Side split, sanakonasana, April 2023
Splits are part of my daily exercise and slowly I notice progress. The most important thing: the body no longer resists the stretch. It has become more comfortable to stretch. You always have to feel the stretch, otherwise nothing happens. You have to learn to decipher the language of the body. You have to distinguish between a welcome pain of stretching and a pain that leads to injury.
The most difficult moment is starting the exercise. Once I start practicing, everything is good and the 90 minutes fly by. Just roll out the mat and do the easiest forward bend you know, I tell myself. That helps to get started in the first place. The resistance to practice goes down. No sooner is the sun salutation practiced than the whim to test and push the limits kicks in. What is possible today, is then the question.
That I will practice 90 minutes today, I would not have thought. But just the same it came again.
Tomorrow is a day of rest.
Nobody exercises as much as amateur athletes, my physiotherapist once told me. But the breaks are part of learning. The body needs relaxation. The break gives rhythm to the practice. You practice six days a week, and on the seventh day you rest. You repeat this rhythm. Six days of practice in a row is doable, but to practice from now on forever without interruption until the end of your life is more than climbing the Himalayas.
In the picture I am practicing sanakonasana against the wall. The wall gives resistance and thus allows the legs to spread further. Also in this exercise I note that the hips are tilted forward and the back emphasizes the S-curve. The blogs help me with this. The muscles are 70% tense. The face is also relaxed, the breath is calm and regular.