When we practice things that challenge us our mind and body respond by strengthening itself to withstand the task at hand. When we exercise, our muscles tear, causing a short period of soreness; then the body rebuilds itself and rewards us with firmer, stronger muscles. Weight bearing exercises cause the bones to respond by depositing more calcium, thus preventing breaks and osteoporosis. These are some positive physical benefits that challenging exercises give our body; upon deeper exploration we find that the mind also gets strengthened through physical challenges. Mastering bakasana (crane) in yoga requires practice, dedication, and surrender of the ego (everyone is gonna face plant at some point!). How do you do this arm balance and what will bakasana teach you about life?
Don’t be in a hurry! Take your time with poses that build arm and core strength. Such as adho mukha dandasana (downward facing staff), also known as plank or staff pose. Vary plank pose by practicing with the forearms down or hands clasped together as you would in sirsasana (head stand). For even more of a challenge lift one leg and hold, then the other leg and hold for an equal amount of time. In plank always keep the head of the arm bones back, don’t let the shoulders sag keep the heart open. Slightly tuck the tailbone (move the the tailbone toward the heels); this decompresses the low back and gains access to the deep core muscles. Try plank for a minute (or more), breath your way through!
Accept your face plant and move on or back off! As much as we may want to have the “Midas touch” we just don’t. Not every project we touch turns to gold immediately; most good things (except the lottery) require a ladder that must be climbed. Get back up and try again or back off and return to practicing prep poses such as malasana (garland pose) a simple squat. Come with your feet a little wider than hip width apart and squat down bring your hands to your heart to anjali mudra (namaste, prayer, or salutation mudra), place a rolled blanket under your heels if they can’t comfortably reach the floor. Relax and breath concentrating on the rise and fall of your belly, getting in touch with the navel center, allow the hips to relax. Practice malasana for 30 seconds to a minute.
Assemble a crash pad! Be prepared for failure, keep yourself mentally prepared to accept that things usually take multiple tries, so don’t give up too soon. Have something to fall back on in case your plans fall through. Place a blanket in the trajectory of your head, aka crash pad.
Feel good about your achievements! Pat yourself on the back for achieving an entire minute in plank. Or maybe you’ve achieved bakasana, even if its only for seconds, it counts! Celebrate even if your glory was short lived! To prepare for bakasana set up your crash pad, come to malasana, plant both hands on your mat fingers wide, place the inside of the knee high up on the arm, push out with the arm and in with the knee, apply mula and uddiyana bandha (root and abdominal lock), feel like your hugging everything into center and up, begin to lean forward, take one toe off the ground then switch. Work yourself slowly into the pose. Finish with a wrist release by pushing the top of the hand down.
Trust yourself! If we don’t try something new and scary we will never learn what we can achieve. Self doubt and low self-esteem are the enemy of achievement, so trust yourself and the universe and go for it! To achieve the full pose trust the strength of your arms (and all your hard work to get there) and lean into them, keep the core pulled in and up, let both toes come off the ground and touch them together, keep breathing! At first work with the arms bent, slowly straighten them over time, the sky is the limit!
In yoga class we practice physical and mental skills to ultimately use them in our daily life. So practice bakasana and fly like a bird! Enjoy! Namaste-The light in me bows to and respects the light in you!
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