Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sets of 54?!

I’m working on fluidity in my backbends/drop-backs – cutting out the extra breaths and the purposeful distractions.

The other day after finishing my usual 3-5 drop-backs and ready to move on, my teacher looked at me and said: “Do sets of 54.”

Haha, umm, sets of 54?! He must be joking! I laughed (along with everyone else who overheard).

But maybe he wasn’t joking? Iyengar did 108 drop-backs in row – that’s two sets of 54 (and if you watch videos of him, he makes them look effortless).

4 comments:

  1. so will you do 54 drop backs in a row? let me know how it goes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha, doing 54 drop backs in a row seems impossibly far away... but maybe it's one of those things to work towards over my lifetime!

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I was about 10, I was learning yoga under Geeta (Guruji's daughter). Guruji stopped by once and admonished me on my poor head stand (I wasn't straightening my legs). I told him I was scared I would topple over. He then showed me right there and then how to do it right. If a 65 year old man can do it, so can you. So yes, over a lifetime, one can aspire to be Iyengar. Great blog and great links...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mihir, so nice to hear from you! He is an incredible man -- how lucky you had the opportunity to study with him! and yes, I like how you say over a lifetime, cause this really is a lifelong practice and adventure...

    ReplyDelete