Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Astanga

Gah. My practice is very boring these days. There’s nothing to say. What passes for excitement in these lazy summer days of broken hamstrings and sloppy backbends?

Well, how about sneak attacks from creepy crawly creatures?

This morning, as P was assisting me in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, I glanced down at my mat and noticed something small, dark and ominous advancing stealthily towards my foot. Keep in mind, I don’t wear my glasses at the Shala so everything passes by in a blur. I couldn’t see *what* it was, but I knew it was getting closer. And closer.

As I brought my lifted leg out to the side (and dutifully settled my Driste over my opposite shoulder), I could almost feel it approach. The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I realised that IT, whatever it was, had crawled onto my foot. It started moving slowly up my leg.

I kept breathing and thinking: How important is Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana to me today? What if that thing is actually a poisonous spider? What if it bites me and I fall over dead in Utkatasana?

I couldn’t take it anymore. I glanced over at P and said: “There’s something crawling up my leg.” Then I reached down to take a swipe at it.

It was an ordinary housefly!!! P was *extremely* amused. I was a bit embarrassed. So much for creatures going bump on the Manduka mat!

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The heat wave continues. I have two fans running to keep the air circulating in my tiny apartment.

I’m all punch drunk on sunshine, heat and abundant free time. I only taught one class today! I have three books on the go, a couple of them on my Kindle. I’m thinking of pre-ordering the new book about Guruji for my Kindle (it would be ‘autodelivered’ on the 20th, the day the book is released). But I might want a print copy anyway. There’s also a new book coming out on Krishnamacharya. Lots of good summer reading for Ashtangis!

Work on the ‘secret project’ continues, secretly, outside the Shala. Susan offered some good advice which I put into practice today. I ‘lowered the bar’ a few notches and went back to the basics. I don’t want to fall into bad habits and develop incorrect muscle memory!

In the end, it all comes back to...Pingu!

Yay! PINGU!!!


I should try this. But when I land, I’ll do it with STRAIGHT ARMS! *grin*

1 comment:

Tara said...

That's so funny about the bug because a few days ago we had a cockroach come out to visit during my studio's Mysore practice! First the teacher tried to catch it and then when he was unsuccessful 3 others (including myself) stopped their practice to try and capture it. We finally caught the cockroach and escorted him safely out the window where he could roam freely. The teacher (it was a visiting teacher, our regular teacher is training in Mysore) said that he loved it when things like that happen because it just keeps things very "real." I loved it because it made everyone laugh and lightened up the room a bit.

Glad to hear that yours was just a fly and not a poisonous spider :-)