Astanga

(photo credit: Yoga Dogs 2010 Calendar)

I powered through my full practice this morning, added 10 minutes of shoulder stretches and spent a minute holding Bakasana. Then I realised that it’s Wednesday and I still have four classes ahead of me to teach (and four tomorrow; the noon just confirmed). I’ll probably be tired tonight!

I’m still amazed at how ‘routine’ my longer practice has become. I’m not exhausted afterward and I really enjoy it.

There are no big changes in my practice this week. A while ago, I backed off of the bind in Marichyasana D when my SI joints started complaining, so I’m gradually phasing that back in (I was able to bind to fingers on the right side - my easier side - today).

I bind to a facecloth in Pasasana, but from the non-binding side, the pose looks great! :-D The pose is final feeling stable and strong to me. I’m working on alignment first - the finger bind will come with a deeper twist and shoulder flexibility. A wrist bind in Pasasana feels like pure fantasy, but I used to feel that way about Marichyasana C.

My headstand has been wacky lately, very unstable. I would have crashed yesterday if I hadn’t been at the wall. Upon closer examination, I’m just getting lazy with my Bandhas. Today, I set up, walked the toes in (Bandhas!), walked the toes in some more (Bandhas!), lifted up (Bandhas!) and so on. And I felt stronger in the pose.

I’ll work at the wall again tomorrow and if I’m feeling okay, I'll take it back to the middle the room. I hate working at the wall in that pose - it makes me feel like I’m regressing.

Recently, I’ve had some trouble getting to sleep at night. I’m usually an asleep-as-soon-as-the-head-hits-the-pillow kinda girl, so this insominia thing is a puzzle. An eye pillow and pranayama knocked me out in about 10 minutes last night. Because sleep is so hard, I've had very low motivation to go to bed at night.

Last night, I stayed up late investigating yoga classes. My plan for March is to go to one class a week, but it’s hard to find a good class that doesn’t fall into one of my teaching timeslots.

But last night I hit the jackpot! Teacher IM (a senior teacher who use to teach at my home studio) has a Wednesday morning Astanga II. It will be a race to my noon class afterward, but the studio is close enough that it's do-able.

I actually flirted with the idea of going to Shala Central for the month, but I think I’ll accomplish more if I practice on my own. I doubt they would let me keep my Intermediate poses (look how possessive I am of those poses - I’ve been doing them all of, what...three weeks? *grin*). I don’t think the timing is right for the shala.

I'm really excited. March is going to be an awesome month for my practice! My mind is whirling with ideas and goals for the month.