Astanga

I did a led Primary this morning and for the sake of variety, I popped my old favourite, ‘Power Yoga’, into the DVD. It’s the DVD I started with, the one by Beryl Bender Birch and I haven’t practised with it since the spring. My practice has taken leaps and bounds in the past six months, so I thought it might be fun for comparison purposes.

Wow.

I wasn’t even doing Chakrasana the last time I practised with this DVD and I wasn’t doing Setu Bandhasana either (because Beryl mentions very specifically that you’re supposed to ‘learn the pose from a qualified teacher’). I waited until I was practising at the Shala to learn both Setu and Chakrasana.

I had a great practice and savoured all of the moments when I was nailing a pose that I used to struggle mightily with. It was a good confidence boost and a reminder that ‘all is coming’, even if something feels impossible in the moment (Like, at the moment, all of Intermediate!)

I can clearly remember my struggles with Marichyasana C when I used this DVD regularly. And it’s an easy pose for me now! And it was fun to do Garba Pindasana, while remembering how completely *impossible* it felt to me even a year ago.’’

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Quite a few of my friends and readers are working on Garba Pindasana right now and having a tough time of it. Bruises! I remember the bruises!

I recently posted some tips on the ‘Practice and All is Coming’ Blog by Amaranthinestudent and she found them very helpful. I thought I would repeat those tips here, along with some additional ones.

Tips for coming into Garba Pindasana:
- LOTS of water on the arms! Focus particularly on the area around the elbow and the wrist. On the legs, the top of the calves and the inner knees.
- Come into Lotus and insert the right arm, first lifting the left foot up out of the way to make a bigger ‘hole’ in the legs. Once your arm is through, pull your right hand toward you (even bracing it against the left hand for leverage) to get the arm further through.
- Push the left arm through the left leg. To get it further through, again try pulling the hand toward you (like you were ‘flexing’ your bicep).
- Curl your body toward your hands, round the back! This will help you get your hands over your ears.

Tips for rolling:
-Establish a smooth, steady breath *before* you start to roll.
-Move with your breath, long inhale up, long exhale backward. Try to ‘pause’ at the top of the inhalation.
-Use your Bandhas to power the rolls.
-Round your back and look toward your belly button (the ‘official’ Driste is the nose, but this really helps until you get the hang of it; tuck your chin!)

Finally, here is a small, rather embarrassing video clip that shows me doing this crazy pose. I’m hoping that it will be helpful to those of you struggling with the pose. Sometimes, it helps to ‘see’ how someone else goes about it.



I wasn’t aware I had such a ‘chicken neck’. Ug! *eyeroll*

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For all of a nanosecond, I was part of Owl’s groovy bookclub discussion on Trungpa’s book, ‘Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism’.

I wanted to continue, I truly did, but Princess Fur is a sloooooow reader and I haven’t been able to get the book out of her furry paws long enough to finish it (the dog didn’t ‘eat my homework’, she’s reading it!)

Here’s Fur, taking a break from her ‘beach reading.’

Astanga

This morning, I made a goal to be out of bed, cleaned up, apartment tidy, dog brushed and out walking before 8 a.m. I almost did it. I was walking by 8:10. I think I should get extra credit points for even getting out of bed this morning because I was incredibly groggy.

A couple years ago, I spent an insane amount of money on a Garmin GPS wristwatch pedometer. Even though I do use it a *lot*, it's one of those purchases that I've always sort of questioned. I mean, it's neat, but who really *needs* a GPS pedometer? Especially since I tend to take the same walk on the same route every single day. The pedometer serves more as a record keeper than anything else.

Lately, I've been getting bored of my walks and it occurred to me: why not switch things up and walk someplace different? Every day? The pedometer tracks my kilometres no matter where I go - that was the reason for buying it.

Each day this week, I've headed out in a different direction. The dog is fascinated and determined to mark every single tree and fire hydrant. Yesterday, I noticed that the first maples are beginning to turn, bright fire engine red leaves against the blue sky. This morning, I didn't noticed any autumn leaves but it seemed like every yard in that neighbourhood had hostas. Friendly neighbours, other dogs...my walks are interesting again.

After my walk, I practised Astanga, the full Primary series today. I managed to bind in Supta Kurmasana *and* cross my ankles. On Monday, my Garba Pindasana was exceptional - I was able to lift my hands to my chin. Couldn't do it today, though. There's a balance to be struck between not enough water on the arms and legs (allowing the arms will slide through the eensy-weensy holes in the legs) and too much (can't keep my arms in place to do Kukutasana).

I practised Kapalabhati today, 5 rounds of 20 breath cycles.



(No, this isn't me, but the video clip does a nice job of showing what Kapalabhati is without a lot of discussion).

It's chilly today, 18C out. Not warm enough for hammocking or other outdoor shenanigans. So I'm going to make butter cookies instead.