Slow Learner

I finally realized this morning, although I have been told this many times, all the postures in Intermediate Series prior to Karandavasana are preparing for Karandavasana. It is absolutely brilliant! The seers knew what they were doing.

I also realized that to do any of the movements in the practice a person is not using any individual muscle but the whole body. One does not want to isolate a single area of the body but move all the muscles together to produce the desired movement.

All the postures prior to Kapotasana are preparing for Kapotasana. Currently my upper chest is tight and I am lucky to even touch the tip of my big toes with my middle fingers when I come down into the posture. Part of this is due to I am really working all of my Chaturangas in all of the vinyasas to build upper body strength for Karandavasana. Once I have built the strength I should be able to create the opening in my chest for Kapotasana, Pincha Mayurasana and Karandavasana.

As Chelsea pointed out the hands go together in Pincha Mayurasana not from lack of strength but lack of flexibility in the shoulders. I am still trying to wrap my head around this as Chelsea's shoulders seem very open but her hands do want to go together in Pincha Mayurasana. She was a gymnast and has more awareness and understanding of the body than I do.