Thursday night at Blissworks Yoga of New London, was a night of sadness and light. Sadness because the most wonderful vinyasa teacher, Constance Kendros, taught her last Thursday evening class. Light, because Constance assisted my 50 year old bod into its first supported headstand! I have some physical limitations but don't let them limit my mental approach to vinyasa. Instead, I modify and work around poses that are outside my scope. Often my modus operandi is to do the preliminary pose and then marinate in it, relishing the benefits of those baby steps while the class does the grown-up versions of asana such as headstand and crow.
Whenever the teacher announced the next asana was headstand, my baby steps version consisted of:
~ accepting myself as I am
~ measuring out the arm distance and placing my head between the triangle forearms
~ assuming Dolphin pose
~ walking the feet in as far as possible and relishing the deep spinal and side body stretches
~ getting used to feeling the top of my skull on the mat and the pressure on it
Recently the thought flashed in my mind while doing Baby Headstand - "I think I can do this." I wrote to Constance after learning she was leaving, and told her! Well lsat night she compared our final Thursday vinyasa flow to our own Olympics, and encouraged us to really push, to go for the gold in our last lap. And for headstand she saw me pull my mat to the wall and said "You wrote me that you are ready!" And with her coaxing and help holding one foot to the wall, up I went! TWICE! Bent knees the first time and straight the second.
It feels WONDERFUL to be upside down. I'm still high, 24 hours later. Thank you, Constance, for turning my world upside down - best wishes in your new career and I hope to see you on the mat at Bliss.
Whenever the teacher announced the next asana was headstand, my baby steps version consisted of:
~ accepting myself as I am
~ measuring out the arm distance and placing my head between the triangle forearms
~ assuming Dolphin pose
~ walking the feet in as far as possible and relishing the deep spinal and side body stretches
~ getting used to feeling the top of my skull on the mat and the pressure on it
Recently the thought flashed in my mind while doing Baby Headstand - "I think I can do this." I wrote to Constance after learning she was leaving, and told her! Well lsat night she compared our final Thursday vinyasa flow to our own Olympics, and encouraged us to really push, to go for the gold in our last lap. And for headstand she saw me pull my mat to the wall and said "You wrote me that you are ready!" And with her coaxing and help holding one foot to the wall, up I went! TWICE! Bent knees the first time and straight the second.
It feels WONDERFUL to be upside down. I'm still high, 24 hours later. Thank you, Constance, for turning my world upside down - best wishes in your new career and I hope to see you on the mat at Bliss.
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