Restorative

Last night was so much fun! This was the last chapter of my extended birthday celebrations. I managed to get tipsy on one just one Caesar, which is fairly typical; I’m the cheapest of drunks! We were at a student pub, but a nice one with good, inexpensive food. The place got louder and louder as the night went on. It was so great seeing my friends! I laughed until my ribs hurt. There were some priceless moments in there.

Vodka is like a truth serum with me and I was totally wearing my heart on my sleeve. I’m afraid I revealed a little too much, which will certainly be fodder for much ribbing later on! I’m bracing myself :-D

On the way home, I stopped by the drugstore for allergy meds and also picked up some more Epsom salts on sale. So there I was, 1 a.m., staggering down the street with 8 kilograms of the stuff draped off of me. I looked like a bag lady!

It was so nice to sleep in this morning! I stuck to my resolve to take it easy on myself. I took a long epsom salt bath, then lolled around on my mat in restorative yoga poses for an hour. I was all blissed out, I needed the rest! Tomorrow will be intense, with led Primary in the morning and a workshop at Shala North for most of the afternoon.

It’s been raining all day here. I’ve been camped out in my window seat, eating chocolate cookies from the Market and drinking chai, but the sun just peeked out and it’s clearing. I think I’ll walk Princess Fur to the Big Park this afternoon. I’m feeling restless and we both need to stretch our legs.

Astanga

I had a good practice this morning. I felt good, my body isn’t as sore. I was kind of expecting some soreness in my legs because I was doing dropbacks against a post in the subway station yesterday. The train wasn’t coming and I had that end of the platform to myself, so why not? I wasn’t coming all the way down, just dropping my hands back and ‘standing up’ by pushing into my heels. I hope the transit constables don’t cite Ashtangi violations!

Teacher P was at the helm this morning. I really like having two teachers. Their styles and adjustments are very different. Teacher P is more laid back. My practices with him are more inward directed. He’s quick to notice if I’m carrying unnecessary tension in a pose; he reminds me to relax.
-I had a very deep Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana today and my balance was good. I remembered to restrain that wandering thumb!
-I bound my hands by myself in Supta Kurmasana and Teacher P crossed my ankles. I’m really noticing the work of my Bandhas in this pose.
-Teacher P gave me my favourite adjustment in Baddha Konasana A & B. It felt really good. There's something about laying my chest on my feet that makes me stupidly happy.
-Chakrasana was mainly absent today. I tried the first one, gave up. Skipped two and decided to really work the fourth one. Teacher R was on call by that point and she glanced in my direction, but left me to it. On the third try, I was able to find the right combination of momentum, leg placement and push through the hands to make it work. I rolled.
-Through some miracle or fluke, I managed to lift up and jump back without touching the floor with my toes. Just once, but WOW! I think it had something to do with bending my arms a little and shifting my weight forward. I learned this in Kino’s workshop, but this is the first time I was able to put it into practice.

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It sounds a bit crazy even to me, but I think adding the Whey Protein smoothies to my diet has made a huge difference. I swear I felt better after drinking the very first one. The smoothies boost my daily protein consumption to 70g (from 40g). If I’m going to continue working this hard in my practice, I need this. I’ve definitely noticed that don’t get those ‘snacky’ urges anymore and I’m better able to avoid junk food.

I’ve been carrying raw almonds around with me and if I get hungry, a small handful takes care of it.

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Last night, I dreamt of cookies.

I was in a huge room filled with tables and these tables were covered with numerous cookie-filled trays. There were cookies of every conceivable variety: sugar cookies with the coloured sugar sprinkles, shortbread-y cookies with fruit centres, gingerbread cookies, chocolate cookies and some others that I didn’t get a chance to sample.

Yes, I was eating them! The sugar cookies were particularly nice! I was moving from table to table, munching.

And as I was eating these Dream Cookies, a single thought kept intruding: “Whoa, this is SUCH a bad idea. If I keep eating these cookies, I’ll never be able to bind Marichyasana D tomorrow!”

I woke up happy! And I was able to bind in Mari D just fine ;-)

Hatha

Tired, so tired! I'm still troubleshooting my circadian rhythm.

For the past two nights, I've gone to bed early and fallen asleep right away (if I read a book for a few minutes after meditation, it seems to 'reset my brain' and I fall asleep easily). But after a full 8 hours of sleep, I'm *still* tired. Yesterday, I didn't give in to the napping urge, but I did today. I napped for an hour. My noon class cancelled so I have an entire blissful day to lounge about and read. I teach noon classes six days a week, so this is a rare treat (Though I'm inwardly groaning about the lost cash - I was planning to use it for my subway pass).

More sleep? Regular naps? I'm already using the LiteBook regularly so it's probably not S.A.D. I hope I'm not coming down with a bug. H1N1 is beginning to pop up around the city. A 13-year-old boy died from it last week. It's scary, though in a remote, vague sort of way. Right now, it's scary the same way SARS was scary - lots of media hysteria and people wearing masks on the subway, but I'm not affected directly. That could change. Vaccinations start next week. I'm definitely going to get mine if it's not a huge wait. I've heard rumours of line-ups for this shot.

My morning routine was completely mixed up and turned around because I was too sleepy to meditate when I woke up. Instead, I walked the dog in the dark. I felt like a bit of a interloper, wandering through the streets of my neighbourhood, watching the families at their breakfast tables (or watching cartoons on T.V. before school). It was kind of nice, comforting. Yoga didn't happen until 11:00. I did Lunar Flow #1, 20 minutes with Lisa (really, 24 minutes).

Nice and easy and low-stress. This sequence reminds me of the 'sit down' class I regularly teach to my Hatha students. There are literally *no* standing poses and only a few Downward Facing Dogs. The one thing I would add to this sequence is a Fish Pose after the Shoulderstand series(I think the counterpose is particularly important). It's easy enough to stop the recording and sneak one in.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the day. I don't need to be anywhere until 4:30. I have big plans for yummy lunch, reading, and lots of knitting.

Last night, one of my students gave me this:
I'm going to enjoy it with my tea!