Astanga

I taught until 10 p.m. last night and decided to ride my bike home, rather than fold it up and ride the subway. I love riding past High Park on a summer evening. There's a musky foresty smell that permeates the air around the park at night: trees, damp earth, oxygen. I savour it. Then back into the city and traffic and urban stink. :-D

Since I was up late last night, I turned off the alarm so I could sleep in. As luck would have it, I woke up bright and early at 6 a.m. I forced myself to go back to sleep and got up at 8, rolling onto the mat by 8:30. I felt stiff, cranky and out -of-sorts and I really didn't know what kind of practice I would end up having, which I guess is sort of the point: practice brings the body back into equilibrium.

By the second sun salutation, I felt fine and I had a really good practice. Sirsasana totally rocked - it was very controlled today, which seems to be the key. Coming back up from half-bend, I played a mental game, pretending that I was coming into the pose fresh. Then it was all a nice surprise when I was able to come back down again right away. :-D

My lower back was feeling cranky which I expected, having put some strain on it last night, carting books home from class. One of my students 'gifted' me a couple of vintage yoga books. 1970s yoga is VERY...um, interesting. Scans soon, I promise.