Monday, July 7, 2008

Day 288

Uh oh. *Somebody* woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I just couldn't coax myself awake; excessive use of the snooze button. I did the full Primary with my many, many modifications. But I did do the Kurmasanas and even took a stab at Garba Pindasana.

My back is feeling much better. I have regained full range of motion in my neck, but something still feels 'blocked' in my left-upper-back, like a sob that is stuck deep in the chest. I just want...it...it...whatever it is to release. It's like my back needs to have an orgasm. Sorry, I know that's definitely a weird analogy, but that's exactly what it feels like.

In Savasana, I fell fast asleep. I *never* do that. Usually, I have trouble settling down in Savasana. I wonder what's up with that?

I was cranky all day. And moody. I felt out of sorts for the rest of the morning, took a long nap in the afternoon (I had too - I literally could not stay awake). Now I still feel groggy but I have things to do so I really need to rally. The whole day just slipped away from me. Time for supper, but I can't conjure up the motivation for it. I wonder if my body is fighting that bug that's going around and the slow-down is a way of forcing me to rest?

This body is such a mystery to me.

Anyways...

The Big Construction Project going on next door to my building has proven to be vastly entertaining during these long, lazy summer days. In the morning, after practice, I eat my breakfast and I watch the crane operator gingerly climb up 5 levels of ladders to the tiny operators booth at the top. His booth has a small air conditioner, but after he gets up there, he strips off his shirt and shoes. I call him Shoeless Joe.

All day, I watch Joe working. Today, as most days, his crane lifts big bowls of wet concrete over to the construction site where other workers carefully spread and dry it.

Right now (as I write this, out on my balcony), I can see that Joe is winding down. He spent the past ten minutes fixing something on his crane. Maybe by the time I get my supper, he'll be gratefully climbing down his five levels of stops to the earth and going home to eat his own supper.

Full circle, or something like that.

Shoeless Joe, the Crane Operator

3 comments:

Nate said...

I have no idea how I stumbled to your blog... I do commend you for keeping up an almost daily ashtanga practice on your own.

I started doing yoga last October and went to a class or two practically everyday thanks to the unlimited membership. Upon expiry, I intended to take the ashtanga practice home but it hasn't materialized yet. I do seem to wake up as early as you but find it hard to roll onto the mat with so many distractions; the main one being the internet.

I was wondering, where do you usually go for your ashtanga class when you do?

Kaivalya said...

Nate - The simple answer to that question is: I don't. I don't attend Ashtanga classes at all. When I do attend yoga classes, it's with one of two senior teachers I've been studying with for 8 years. One is an Ashtanga-teacher-turned-Anusara. The other is a Ashtanga-teacher-turned-vinyasa. My contact with the world of traditional Ashtanga instruction is limited to what I've been able to glean from DVDs and the Internet.

Arturo said...

Hi Kaivalya
Thanks for sharing the observations of the construction site. My work is on the design end of architecture and I don't always think about the lives of the brave construction people who get upon these cranes and steel assemblies daily until a building is completed.
Cheers,
Arturo