Mark is a great teacher and such fun to do stuff with. Here we look at Karandavasana one of the tricky arm balances in the Ashtanga Intermediate series. Going down under control is one thing coming back up is a whole different kettle of fish.
This is one of those postures that if you are strong you think what is all the fuss about, but if you are not strong it can seem impossible, particularily to go backwards. Mark gives some great tips for refining the technique and to help you to lift from the floor.
This is a posture from near the end of intermediate Series so for sure it is challenging. Mark has some interesting observations and tweaks to this posture that might work for you. If you don’t do padmasana you are probably not open enough in the hips to attempt this posture so play safe.
Even though it is no way a requirement for a deeply transformative practice, we still love our jumping and floating in Ashtanga Yoga. In this workshop with Mark Robberds we really dig deep and look at building the strong foundation and mobility necessary to pull it off successfully and sustainably.
Although this posture is in the Ashtanga Advanced A series I think it is reasonably doable if you have the hamstring length, strength, balance, focus, determination, and natural ability that is required 🙂 Joking apart I think it’s worth having a shot at as the flexibility constraints are really limited to hamstrings and thoracic rotation.
Sometimes you find yourself in lotus (padmasana) after coming out of a pose like for instance kukkutasana or supta vajrasana and land up untangling yourself to do a normal jumpback. There is a nice little transition that tidies all that up and in this video Mark Robberds shows you how as well
I remember seeing this image and thinking it looked like Mark was floating. And then I thought about how hard it is to do Mayurasana let alone to balance on one arm like that. So of course when I caught up with Mark in Goa recently I just had to find out how to do it. Knowing is one thing and doing is quite another. Good luck with this one 🙂
It’s great fun to interview Mark Robberds because he is so chilled and as much as surfer dude as he is an Ashtangi. We get to talk about his twin passions and how he works on his strength, lessons he has learnt himself from other teachers as well as techniques he incorporates into his practice. I even managed to get him to demo stuff right there in the interview, not fair I know but hey he is still young and virile.
Following on from the recent post on Jumping into Bakasana Mark Robberds completes the circle with this clip on jumping back out of Bakasana. When you first start trying to do this it can seem like your legs are glued to your arms probably encased in lead boots, but a bit of giggery pokery with your center of balance can make all the difference. I think Mark’s tips will get you quickly on your way.
Jumping into Bakasana seems like no big deal until you try it. Then it can feel like there is a very large mountain to climb. In this short clip Mark gives an excellent step by step guide to lead you through both the set up and building blocks for achieving a controlled jump into Bakasana.