Alright, hello everyone it's me Ethan and in this video we are
gonna look at how to work on dropping back and standing up
on your own this is the second of a two-part video series but i've set them
up so you can watch them interchangeably so you're fine to keep watching even if
you haven't seen the other one yet. The first video covers the fundamental
movement patterns and here i'll show you how to work gradually
when you're practicing on your own
So, the sequence of dropping back and standing up from Urdhva Dhanurasana is one
that can be really challenging to learn but a good
teacher will make this approachable at the right
time through a combination of clear instruction and most likely
some physical adjustments to guide you towards a more self-sustainable practice
Supportive and educated adjustments are in the vast majority of cases
the safest and most comfortable way to begin practicing this
however as many students are currently working in isolation
we are kind of at a point where people need to either put their progress on
hold or go ahead unassisted and unsupervised
while both of these seem less than ideal, I can tell you that either way
is completely acceptable as long as you know how to stay safe if you do continue
to practice this. Always work within your healthy range of
controlled movement and gradually allow that to expand
in this video i'll show you exactly how to do that
we'll start by really micro dosing this movement by standing nice and tall at
the front of your mat support your pelvis with your hands
the thumbs all the way at the back on the sacrum
and gazing straight ahead - press the hips forward - do not bend the knees here
broad chest lifting the spine up and away from its base at the pelvis
if you're comfortable there, take the head all the way back
after a few breaths - inhale to come up
if that was comfortable move through the same positions once again but before
taking the head back firm the lower abdomen to support your spine
move the hands to prayer position then lead with the chin to take the head
all the way back. Remember straight legs here
breathe, then inhale and again come all the way up
only if that was perfectly comfortable for you then
let's take it one step further by moving through the exact same positions
then keeping the shoulder blades drawing down, extend the arms overhead
press the hips forward to counterbalance stay in the legs
breathe, and finally inhale to come up. So far we've kept the center of balance
directly above mid-foot and kind of played with keeping it
there by sending the hips forward as you arch back
if you're completely comfortable with those you can start to commit weight
back but again we'll micro dose this movement
by using the wall to support So, you may be aware that in the
traditional method of ashtanga yoga we generally do not recommend the use of
props or walls as a means to modify the asanas and that
is because there are almost always more effective ways to bring the practice to
the level of the student when that's absolutely necessary. In this
situation when we are trying to perform a
traditionally assisted movement without assistance
some tweaking of the conventional method may be required and so you might
choose to use your environment as i'm about to show you to make dropping back
safe without a teacher
remember to move through the same positions as the previous exercise
the intention here is to build on the work that we've just
done when you reach the point of resistance
slowly bend your knees forward making light contact with the wall
and strong legs keep your head relaxed back and shift your weight
forward to come all the way up. Progress by
trying to control the drop back and landing further down the wall
challenging yourself to shift weight forward and come up from the point where
you land
if you find yourself uncomfortable and need to abort mission then
walk your hands back up the wall and come up evenly rather than twisting out
of the backbend. You can challenge yourself further by
taking an extra step down the wall and trying to come up from there
Also, you might feel tempted to quickly move your hands in front of
you to come up and yes - that does help you move more
weight forward but for the purpose of safety you'd be better off keeping your
hands in place if you're not 100% sure that you moved enough weight forward
into the feet to stand all the way up i'd much rather have you frustratingly
fall back onto your hands repeatedly rather than successfully coming up
without smashing your head on the floor nine times out of ten when you get down
to about 20 or 30 centimeters from the ground
let's get closer to replicating the full form of the drop back by using a solid
flat and very stable surface to drop down onto
rather than touching the wall. Continue to do this in front of the wall for
safety remember that the action here is the
same as when you're pushing away from the wall move your weight forward
Not up - to come to standing. Decrease the height as you get more comfortable
if you can come up from a platform as thin as this board
then get rid of it - you don't need it
drop back in front of the wall as long as there is any doubt about whether or
not you'll make it up to standing when you're back in the shala your
teacher can assess whether or not you should be dropping back alone in the
middle of the room but for now if there is any uncertainty
then err on the side of caution. Alright yogis - we've just whizzed
through this step-by-step progression but please be conscious of the fact that
learning this movement is a long-term process
it might take you months or even years to get from where we were
five minutes ago to what i've just covered now. Consistently exercising
restraint is the key to approaching this part of
the sequence as a matter of fact just once again
i want to remind you that putting this on hold until you have the chance to
work with a teacher is a perfectly reasonable way to make
progress - the unconventional methods that we've covered
here only work because they allow you to micro dose and stay within your healthy
range of controlled movements. I think it was the really clever and really
brilliant david robson who said at the beginning of this whole
lockdown fiasco that these are exceptional times and exceptional
times require exceptions. And although he was probably
talking about something completely different i really do believe
that the techniques here can be greatly valuable to you if you are practicing on
your own during these exceptional times. So - if you
are a subscriber i want to hear from you get in touch with me to let me know how
this works for you or just to say what's up
my Actual Love goes out to every one of you and i
will see you in the next one!