Astanga

I just got back from a walk in the park with Princess Fur and it’s so pretty out, I felt like skipping down the sidewalk and whistling ditties. When I checked the temperature on the Environment Canada website, I found out why: it’s 14C out. No wonder. I’m probably losing my mind, but that’s okay; entirely normal for a Canadian in March when the weather is this warm.

It felt almost criminal to come back inside, but there was a small inducement: wind. After an hour, even 14C feels a bit nippy if it’s windy enough. Still, I’m welcoming Spring with open arms (even if I spent this first spring afternoon taking a nap).

My practice was pretty good today. Lift-ups are back and I like them. :-) I was able to do Navasana, albeit with slightly bent knees, but the sore right hip flexor felt fine afterward (the crampy left one is still acting up, but it doesn’t affect my practice as much). I even held up my leg for a few breath cycles at the end of Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana.

My bind in Supta Kurmasana left for the weekend (skiing? a quick trip to the tropics? we may never know...) but it came back today and boy, was it ever grumpy!

I didn’t have time for any extracurricular backbending and I skipped the closing lotus poses in favour of a long Savasana. I was running late. Getting out of bed this morning was a terrible effort; I was sleeping so deeply. I’m not experiencing insomnia anymore. Now, I can’t seem to stay awake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the shuffle of schedules and funds yesterday, I was forced to let go of a Sanskrit workshop I was looking forward to. As a yoga teacher, I know tonnes of Sanskrit, hours of chants and thanks to Teacher H, I can even pronounce most of it correctly. But I don’t know how to read Devanagari script and I’ve always wanted to.

I don’t know when I’ll next have a chance to take that workshop, but to be honest, what I really need to do is sit down and memorise the Devanagari script. I shouldn’t need the motivation of a teacher to do this.

And, as it turns out, there’s an ‘ap for that!’

Thank you, Technology Gods and the iPod. The application is called iStudy and it’s a Devanagari flashcard application. I also found a terrific online game for learning the characters, complete with the statistics of other Sanskrit-learning players to motivate me (the top player is named ‘Alfia’, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t *our* Alfia - this one lives in California).

This Sanskrit self-study course looks really terrific. I've poked around in the first lesson and it includes the Devanagari along with MP3 pronunciation guides.

This task feels a bit overwhelming so I’m challenging myself to learn a bit each day. It should take me about a month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, for my ‘70s Yoga’ feature, I thought I would offer a bit of 1970s Russian-style chanting. Just goes to show, if you’re chanting and you forget the Sanskrit, just hum along! No one will notice if you swing your hands around a little bit!

WARNING: Don’t listen to this ditty before meditation. IT STAYS IN YOUR HEAD (I’m really not kidding!)