I've had a mental block when I've been coming up to Kapotasana. It's a physical/ mental block - Kapotasana is a very strong backbend and I find it mentally challenging to think about the posture.
A few things have changed that - thinking about the postures leading up to it and spending more time in them...and, "hanging out in the posture" as David Keil calls it - hanging out in the backbends before Kapotasana and feeling the effects in the body, without having an adverse mental reaction to them, and, even if you do have that adverse reaction, continuing to breathe with it, soften, move further into the posture, breathe, soften, move further into the posture, breathe, soften, move further into the posture...
This came after spending some time with David Keil June 3, 4 and 5 and a certain focus on Mula and Uddiyana Bandha to stabilise the body from the bottom of the pelvis and in from the lower belly. This stability gives the diaphragm a different support than belly breathing - letting the belly move out as you inhale and in as you exhale. This support encourages the ribs to move up and out on the inhalation, to accommodate the diaphragm, as it no longer moves down into the belly (the belly is lifted with Uddiyana Bandha). This lift is localised to the pelvic floor and lower belly, the strain should not move up to the shoulders and face.
With this type of breathing in place and a commitment to "hang out" in the tough parts of postures, I had an approach today of looking forward to practicing Kapotasana and thinking I could practice it...instead of dreading the experience.
The idea of hanging out in postures includes all postures, and I've come to appreciate it in the standing postures, with the fullest expression of the posture that you are practicing...use the full breath and soften into the posture...
