You can often tell which poses a yoga studio practices frequently because most of the students can do them. Sometime before Christmas, I had one of my classes at The Solebury Club doing Crow and everyone in the class was able to do the pose. It was quite remarkable! Clearly, it is a pose I add into the sequence often. But then we got to Hanumanasana, or split… Not so much! Hmmm…
A Split is not a pose I can do. Or rather, it is not a pose I can do and get all the way down to the ground. So, clearly I am to blame for not teaching it with any regularity. I have had hamstring injuries in the past and when injured, I would stay away from such a big hamstring stretch. But still, I cannot take all the blame for not teaching this pose. My other colleagues who teach similar classes at Solebury are as fond of Hanuman as I am; which means they also cannot get all the way down to the ground, so they don’t teach it too often, either. Therefore, a lot of our students cannot do a split. Handstands, yes! Split, no.
Not that being able to do a Split is a requirement for anything in life, but still I am intrigued, mystified and challenged by the posture. I want to be able to do a split before I get too old to do it. It’s a pose on my yoga bucket list!
At The Solebury Club, Karate Sensei Ed Rumick has created a 100 push-up club on Facebook, which anyone can join. The goal is to work towards being able to do 100 push-ups by the end of the year. Here is the link if you are interested. I decided to join. I hate push-ups, but I have always wanted to be better at doing them because being able to do 100 push-ups will give me more strength to do other yoga arm balances. Now that is my idea of fun! There are some in the club who can already do 100 push-ups. Personally, I think they need a new challenge and I propose that they learn the routine in this video. Most people in the club can already do more push-ups than me. But, I don’t care. I would like to be able to do 3 sets of 10, at least. I did 26 today. But I can only do about 7 at a time without losing form.
This made me think about doing a Pose for the Year in yoga. Hanumanasana is not a pose you can master in one month. So, I thought it would be a good candidate for a Pose for the Year. I remember seeing a blog about some gymnastics coach who claimed he could teach an average middle aged man with no flexibility to do a split in 6 months. I think we need at least that amount of time.
What do you think? Are you interested? Are you game? It would mean that you should expect to see Hanumanasana as a posture at least once a week. I cannot guarantee I can work it into every sequence, but I want to try to fit it in more frequently. Also, on the Facebook page there could be sequences, tips and techniques for practicing the pose on your own. A little stretching everyday can help you get there.
I'll report on my progress and you can let me know how you are doing.
Let me know what you think. Leave a comment below.