Hatha

The power came back in the afternoon yesterday, but the hot water was out until early evening. I finally toughed it out and took a sponge bath (brrr!), then ran my errands. It wasn't a bad day at all - it just unfolded differently than I thought it would.

I rode public transit to the Big Box Pet Store in the north-east end of the city. I almost never shop there but they carry those big wire dog crates. Princess Fur is fully crate-trained, almost to a fault: she howls like her heart is broken if I *don't* crate her when I leave.

She's had the same breed-appropriate travel crate for years but it seems so small. I know all she does is sleep when I'm away, but I wanted her to have more elbow room. I tried out her new 'Doggie Condo' (it was incredibly simple to construct, took mere seconds - Ikea, eat your heart out!). I can crawl into it and close the door (okay, in Balasana, but *still*) so I think it's big enough!

The rest of the day was dedicated to 'lazy'. I took a blissful nap in the afternoon, then knitted rows on my green sock. It's beginning to look like something substantial now and that's very exciting!

I'm discovering that I'm more of a 'process knitter' than an 'end product knitter'. I enjoy the repetitive flow of knitting; the meditative aspect. The fact that something useful emerges in the end is great, but it's the journey that makes me happy. I think I may become one of those psycho-sock-knitters. Now that I have the hang of it, I'm loving socks.

This morning, I eased back into my morning routine, slightly modified to account for the fact that we're *still* on Daylight Savings Time and it's very dark in the mornings. I'm envious of the Brits and Europeans who already 'fell back' this past weekend. It was too dark to go for a walk, so I practised yoga after my meditation, ate breakfast, then walked. My morning felt churned up, but it worked out okay. In fact, this may be my new schedule going into winter.

For my yoga practice, I followed Gentle Hatha Flow #2, 60 minutes with Jackie. The 60 minute version of this practice feels more 'complete' than the 45 minute one - I think I prefer it. I almost did a Yin practice this morning, but I'm glad I did something more active. I'll be back to vinyasa style tomorrow.

I chuckled with sympathy when I heard Jackie make one of my own infamous cueing errors. Going from Downward Dog to Forward Bend, the cue should convey stepping the left foot to join the right at the front of the mat. She said: “Step your left foot back to join your right” Oops! Step back to step forward? (sounds like my life some of the time! ha, ha).

I still remember blurting out this silly cue during my first year of teaching. The chaos that resulted left a deep impression on me.

Words really do matter.