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| I've been practicing yoga on and off for years, and have now committed myself to weekly practice of hatha yoga. There's one problem I have that is a great distraction. When I move from downward dog to the lunge, the foot that I'm bringing forward simply *will not* move up to the space between my hands. In fact, I can barely get my foot forward at all. I have to take the foot with both hands, shove it forward, and continue. I know my hamstrings are relatively tight; could this be causing the problem? Or is it tightness in my hips? It feels like my leg can barely move. |
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| It's a combination of all you mentioned, including ab strength. 
Don't worry. If you're practicing daily, this will change and cease to be a distraction.
Once you get your foot up there on its own? Then try moving through your sun salutations without your feet scraping the mat in either direction! That's also ab strenght.
Christine |
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| alice: your problem is mainly caused by shoulder strength. You practice arm strength a lot. Then when you take the foot forward,your pams should be pressing down and shouldres should be strongly stretching vertically up, then imagine your mind to make your lower back and knees to be made of soft melting butter. Let us know the result after 30 min each day practice for 2 weeks. Do not forget Christine to know.
neel kulkarni www.authenticyoga.org |
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| Hmm, arm strength? Ab strength? Well, I am lacking in both of those, so anything is possible!
it feels like there's something wrong with my hips, like they just won't allow my leg to move forward. But then once the first leg is forward, the 2nd one comes forward with no problem... |
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| Do other beginners have this problem? I seriously feel like there's something wrong w/ me. It ties in to a lot of insecurity about my body, and I end up wanting to cry during class.
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| This is an extremely common "problem" for beginners, Alice. Please put it into perspective?
I have people in my special conditions who would die to do a lunge. I have several who would love to be able to kneel and get back up.
You simply have some strength building to do. You can do the mechanics, including the self-adjustment! Just heave that ol' foot up there and continue on. Don't stop yourself with self-criticism about something that is really a tiny thing in the course of life and yoga. Just laugh, and say to yourself, "It's a little further up today!" And continue on.
We tend to forget that no one is looking at us, nor does anyone care (you know the self-judgement thing? many of us have that, too) about what we can or can't do. They're too worried about themselves. It's human nature.
So draw in your tummy when you move your foot, look forward as best you can (rather than down) and just make it a step in your sun salutation.
You will get past this if you're practicing as you've mentioned.
Christine |
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| Thank you, Christine. I was feeling a little sorry for myself, and now I feel a little silly. We all have our insecurities and sometimes mine cause me to lose all perspective!  Thanks for helping me. |
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| Ahh, Alice! Success!
We all look around. We all compare. I know, that's not yoga PC to say, but we do and I'm not afraid to say it out loud. The trick will be to figure out what to do with that comparison! We can use it to appreciate the beauty of someone's practice around us, uplifting ourself with that pleasure, or we can use it as a judgement where we always find ourselves coming up less, beating the crap out of ourselves because we're not able to do xxxx, feeling bad, incapable and dumb.
I understand how it is to feel defeated. Through a long story, I lost much of my spinal flexibility. Backbends bacome a nightmare for me, although I've been working to regain even a modicum of that movement since about 1995. Sometimes I am so frustrated tears come to my eyes. I have to stop and remind myself that (as Pattabhi says) "...in time, all things will come." Although I want to backbend easily and freely again, the universe obviously feels I need other things. Such as patience. There is no prize, no guarantee of instant enlightenment, and I won't even be a better person if I can backbend again. Kind of like touching the toes: they'll be there when the hamstrings are ready to let us touch them. Forcing anything just injures us and makes the road a lot harder.
Hang in there, girlie.
Your Sun Sals will become smoother once you accept how you do them, which is right for your body. One day you'll realize you're either no longer lifting your foot with your hand, or that you're actually doing it out of habit! Just like some day I'll do a back walk-over again into a back limber, into Kapotasana and wonder about the days I was unable to do so. Ok, so everyone's gotta have a yoga dream, right? That's mine!
Christine |
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sun salutation question--help!
