Friday, December 11, 2009

Astanga

Ah ha! Back to Astanga today. My arm is feeling better! I didn't over-do it though - I stuck with the Swenson 30-minute short form, by the book. For some reason, it always takes me much longer than 30 minutes. Today, I was on the mat for about 45 minutes. And boy, I felt stiff. The muscles around my left hip are still very crampy.

I'm developing a theory around that and it's not a happy one. A lot of the crampiness is around the sacrum. I hope this isn't that elusive Sacroiliac Thing that plagues Ashtangis. That would totally spoil my plans for January!

After my practice, I bundled myself up and bundled Princess Fur up, then we went for our daily walk, stopping at the pet store for dog food. Did I mention that it's cold out? It's COLD out! But I'm not complaining because I was the one being all annoyed last week because winter wasn't kicking enough ass. We have snow on the ground and ice on the sidewalks. The windchill is -17. Enough!

I made Princess Fur wear her fancy red polarfleece dog coat, made by the signature Canadian company, 'Roots' (Stop laughing, Australians!) and her hot pink dog boots which I found on sale at PetSmart two years ago. I hate the colour but half price is half price.

Don't worry, I'm going somewhere with this. In fact, I'm going here:

PunK RoCk PrinCess

Boy, she looks indignant! Clearly, I was having waaaaay too much fun with the clippers that day!

This was fun! So, henceforth, Fridays on this blog will known as 'Princess Fur Fridays' and will feature a story or photo of my favourite downward facing schnauzer. At least, until I run out of good material and we all know *that* will never happen!

10 comments:

Flo said...

I have sciatica and it was from pushing to hard in my practice. That and sitting all day at a desk. The combination has irritated my piriformis (I had xrays done to ensure it was not spine) I had 3 flair ups earlier this year.
Keep me posted on it!
Oh my goodness I love Princess Fur. I love Scotties!!!

Jen Stevenson said...

I have the dreaded SI joint problem myself. Besides yoga therapy (my teacher is also a physical therapist--lucky me!) I've noticed that I've had less problems since I started sleeping with a pillow between my legs. I sleep on my sides so this keeps my top leg/ hip more in line.

I just finished another 6 days with Beryl. Aaaah, what a great week! I always learn so much from her and come away inspired, excited and peaceful all at the same time.

I asked her about the additional pose in Baddha Konasana. She told me it was not taught to her that way. I looked at her book, David Swenson's and Yoga Mala and neither of them include the pose in a flexion so maybe this is just a pose someone somewhere along the line added.

Can't wait to see more Princess Pics!
Jen

lew said...

heheheheh roots! heheheheh

oops! Sorry! Bet there isn't a company called roots HERE!

susananda said...

-17, yikes. I'm coming to Oakville on Tuesday and plan to hit a Toronto shala a couple of times... if you're around and fancy it we could meet for a coffee or something?

I've had the SI thing and worked through it over a couple of years. Piriformis can just be tight (yogabutt), or it can actually pull the SI joint out of alignment - ouch! You'll know if that happens.

I agree that sleeping with a pillow between the legs is great, I do that still sometimes.

Michelle said...

-17? You poor thing. Check out our weather. -49, Yes -49 with the windchill this weekend.

Kaivalya said...

@Flo
I'm planning to post dog photos on Friday, as a regular feature. By the way, don't let the Princess hear you calling her a scottie. She's a Miniature Schnauzer and gets very offended in that peculiar German Princess sort of way! ;-)

@Jen
Thanks for asking Beryl about the Baddha Konasana. I've noticed that different teachers learned the series slightly differently depending on when they studied with Guruji.

I'm envious of your six days. 'Workshop with BBB' is on my list of New Year Resolutions for 2010. Let's see if I can manage it. New York isn't that far away, right?

@Lew
A ha!I knew I could find at least one Australian to amuse with this! :-) The other day, I saw a girl in gym pants and the word 'Roots' stitched across the bum. And I thought: "THAT would go over well in Australia" (and had a good chuckle).

@Susananda
Which Shala are you going to? Yes, we should meet up! Shoot me an email: I'm reluctantashtangi on gmail. You'll get extra extra credit if you bring a couple of Toffee Crisp bars with you - they're my favourite thing!

@Michelle
When I wrote the part about -17 windchill, I very nearly followed it up with "Stop laughing, Michelle!" You prairie-dwellers will always win the 'Battle of the Windchill'!

susananda said...

Hey... yep, I'll shoot you a mail later! Not sure which shala, there seemed to be three but one looks quite far north, the other two not so far from the station...and I noticed at least one or maybe two of them had mysore till 11 or some afternoons! I will not be getting there for the early shift :) Must research it again, but that said, is there one that you would recommend? (anyway I'll mail you)

Toffee Crisp, you got it. Funny because my favourite is Coffee Crisp, and you can't get that over here.

Regarding temperature... feeling very grateful at this moment to be from the Toronto area and not the prairies!!!

Skippetty said...

Princess Fur does NOT look amused at all, which adds to the cuteness of her pic. ROOTS!!! Oh dear. ;p

Kaivalya said...

@Skippetty
Yeah, Princess Fur puts up with a LOT!

Kaivalya said...

@Susananda
Yeah, get in touch with me and I'll give you the scoop on the Shalas here. Central is the most traditional, but I think Shala South is your best bet for an afternoon Mysore class.

I think we may need to arrange a regular chocolate bar exchange! Or maybe switch cities!

And it looks like the deep freeze is arriving just in time for your visit! Good times! ;-)