Astanga

Five day week (due to the Moon Day) is complete. Hurray! I got through another one :-D

This week seems to have ushered in a new era of shorter practices. For a while, my practices were getting loooooong. Too much futzing, probably too much backbending, many minutes spent in Sirsasana, and maybe a *wee* bit of ‘falling asleep’ when I was supposed to be ‘taking rest.’ It all adds up!

I seem to be back on track with more precise vinyasa and I’m moving through the Primary Series efficiently: 90 minutes, every day.

My hamstring is feeling good! The Return of the Poses continued this morning with a straight left leg in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana A and B! I’m closer to touching my forehead to my shin in Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana.

And in my last, post-backbend Paschimottanasana, P gave me a ‘little push’ in the forward bend. This is the closest thing I’ve had to a ‘squish’ since an assistant carefully squished me at Shala North. I was able to rest my forehead on my shin and clasp my hands over my feet!

Backbending was a little bit better today. Susan pointed out that the tightness in my upper back is probably a reaction to the hangbacks I’m doing on the box. I’ll wait it out and see if things open back up again.

Urdhva Dhanurasana felt good today! I was more mindful as I came into the first backbend and there was no sensation at all in my low back. I only get three ‘warm up’ backbends now, so I milk them for all they’re worth: slow deep breaths in each one.

I had a lightbulb moment today during the first round of rocking. If I slow my breath waaaaay down, so my inhalation is very long, I can come right up on my finger tips and stay there for the duration of my inhalation. I have no idea what my knees are doing (that’s a major point of contention with R right now). P stood by and let me work on my own during this part, so I did three rocks onto my finger tips and I *did* try to straighten my legs and push down through my heels, but I’m not sure how successful I was.

Next round: With P’s help, I rocked four times with hands lifting. By the third round, I was tired, but all and all, I felt good about it.

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Second practice:

I’ve fallen into a routine and I usually move through it in 30-40 minutes. This is how it unfolds:

-Shoulder openers: 3x (right now, I’m doing ‘downward facing puppy’ with hands on the coffee table).

-Quad/Hip Flexors: 3 sets of increasingly deep lunges, including the ‘power pigeon’ variation.

-Ustrasana: 3x, 5 breath hold

-Laghu Vajrasana: 3x, head on to a block, I’m *dying* by the third one and can barely come up by myself

-Urdhva Dhanurasana with rocking 3x

-Urdhva Dhanurasana, walking my hands WAY in, 3x

-Dropbacks, 3x

Last week, the daily dropbacks were injecting a bit of ‘Sheer Terror’ into my mornings - I dreaded them. By the end of last week, I had downgraded them to ‘Very Scary’. By early this week, they were just ‘Extremely Unpleasant’. Yesterday, they were merely ‘Worriesome’.

Today, they were ‘Let’s Get This Over With So I Can Have My Tea’. So I’ve raised the bar accordingly: no more resting in between dropbacks. I drop back, I get up, I drop back, I get up and I drop back.

I did three hangbacks before the first one, just to get my bearings and to register the floor, but I just dropped for the others.

Today, I was noticing how much easier it is to drop with control if I’m actively moving my hips forward. It provides a bit of counterbalance. By the third drop, I was bringing my feet a bit closer together too! That’s a nice way to end the week!

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I’m taking a break from Second Practice tomorrow, though I’ll probably do some Hatha Yoga in the morning.

I’m really looking forward to Sunday!!! It’s the Shala’s ‘Led Primary’ and after-practice ‘conference’ (question and answer session). I’m bringing vegan blueberry squares for my shalamates.

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A few weeks ago when I was up at Shala North, I stopped by the big pet store up the street and browsed around.

Princess Fur loves squirrels! I found a toy that’s a plush tree *filled* with little squirrels. She absolutely loves it! I fill the ‘tree’ with squirrels, she pulls them all out and hides them around the apartment (usually under the futon) then I find them and put them back in the tree. Repeat, many times a day!

Lately, she’s been carefully transporting the squirrels (and all of her toys, actually) out to the balcony.