Thursday, July 1, 2010

Astanga

Yesterday, I had this weird physical meltdown that left me famished and exhausted at that same time.

By late morning, I was all woozy and foggy-head. I taught back-to-back classes at noon and I was so tired during the second class, I had to *stand* during Savasana just to stay awake. It would NOT have been funny at all if I fell asleep during my own class!

I honestly don’t know how I made it home - the bike ride felt interminable. When I walked into the kitchen, I was struck with such a ravenous hunger that I ate and ate until I had a little Buddha Belly. I passed out cold for three solid hours and when I woke, around supper time, I was so confused!

I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m hoping this is my hamstring begging for rest and nourishment to heal. Heal, hamstring, heal! I’m making a special effort to eat extra protein and stay hydrated.

Also, I baked vegan muffins this morning and put two on the altar for Hanuman and Ganesha.

I’m being good for a change: I haven’t done any criminal yoga in two whole days. I also have two days off from teaching so I’m planning to be as lazy as humanly possible. On the schedule: lots of sloth, a bit of sunbathing, reading, frequent naps and regular infusions of chai. Usually, this would be a hard sell, but since my pitta seems to have left the building, I think I’ll manage just fine.

Practice report: Oh, I really don’t want to talk about my practice. Suffice to say, I’m practising. I’m at the Shala every day. I’m breathing.

The gremlin: Currently residing in my right arm and occasionally, my right shoulder. I think my gremlin is telling me that I need to be more mindful of my alignment during the vinyasas. I’m listening.

And one more thing: This blog post about the Bandhas is so full of awesome! I’ve bookmarked it for repeat reading. Thank you, David Keil!

4 comments:

Ragdoll said...

I had that same exhaustion and hunger yesterday, after my morning home practice. Stupidly though, I didn't do as you did - I tried to push on through, totally unsuccessfully. Sounds like sleep and food did you the power of good, I should have done the same.

Love the idea of you falling asleep in savasana though - do the students usually rely on you to bring them out of it? You could all have ended up lying there for a very long time!

And thanks for that link - I've saved it to read over lunch, looks like good food for thought.

Loo said...

I hesitate to mention Astrology because some people scoff and others think it devilly, BUT, currently there is a grand cardinal cross going on where four major planets line up like people around a table, squaring off and mucking things up. If this affects your own chart then you'll be feeling it in just the ways you mentioned. Not much forward motion to be had for the nonce. Started June 26, peaks on July 28, and ends Sept 18. It's a major event astrologically.

Now if this all sounds like so much hogwash to you, please reject this comment!

cheers!

Rocaille said...

This sounds like a bout of hypoglycemia. The foggy-headedness, the fatigue,the ravenous hunger, and the confusion could all have been caused by your blood sugar level bottoming out.

Kaivalya said...

Wow! So many different perspectives! I enjoyed reading these comments.

In the end, I think I was just hungry and tired. I believe my body needs more fuel as it heals from the injury so I've adjusted my intake accordingly. The extra backbending I've been doing has affected my sleep in recent weeks so I'm probably a bit sleep deprived too.

I'm going to get plenty of rest over the next day and hopefully emerge refreshed and enthusiastic in the coming week. :-)