Astanga

The past three days have been a little bit of vacation and a little bit of a free-for-all. I've been happily staying out late, sleeping in, eating cookies and pizza and lazing around.

I felt that today would be a good day to get back into a routine for morning practice and the full Primary Series. I received a phone call while I was holding my headstand for 10 breaths. When I phoned back, it was fun to say “Hey, I couldn't answer the phone because I was standing on my head!”

My body felt really gummy and stiff today which is not surprising, given that I've been doing light practices and eating so much junk. My bind in Supta Kurmasana is gone. It will come back eventually. For now, I worked with a modification. Other poses were okay, but nothing was very deep.

After 3 relatively stiff repetitions of Urdhva Dhanurasana, I decided to do a state-of-the-backbend photo, completely on a whim. This proved a bit problematic, since I've rearranged the apartment since my last backbend photo (it was *cough* last April). I no longer have the yellow wall to set up against. I had to figure out a new place to put the camera. But the futon isn't a bad backdrop and the radiator is exactly the right height.


Survey says: *shrug*

It's more-or-less the same as it was last April, although not quite as deep (if you look closely, my hands are further from my feet in this most recent shot) Not surprising, given that I've fallen off the 6-day-practice wagon over the winter (and still haven't managed to crawl back on, though the wagon never seems to be far).

I'm brewing up a secret plan to improve my Urdhva Dhanurasana and nail dropbacks. Ursula has completely re-inspired me in this regard. She's worked diligently at dropbacks for years and she finally found success. It's fun to read her recent posts describing joyful, effortless dropbacks!

I want to do that too! I can, I can, I believe I can!