Vinyasa

Today was supposed to be a beach day, but it didn't happen. Instead, I ended up going to brunch then doing boring, responsible-person stuff, like cleaning the apartment and combing the dreadlocks out of my poor, neglected dog's fur (there was a bath too - *somebody* is not loving me right now).

Sticking to my yoga schedule this morning (alternating between vinyasa and Astanga this week), I chose a vinyasa practice from YogaDownload: Lunchtime Flow #1 with Dawnelle, 30 minutes.

I really liked this one. Seems like the shorter sequences are more intense than the longer ones. I was soaked in sweat 10 minutes into that practice. Dawnelle definitely has her own style of teaching and I'm beginning to recognise her signature poses. Although not billed as a 'core' class, this one contained many core elements.

My favourite pose was, surprisingly, standing splits. There was a lot of Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana early in the sequence which opened up my front hips nicely and made the pose easier. I also enjoyed Natarajasana - I felt very stable and strong (not always the case).

The most challenging pose was a spinal balance that incorporated core work in a vinyasa. I liked this one a lot: From table, reach the left arm forward, the right leg back, inhale into a 'Cow tilt', exhale into a 'Cat tilt' while tucking the left knee to the nose. Repeat.

Also challenging was the 'flip your dog' routine, moving from Adho Mukha Svanasana to Urdhva Dhanurasana. I can flip my dog into a backbend quite easily, but I can't get back again! I just can't seem to get my head wrapped around this transition. It's hard to think when I'm upside down and all turned around! Maybe with practice...

Last night, I had a vivid dream that I was easily doing dropbacks into Urdhva Dhanurasana. Kind of interesting, given that I haven't been practising backbends very much lately and I certainly haven't been working on dropbacks. In the dream, the dropbacks were easy and deliciously fun. My dream-self wanted to email Ursula (who mastered these dropbacks months ago and is delighted with them) to tell her all about it.

Then I woke up. Oh well! I've always felt deeply drawn to dropbacks and it's sometimes a puzzle to me why I *can't* do them. I feel like I should be able to.

In other news, I've been meditating. My goal is consistency, with a minimum of 5 minutes per day. So far, I'm doing well - I'm into my third day. I'm keeping a simple log of my progress over here.

I've updated KD (my private blog) with a few photos from the summer.