Pose dedicated 2 my Mom (Happy Mothers’ Day). Maneuverability. “Serpentine-spine-pose”

         This photo was published in my other blog yesterday because i wasn’t sure about it, not satisfied with the form or execution (content during the execution, but not when i see the photo of it. ) Nothing like. It’s nothing like those picture-perfect poses in the internet. (Anyway, that anonymous blog experienced a 900% spike (nine hundred times, because it had few to begin with) in numbers because the photo was linked by a strange site called “awkward family photos” i won’t describe it here anymore.)

          Not satisfied with form or execution, it’s a trikonasana.trikon +asana. Asana means pose. It’s one of the four triangle poses; i call it “twisting triangle”, or “serpentine-spine-pose” (just my words),  because you have to twist your spine and your torso ninety degrees flat out such that the torso is as flat as “an imaginary wall” ( teacher’s words) at your side. Of course, if you have a real wall, you can try attaching yourself to the wall to measure your angle, but pasting yourself to a real wall during the triangle would probably hinder your movement.

           At a 90-degree twist, your back would now be facing flat out the imaginary wall that was at your side before you twisted.

           It’s ninety degrees, please don’t twist it 180 degrees, repeat, do not twist 180 degrees. A 180-degree- twist is called “The Exorcist” original version starring Linda Blair.

         Therefore, the math of this pose is: 90-degree twist of the torso and spine, hips “squared” or maintained at zero degrees while your torso twists, don’t move your hips.

          Then, you’re required to raise, from the floor, the leg that’s knelt; and to lay the foot of thatraised leg, flat out behind you;balance your entire weight on one bent leg in front ofyou. And so…. i prefer video for ashtanga yoga, so you could see the movement.

           Mine isn’t all 90 degrees; i think only the shoulders and arms got to 90 degrees; the rest are just following behind. Very far behind.

         Continuing with the math:lower your torso orbend sideways to place your hand, palm flat, on the ground beside your foot. Make your arm parallel to your leg; leg and arm perpendicular to the ground. But your arm (distance between your elbow and wrist), is shorter than your leg, or the distance between your knee and the flat of your heel. At least four inches.

        Your leg, (again: distance between knee and flat of heel), is at least four inches longer (at least) than your arm (distance of wrist to elbow). Your arm is attached to your shoulder, which is attached to your torso, which has front parts. So when you bend towards your thigh, you are trying to parallel your arm (shorter) with your leg (longer) and pressing downward to get your hand to the ground:  your front parts will be squished by your thigh if you don’t twist 90 degrees and put all your front parts outside your thigh.

         that’s why you have to complete the twist–

         so you won’t get squished.

        If this advice is not heeded

        you will get ipit.

       I’m blabbering again, aren’t i? i blabber about the poses every three months.

       For every pose, there are at least four or five motions before getting there; it’s not like striking a pose in one fell swoop, you have to do the motions so you can twist well; this pose also has two prayer poses, one in front and at the side.

         Almost every pose has a prayer pose; now i don’t know what that is for “kinesthetically”, it’s an ancient practice, don’t ask me, but i do the prayer pose embedded in every pose because it makes me quiet.  For some reason,  it “ssshhs” me, you cannot talk inside your head rapidly while you’re going to the prayer pose; it’s like a hush, at every pose, don’t ask me why,  don’t know.

        (hay naku, sorry i don’t have a video of this, haven’t been able to video my own poses; no time, the last set was January, i’m content videoing my classmates)

         So sometimes, it’s nothing like the pictures, you have to experience the full range of the motions. It’s the “getting-there” that counts (for me), not the picture. (But of course, i want the picture to be perfect, for the visuals).

       Because it’s the “getting –there” that changes your arches and bends and the way you look at possibilities and maneuverability. When you’re negotiating, inwork, in relations, in trade, in life, in campaigns and movements to change the landscape of the world and yourself, trying to change the way people look at their leaders and at themselves; moulding minds and shaping practices; you have to know how to twist and turn and maneuver. Sometimes, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line; don’t be a hardliner; sometimes, the best way to get there is through twists and turns.

         How does this pose feel? I feel elongated at my back when i’m being twisted, it doesn’t look like that but that’s how it feels at your back and spine. Elongated.  Like a serpent. Serpentina!