So over @ilovesweat’s he’s been naming some bad habits in his Bikram practice. I left a comment about my bad habit, inadvertently revealing 2 other bad habits!
When I first started at the studio I remember the teachers being tough about using washcloths or handkerchiefs as props during poses. You could use one, but you had to have yourself and your prop set up with the rest of us. No extra fuss. So, I pointed out that during Dandayamana-JanuShirasana, slipping the ball of the foot into the palm hardly works with the cloth in the way, so my bad habit is to wrap the cloth around my foot and relace my fingers. Lots of fuss, but I do try to be discreet.
As you can imagine, I was called out for using that hanky AT All. @MeiNg challenged me to go without my prop and gave a suggestion for improving my sweaty grip.
Try interlacing up the webbing, and imagine you’ve got an orange in between your interlaced fingers and you’re gonna give it a CRUSH OF DEATH.
At my next class, I didn’t use my prop and tried crushing an orange instead. It hurt. Talking about it tonight with @jaynesave I told her I crushed the sides of my feet and she immediately knew what I had missed in the advice. Imagine you’ve got an orange in between your interlaced fingers...
Crush with the fingers not the palms! Ouch, my poor feet!
Tomorrow I will crush the orange between my fingers, interlaced to the webbing. I can hardly wait.
Tags: Bikram blog, dandayamana janushirasana, props, twitter
Oh no! Sorry! :s
Though you can try practicing the grip during pavanamuktasana, when you’re all lovely and sweaty. At least you’ll crush your shin/knee, which isn’t as painful. I think.
Have a great class!
Hahaha - whoops!
Best advice I’ve heard: hold the GRIP, not the FOOT. Your fingers should be squeezing into your HANDS. And there are a ton of opportunities in the series to improve the strength of your fingers/grip: think pranayama and half moon, as well as wind removing and the seated forehead-to-knee at the end. It’s hard work that seriously pays off.
It’s ok to wipe off your hands on your shorts before the posture if your grip strength is still coming along. Bikram says to do that, so I often go ahead and do it.
Yes! Tonight I realized I was already using this grip during wind removing and the seated forehead-to-knee. I was able to hold the grip during standing head-to-knee for almost the entire pose, fell out on the right the last few seconds. Way better than crushing the foot!
I like hold the GRIP, not the Foot. I’m excited to try it during half moon, where literally my arms are like wet noodles!
Thank you both for your help!
Long Live Bikram!
; >