I'll be the one wearing the Havaianas.
It is official. Yesterday was our first 70 degree day since October and the flip flops are out and staying out. On some blocks, I can smell human pee and tree blossoms. Spring is surely on the way. It was so painful getting used to closed-toe shoes after India. I fought it to the very end last fall until my toes were painfully cold. And now, I've got little pink "almost-blisters" as my feet transition into warm weather attire. But it isn't just the early signs of summer that makes the Havaianas so needed, its that they are incredibly squishy and the balls of my feet are tender from my pincha "timbers".
I spent the afternoon playing around at New York's Om Factory with Paul, Emily, and Fara. I was giving them jump through tips (not that they really needed them) and Paul was giving us "press" handstand tricks. We were in the middle of the room, at the wall, on blocks, straddling to handstand, jumping, "bakasana-ing", lifting, etc., all with bellies full of Indian food. I figure if I could make a handstand-to-bakasana (among other things) happen then, that says something. So Paul (whom I regularly steal vinyasa sequences from because he is great) has me on this little extra-curricular "lift-up therapy" program. I promise to youtube it if (like he promises) I can lift up to handstand from uttanasana with a straddle minus props.
(Om Factory is this really amazing space in midtown. Danny Paradise is doing a workshop there on Earth Day, April 22, and to my happy surprise, I'll be there! Looking forward to it for sure. Now if I can only see David Swenson soon, I'll have re-created an "ashtanga mela" of my very own...)
So what inspired this little yoga sesh? Well, if you get a couple of yoga peeps together, something like that is bound to happen, but also I just got the new Kino DVD, and I've had some of the stuff she talks about on my mind. The first part of the dvd (about 20 min I think) is about Kino, her Shala, and her practice. The second part (also about 20 min) is a look into one of her workshops in which she discusses the basic principals of re-learning how to walk on your hands. Although it is hard for all of us to believe, she says that when she first saw people lifting up handstand, floating, etc., she was like "there is no way!"
It is official. Yesterday was our first 70 degree day since October and the flip flops are out and staying out. On some blocks, I can smell human pee and tree blossoms. Spring is surely on the way. It was so painful getting used to closed-toe shoes after India. I fought it to the very end last fall until my toes were painfully cold. And now, I've got little pink "almost-blisters" as my feet transition into warm weather attire. But it isn't just the early signs of summer that makes the Havaianas so needed, its that they are incredibly squishy and the balls of my feet are tender from my pincha "timbers".
I spent the afternoon playing around at New York's Om Factory with Paul, Emily, and Fara. I was giving them jump through tips (not that they really needed them) and Paul was giving us "press" handstand tricks. We were in the middle of the room, at the wall, on blocks, straddling to handstand, jumping, "bakasana-ing", lifting, etc., all with bellies full of Indian food. I figure if I could make a handstand-to-bakasana (among other things) happen then, that says something. So Paul (whom I regularly steal vinyasa sequences from because he is great) has me on this little extra-curricular "lift-up therapy" program. I promise to youtube it if (like he promises) I can lift up to handstand from uttanasana with a straddle minus props.
(Om Factory is this really amazing space in midtown. Danny Paradise is doing a workshop there on Earth Day, April 22, and to my happy surprise, I'll be there! Looking forward to it for sure. Now if I can only see David Swenson soon, I'll have re-created an "ashtanga mela" of my very own...)
So what inspired this little yoga sesh? Well, if you get a couple of yoga peeps together, something like that is bound to happen, but also I just got the new Kino DVD, and I've had some of the stuff she talks about on my mind. The first part of the dvd (about 20 min I think) is about Kino, her Shala, and her practice. The second part (also about 20 min) is a look into one of her workshops in which she discusses the basic principals of re-learning how to walk on your hands. Although it is hard for all of us to believe, she says that when she first saw people lifting up handstand, floating, etc., she was like "there is no way!"
So, practice, practice, practice...
Oh and I think that exploring that mysterious and uncharted area of my body that controls the lifting is the key to this whole floating/karandavasana business. Or maybe not. But it is an interesting journey.
dvd preview on youtube:
Elise - I just think I saw you in someone ELSE's YouTube...Yoga Reflections? Geting adjusted into a weird, vinyasa-class style Marichyasana A?
ReplyDeleteWhat is this?
? what's the link? wait, let me look for it...
ReplyDeleteOMG! That is me!
Yep, that was last year at an adjustments training at Levitate Yoga with Paula Tursi...
Kino... what a woman!! Elise, please post a vid if you get to a point where you're pressing up into handstand! That eludes me. I see men do it, but...well, they're men! I know I'm fixated on seeing women do poses that are hard for me, but I really do think it matters sometimes. I bet you had so much fun playing around! I love doing that with yoga friends, it's interesting to get tips... though I know we're all supposed to be on our own journey! ha ha!!
ReplyDeleteand one more thing... you sure look cute when you're doing yoga!
ReplyDeleteha ha :)
ReplyDelete