Day 187

I had a late hockey game last night and I nearly didn't go, but bribed myself at the last minute with a few cookies and some coffee. ;-)

I'm glad I played - it was such a fun game. I like my new team! L and I are playing together again. We're both on defence, so it's fun to have someone to chat with on the bench and we play well together. Last night, there were only 3 defence, so we were rotating through. No goalie, but one of the forwards volunteered to play in the net (with equipment). It's amazing what a difference that makes, just having a designated goalie - even if she doesn't have some of the skills. We won, 5-6. I had three strong shots on net (that were ably stopped by my friend A, who was subbing in net for that team).

My shoulder is still sore, but that's not what was really bothering me last night. I just couldn't get my skates right. First, they felt too loose, so I tightened them. Then they were too tight and I couldn't manoeuvre properly. I was carrying the puck and did an actual belly flop onto the ice, still frantically swatting at the puck with my stick. When the whistle blew, I had a good hard laugh at my own expense. The I loosened them again; Goldilox hockey.

I got home late, then had a rare spell of insomnia, probably because of the game. I didn't go to sleep until after midnight, so I slept until almost 8. I didn't do my practice until nearly lunchtime and it was a great one. My hamstrings were so open! I love practising in the afternoon for that reason - my body is so warm and pliable and I'm able to go deep into the postures.

Musical Sirsasana was very wobbly and week. I held it for 2 minutes, 32 seconds to 'Dorje-Den' by Yungchen Lhamo.

My backbends were great! I've started adding some Anusara stuff to the backbends to help build strength. For the first Urdhva Dhanurasana, I come into it as I normally do and hold for five breaths. Second, I come up for one breath and then bring one hand to a thigh for two breaths, put that hand down, then bring the other up for two breaths. Third backbend, it's the same general concept, except now I'm lifting my legs up and extending them toward the ceiling one at a time.

Of course, if I was really doing Anusara, I would be doing all of that in one backbend, with no breaks and holding it for five minutes...but, whatever. ;-)