Back bend'est week of my yoga life

It was back bend mahem all this week. Starting Monday with Nina's back bend class, where I could barely raise my head in Urdhvadhanurasana and completely collapsed in Pinchmayurasana. Then on to Wednesday in Jen's class where there was some progress. I could pull off a pinchmayurasana without any help. Finally to this Friday with Nuvana for a serious back bend immersion.

A one on one session that involved practicing many intermediate steps for being able to lift my head up in that pose. And I finally did it. I could finally lift beyond the crown of my head which included a finale at the gym this morning with Nuvana... It was all about back bends..... Back Bends! Back Bends! Back Bends! I am completely savoring them now.

Back bends have mean't being up later than I need to every night. Seriously its hard to fall asleep. But all in all its been an awesome learning and experience. Friday was a great class with Nuvana. We went through various poses to get to the ultimate - UrdhvaDhanurasana.. and finally today I was able to do it without any assistance. Mission accomplished. I am including some practice shots. Small baby steps shown. I have still a long ways to go....

But the best news of all - I was able to secure a place to the Bangalore trip with Guruji on his 90th birthday celebration... all the back bends were worth it! It was an exciting back bend'est week of my entire yoga life!

Namaste

Yogi

Some pictures of some of the steps I learned in the practice all week....