So as if I don’t already have enough things to strive for –
i.e. make time to get on my mat every day; keep the houseplants alive; make
sure Scotty consumes a green vegetable at least once daily… I’ve decided to
complicate my life further by making a concerted effort to – someday – do lotus
(Padmasana) pose.
And by someday, I mean sometime in 2013.
I know, I know. It is quite anti-yogic to place an
expiration date on such a complicated posture, particularly when my hips are
tighter than a drum after running competitively for more than ten years, but, ‘eh,
it’s the Type A in me. I can’t help it.
The thing is, wheedling the hips (and groin…and knees…and
ankles) into lotus isn’t something that happens easily. (At least for most, anyway.)
It’s not like, say, a brunette who has designs on becoming a blonde, goes to
the store, buys a box of color, spends an hour in the bathroom and then –
presto! – she’s blond.
No.
Getting your lower extremities to pretzel into lotus is
decidedly more complicated, and, if you’re not careful, decidedly more painful.
A whole slew of speed-bumps can slow you down, besides requisite tight hips:
sickling ankle joints, knees that scream “No!!!!!!”
as soon as you so much as attempt to rest your foot on your upper thigh. You
catch my drift. The point is, if you are not careful, you can do some serious
damage. Like, irreversible.
I don’t want to go that route.
So instead, here is my daily I-want-to-do-lotus-someday plan:
*Bound angle (cobbler’s pose) with arms extended on the
floor in front of me for three minutes
*Lizard for two minutes on each side
*Supine Frog for as long as I can take it comfortably.
I’ll report back every now and then to share my journey.
Wish me well. (And do say an extra prayer or two for my knee
and ankle joints.)
Peace,
Courtney J
