Intermediate Scares Me

Tim's out of town, so I snuck into led Intermediate this morning. And, of course, got my ass handed to me.

Oof.

As I've seen it described elsewhere, Intermediate is energetically completely different from Primary. Primary pulls you down, folding into yourself, head down, eyes closed, limbs wrapped. The standing poses are just prep for your hamstrings and hips, then the inward withdrawal starts with various flavors of paschimottanasana, then the limbs draw in further and further, first the arms in the binds, then the legs in the half lotuses, culminating with the tight ball of Marichyasana D. Finally, Supta Kurmasana offers complete sensory deprivation, with your feet up over your head, hand bound tightly, forehead to the ground. The ultimate head-in-the-sand experience.

It's why I like adho mukha vrksasanan so much between navasanas - it offers a lightness, an expansiveness, that keeps the practice from pulling me too far down, psychologically. The finishing backbends are the energizing poses of the series, which pull me just far enough up to drive to work without falling asleep at the wheel.

Intermediate, on the other hand, seems to be about opening, at least at first glance. You start puffing your chest out with Pasasana, and it just never ends. Kapotasana is the most obvious untethered pose, but it feels like the rest of the practice doesn't quit. And obviously my legs don't go anywhere near behind my head.

It's also a harsh shock to go from knowing and understanding the poses, the sequence, the logic, to diving into an unfamiliar sequence, strange poses.

Makes Primary feel comforting.