With no intermediate series, the old hard stuff in primary gets amplified. All the extra energy gets processed in the brain and it is just too much to handle. Upside down in sirsasana (headstand) the dialogue is a lot of:

God god god god
I'm upside down, maybe I'll just fall back no
god god god prana prana breathe breathe
This is completely unnatural I'm upside down and finished time to fall over no
Light prana prana breath inhale 1 2 3 4 5

Baddha padmasana/yoga mudra:
breathing and god-thinking punctuated with here comes uthplutih it is coming and it will be hard

Padmasana:
Channel energy channel energy stay light stay light

Utpluthih:
I'm up breathe breathe breathe
Wwwwwwwooonnnnne...
One? Only one? I go to reciting the Yoga Sutras in my head and I get to eight. Eight. Eight. Eight. Eight. Eight. Like a record skipping. I can't remember what comes next. It starts and gets caught and repeats and I'm stuck on it just like I'm stuck in the air and Sharath is only on five maybe and the record keeps skipping skipping skipping. How long can I just let it skip? Until ten.

It makes me think of how in our bodies, many things change throughout our lives. Our hair color, skin color and texture. Our organs, our bones, our weight, our digestion, our thought process, etc. What is constant? Breathing. The quality may shift, but still as the body transforms each second, the breathe still goes in and then goes out again. So in practice, do I attach/pay attention to the experience of my muscles burning, of my mind freaking out? Or, do I tune into the breathing because even when the muscles aren't burning the breath will still be there? At first I think it is easier to tune into whatever is loudest, but maybe it is a helpful thing to attempt stepping back a bit and listening for the most important thing instead. As I pop up into the next thing after utpluthih and my breathing quickly stabilizes, I realize that actually the freak out is not permanent, not even really that real. It didn't do any permanent life-threatening or debilitating damage. The breath on the other hand was something else entirely. Maybe like a glimpse into infinite potential or something. I try to remember this.

-India, Sunday