Day 164

Usually ice hockey doesn't affect my yoga practice and vice versa, although I have noticed that I've been taking harder shots (and more accurate ones) this season. But last night's game was particularly tough. We were playing against the top team in the league (they're undefeated) and we were doing it without a goaltender. I'm on defence, so I played a bit rougher than I normally would.

It was a hard game - we lost 2-0 and defence rotated through the net. I let one goal in - not my finest hour.

I went home and meditated before going to bed. It was interesting to notice the impact that hour of competitive scrambling had on my mind. I was literally buzzed. Lately, when I sit to meditate, I've noticed that my mind rebels in the initial minutes. Last night, I felt like a rodeo wrangler! I spent the first 7 minutes just trying to lasso my mind and it took me another minute to get that doggy on the ground and get it to stop wiggling around. Then I had about two minutes of true meditation. ;-) Tonight, I'm starting 15 minutes of meditation. More time for wrangling!

There were some physical reminders of the game that affected my practice this morning. I slept like that dead last night, but woke with a very tender spot on my left shin where I had blocked a hard wrist shot. My right foot is also sore (I vaguely remember a puck ricocheting off my skate). A right winger got testy when I lifted her stick, so she lifted her arm, HARD, and jammed my right elbow. My whole body ached this morning as I stood in Samasthitihi and started my practice.

I took it easy and didn't push myself too hard. I did every pose of the Primary Series, but took it down a notch. I particularly backed off from twists. I'm in the midst of some sort of digestive upset and twists are not feeling good to me right now, so I did a finger bind in Marichyasana C and didn't bind at all in Marichyasana D.

Backbends felt brilliant! I'm still working against the wall. Everything feels deeper and I feel much stronger. Today, for the first time, I noticed that my breath was completely normal (Ujjayi) in Urdhva Dhanurasana.