head down between your interlaced fingers. Sometimes it helps the keep the thumbs up as if they're a place to put your pony tail, or imaginary pony tail (I don't know why but this helps!)
4. Tuck the toes under and lift the hips. You're likely already aligned with your hips above your shoulders, if not, walk them in a bit. Then bring your knees in as you slowly lift the legs up. Breathe!
5. Press into your hands and forearms. Start to put more weight into the inner forearms. And start to pull the shoulders back and chest forward -think bhujangasana (baby cobra) or sphinx pose.
6. Start bending the knees and arching your back, keep pressing into your forearms
7. When your back is arched as much as you can as you can balance and begin to bring your gaze forward. Breathe, pull the shoulders back more and press into the forearams
8. Lift your head up and place your hands down FLAT while pressing into the wrists and inner forearms. YAY SCORPION!

OK so I know that step 8 is scary and kind of unstable. Actually at Atmananda they tell you to place one hand down at a time which I cannot accomplish without face planting. I just don't have that balance and maybe that's my problem but I've been practicing it this way for about 8 months and sometimes it sort of works.

And here are some lovely facts about the pose. It is called Vrischika-asana in sanskrit.
Benefits: Strengthens the muscles in the hands, forearms and shoulders. More focus on palms and wrists. You have to use your abs and bandhas here so it will strengthen your abs and should benefit any problems within the abdomen and also strengthen and stimulates the reproductive organs. It also is great for spine flexibility. You are getting maximum stretch to your shoulders, neck, back and chest. Fully expanding the lungs. Being inverted will also increase blood flow to the brain and circulation throughout the limbs.

Some pics I found of the pose: