Bakasana is my last pose (given by MSch).
When I still used to practice even half of third series I used to perform Bakasana B against the wall, That is I jumped high with bent legs and then I tried to lower the body so that my knees landed in my armpits. I never managed to do this.
It was not my pose. Quickly I moved to the twists......We all probably tend to love doing what we are able to do.
My new teacher is optimistic (which is contagious) that I'll be able to do this pose and I study it now in greater detail. The reason why I do bakasana even though I'm not (yet) able to do kapotasana is to develop core strength.
Even navasana is a challenge for me. Yet I really feel it, core strength is required for many asanas also for the vinyasas.
Bakasana: The knees are outside of the arms very high at the armpits. The arms are stretched.
We have a very passionate yogini in the world community. Her analysis of the poses and her tips and tricks are so precious. It's Kino MacGregor. So I searched her YouTube channel and found how expected a very helpful exercise.
The exercise (see picture above) looks easy, but I had an aha-moment: One shall bring the legs as high as possible to the outer side of the arms while in a sitting position. Finally the elbows might be close to the armpits. One shall press the knees against the body. The arms are stretched. The Aha-moment: I need core strength. My abdomen must work, too.
The exercise helps to devolop a feeling of what muscles must be used when doing this pose.
Bakasana B: There are 2 methods to jump into the pose.
1. The one method is to jump forward like one jumps in bhuja pidasana. That is the hips remain rather low. The legs remain bent.
2. The second method is to jump high so that the weight is on the hands, legs remain bent. Then one lowers the body slowly. This requires so much more balancing skills. Yet it looks more controlled.
I remember what I read in David Keil's book 'Functional anatomy of yoga': I quote from memory. If you tried something for 4 years or longer with no success, wonder what went wrong. He knew what went wrong in similar poses like this. I know it, too. One must get away from the wall. The wall changes how one jumps. The momentum is totally different. When again in the middle of the room, fear is there.
PS: I linked to 2 books in that blog post. Both are great Christmas presents.
Happy Sunday.
