Sketchblog: DayBooks
Travel days are always out to get my sacrum and this last itinerary was a doozie: 9 hour flight to Santiago, Chile, 6 hours in the airport and a 2 hour flight into Burnos Aires. The whole trek took 24 hours door to door. Lots of insalubrious chairs. And I’m not the sort of person who can drop down into supta haddha konasana, supported on my carry-on at the airport. I know it would help, but it’s just not me to call that kind of attention to myself.
A little subtle ankle-to-knee, maybe. A little subtle backbending over chair backs, perhaps.
In any event, by the time I arrived in our Buenos Aires rental it was hard to straighten up, so supta baddha konasana and supta pandangusthasana became intrinsic to my days. And my little massage balls, which I never travel without (except through forgetful lapses), come into regular play. After just over a week, I’m pretty loosened up. Almost back to normal.
And it’s time to face some basic postural habits — bad ones. Bending over my suitcase (and that’s where the problem started) made me realize I bend over my drawings too. I tend to work on the floor and take a lot of stretch in my lower back.. When I was working wall size canvases I did it standing up, but I’ve been trying to get my scale more brain-size and, in doing so, I’ve lost a little physical integration.
How you configure your body (posture) to tackle a physical task is pretty basic. I can still be stupid about it — unconscious really. At least I remembered to pack a yoga strap and 2 blocks. And a friend Keeps a yoga mat here for me. Travel improvisation: I’m making additional blocks from stacks of VHS cassettes and books: covered with plastic bags to prevent damage and then duct-taped.