Day 166

Ha, ha. After describing my impossibly early schedule, it's pretty funny that I overslept this morning, ended up sleeping until 5:30, in fact. I was a bit late to the soup kitchen, which is bad because I was in charge of making toast today. Then, as if the universe was trying to tell me something, in the midst of my frantic toast making, the toaster caught on fire! I turned it off, filled my lungs with air and blew it out. Okay, it was a small fire, but still. There was applause in the kitchen. ;-)

I don't like it when my routine gets disrupted on a busy day. I get cranky. (Hello? Attachment, anyone?) So I was on overdrive all morning, but in a good way.

I skated for a half-hour after I finished at the soup kitchen and as I made my circles around the rink, I realised that I'm making progress towards the two skating goals I set for myself this winter: smooth crossovers on both sides while skating backward and feeling as comfortable skating backward as I do skating forward. Although it's tough to describe, I now feel feel 'at ease' when skating backward. I feel comfortable and happy. I don't feel like I'm going to fall, or run into someone, or not be able to transition smoothly back to forward skating when I need to (because I've worked on these transitions). This stuff is totally unrelated to yoga, but quite applicable to my other love, ice hockey.

And skating reminds me of headstand a bit - there's a comparison to be made here. For a long time, I always felt on edge while doing headstand in the middle of the room. Now I feel comfortable in the pose. Probably almost as comfortable in headstand as I do in Tadasana (simple standing). I would love to find that same ease in *handstand* - there's a new goal!

I blew through the Primary Series in a little over an hour today, a new record (and that was with over 4 minutes spent in headstand - a good song came on and I decided to stay in the pose for the duration of the song).

I had a fabulous practice. I didn't mess around or dawdle - I just did everything. And I had a few great moments. Binding in the Marichyasanas was solid - no breakthroughs but I did everything I already know how to do. I was actually able to bind in Supta Kurmasana, which surprised the heck out of me, because I rarely do that. Backbends felt amazing, strong.

Because I finished early, I was able to walk the dog and tidy the apartment and I'm nearly back 'on schedule'. I have a bunch of work to do this afternoon and then I teach all evening. Fridays feel like a holiday after this part of the week.