Hatha

Over the past few days, I've been working on a contract for a local university, marking papers for a technology course. It's the kind of intense, time-sensitive work that leaves sinks full of dishes and not-walked-enough dogs in its wake.

I've been hunkered down indoors with my iPod and a red pen since yesterday, trying to finish up the last bit. Fortunately, the weather has been atrocious (cold, rainy, feels like October) and my stomach has been in knots (food poisoning), so I wasn't very tempted to venture outside anyway.

I finished up the project around noon, organised everything and sent it off. I didn't step on the mat until late evening, though. And I wasn't feeling very ambitious.

I started doing sun salutations and ended up concocting a mixture of Surya Namaskara A with the classical Hatha salutation. Fun! I think I'll play around with that some more. I did a few standing poses, but was feeling pretty yucky so I moved to the floor.

I laid over the bolster again in a supine backbend. I don't know if this is making a difference, but my back has been feeling fine at night (I've had no recurrence of the lower-back-pain episode that was so horrific a few days ago). The bolster feels *awful* for the first minute until everything begins to release, then I can find the ease.

Best part is, it really does work! I tentatively tried Urdhva Dhanurasana afterward and it felt comfortable.

Note to self - do more of this: