Vinyasa

I more than made up for my productivity yesterday by doing * absolutely nothing* today. I mostly sat around and moped. I’m in ‘a mood’, as my sister used to say.

I think it may be time to bring out my artificial sunshine for the season. For almost six years, I’ve been using light therapy in the winter months and it’s made a *huge* difference in my mood and energy levels. I was raised in the tropics, closer to the equator, so I didn’t grow up with these dark, ominous winters. The days are getting shorter and I can actually feel it in my bones.

The light therapy is really effective. I was initially skeptical, but after a couple years of regular use, I don’t get S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) at all anymore. Often I can feel the effects of the light therapy within 24 hours of starting it. I usually begin during the first week of September, warding off S.A.D. completely. I’m a bit late to the party this year but I’ll perk up quickly.

I’ll need to get up 20 minutes earlier to accommodate the therapy. I usually take my daily dose of therapeutic light right before I meditate, but I’ll have to figure how this fits now that I’m taking also salt bath before my practice.

On the plus side, I can return to my morning habit of daily journaling. Last winter, I was writing free-form in a notebook for the 20 minutes, making the whole experience therapeutic on multiple levels.

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I practised for a half-hour today. I did the Suryas, the fundamental standing poses, Sirsasana and the three closing Lotus poses. Simple and easy, just to keep the prana moving. I did my practice at the gym before teaching.

Usually, I enjoy the change of scenery but today, it was busy and LOUD. I can usually tune out the bedlam, but I felt very crowded by the traffic. I may start doing my simple practice at home from now on. I’d hate to get knocked out of my headstand by a weight-lifter!

Vinyasa

I slept in this morning and stayed in bed with a hot cup of tea and a book. I’m finishing up ‘The Subtle Body’ this weekend so I can tackle one of the many other yoga books languishing on my desk. I have so many! But I think Krishnamacharya may be next. Sorry, Michael Stone, you’ll just have to wait a few days.

I only had a half hour to burn this morning before teaching my noon class so I did the Suryas, the fundamental standing poses, a three-minute-headstand and three lotus poses to finish. No backbends! It felt like a holiday! I was grateful for the opportunity to stretch, though.

Now, I’m doing laundry.

A sign that you may be an Ashtangi:

There’s a bucket full of yoga clothing in the bathtub. Every. Day.

And there are hangers with drying yoga pants, yoga tops, Mysore rugs, wipe rags...hooked everywhere.

Anyone else out there decorate their bathroom with the stylish and appealing ‘Mysore Rug and Lulu’ motif? Please tell me I’m not the only one...

Hatha

Lazy won out this morning. I never managed to make it to my mat for an early practice. I finally did a bit of Hatha in the evening, just 45 minutes to stretch out my hamstrings and hips.

I also did some backbending. I'm always surprised by how incredibly good Ustrasana feels to me these days. For years, I hated that pose but I love it now and I can stay in it for long holds.

I was also playing with dropping my hands back to the edge of the futon (a la Kapotasana) staying there for five breaths, then lifting back up. I'm nowhere close to the real pose, but it's a good exercise for easing the body into it. Gotta start somewhere.

And the way I need to activate my legs and lift up from the chest seems similar to the actions required for standing from Urdhva Dhanurasana.

I worked on that too. Did a few backbends and some rocking. No dropbacks, though. I was tuckered from all of the biking, walking, and shopping I did today.

I'm finally feeling better after a week of food poisoning fallout. My stomach was not happy! I've been living on brown rice cereal, soy milk and soy yogurt for the past few days.

Today, I ate vegetables and tofu for lunch. Cookies for dessert. It was divine!

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This State-of-the-Backbend photo is from earlier in the week. I was working on walking my hands in FAR while still breathing (never mind deeply, just evenly was enough of a challenge).

This is as far as they get at the moment.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yin

I took my Ashtangi Moon Day Obligations very seriously today and rested with enthusiasm. :-)

In the morning, I woke up and took a salt bath, then practsied an hour of Yin Yoga. I did the Sarah Powers ‘Yin Liver’ sequence, replacing ‘Seal’ with a supine backbend. I rolled up an old Yogi Toes towel in my Maha mat and used it as a bolster. I wanted something a bit more solid under me and this worked great.

I’ve been trying to do this supine backbend a few times a day for about 5-10 minutes. My theory is that my back will become bendier if I bend it more. Profound, I know! I spend so much of my life with a rounded back: in front of the computer, curled up with a book, or riding my bike. I’m trying to reverse the trend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Yin Yoga felt fantastic. The ‘Liver’ sequence includes a number of hip openers in external rotation, held for 5 minutes at a time. I sunk into these and really savoured them. Long Savasana afterward and my entire body felt soothed! After last week’s labours, I needed this!

I spent the rest of the morning napping and then a good part of the afternoon out in the park, laying in the sun listening to music and thinking.

It was a relief to slow down and think some things through, find some perspective.

I can’t believe that we’re already moving into the last week of July! The month flew by. I’m already beginning to look toward August.

It’s going to be an interesting and dynamic month. I’ll be working at a conference, doing some travelling and spending time with family. It’s my last month of a relatively ‘light’ teaching schedule. I’m planning to step outside my ‘comfort zone’ in some significant ways and shake things up a bit.

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Today is an interesting convergence of days: Guru Purnima, the full moon and Guruji's birthday.

There are flowers on my altar today and gratitude in my heart for all the teachers who have guided me in my practice by sharing their experience and wisdom. I'm blessed with the skill and care of so many who have walked this path before me. They light the way and ease the obstacles. I'm thankful and blessed.

My heart is full of gratitude to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois for dedicating his life to sharing this practice. I, and so many others, have benefitted immeasurably.

Happy Birthday, Guruji.

Vinyasa

A reader recently commented about the body/mind/spirit connection and my response grew so lengthy, I thought I would just address it here:

There's definitely a strong spiritual component to my practice, though I don't often talk about it on this blog.

It definitely *is* true that I take a very practical and physical approach to practising and teaching asana. You won't find me waxing lyrical about my connection with the Chakras in my home practice or find me describing my student's 'auras' during a class. Astrology makes me roll my eyes. Much of typical 'yoga teacher speak' strikes me as flaky and cheese-ball.

My strengths as a teacher are in conveying proper alignment, how anatomy corresponds to movement and asana, and how to build a practice of yoga through modified variations of poses, especially those that are considered 'advanced'.

My motto is: “There is no 'can't' in yoga.” There's always a modification, there's always a way forward. The practice is never about reaching a final, 'perfect' pose and everything about the process, the journey, the steps taken along the way and the lessons learned.

I'm very much a 'scientist' when it comes to my practice and if something works for me, I consider it carefully. If I observe something in my asana practice that makes sense on a more energetic or spiritual level, I explore it further.

This is why I practice Pranayama. It's effective, it beneficial. The idea of energetic meridians in the body definitely resonates with me. I have my First Degree in Reiki (energy work and healing) and I believe that Reiki works on a subtle level. Much of my supplemental teacher training has been dedicated to yoga philosophy. I love chanting. My meditation practice (sporadic as it is) has been a great refuge to me in times of distress.

And here's something that may surprise you (or not): I have a mantra and use it regularly, using it in my day-to-day life and also practising Japa (repetition of a mantra with a mala, meditation beads).

The asana practice I talk about here is just one part of a larger picture.

Speaking of which... :-D

Today, I had two choices for my asana practice. I could do a longer but easier practice (hatha) or a shorter but more intense practice (vinyasa). I opted for vinyasa. I did a class called Hip Opening Flow #4 with Dawnelle (YogaDownload).

I really liked this sequence. It flowed well (no gaps or inconsistencies in the cueing) and felt very complete. The length was ideal - nothing seemed extraneous and it ended on a good note. I liked doing Savasana in a Supta Baddha Konasana at the end. I'm looking forward to trying the 40 minute version of this one.

Tomorrow, I'm back to Astanga.

Today, I'm making butter cookies to bring to Thanksgiving Dinner (we're celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with friends on Saturday evening). I'm also making those sticky sweet Candied Yams with the little marshmallows on top. This is a uniquely American contribution (I grew up in the States) and my friends always ask me to bring the 'weird sweet potatoes' when I come to Thanksgiving.

Vinyasa

I did *not* want to do yoga. Today was one of 'those' days. No particular reason. Maybe I was lazy. Yes, I think that's it. Some of the lethargy I was feeling yesterday carried over into today. I had 10 hours of sleep last night, so I'm not sure where it's coming from, but my energy is definitely low.

I didn't practice in the morning. I planned to do an afternoon practice after teaching my noon class. Nope! Lunch killed that idea. Then I was distracted installing an update for my iPod. I live and die by my iPod Touch, so this kept me happily occupied with geekiness for a couple of hours. Then it was time for tea. Then, oops!, I was running out of time! How did *that* happen?

(insert innocent look)

I wasn't feeling motivated enough to do Astanga (To be honest, I've been struck by a bit of Astanga burn-out lately). So I poked around on YogaDownload and found a Vinyasa-style class I hadn't tried yet: Core #1 with Dawnelle, 30 minutes. Absolutely loved it!

I would like to start reviewing these classes on the YogaDownload site. For now, here are a few observations about the 30 minute version of the class:

I appreciated the brief period of seated pranayama in the very beginning. It wasn't fancy - just basic diaphragmatic breathing, but it brought a certain calm and focus to the practice. I often start my own classes this way. Dawnelle's classes always have a strong flow component. There are no sun salutations per se, because the whole class is a sun salutation. This particular class focused on developing core strength.

The cues all revolved around the theme, with frequent reminders to 'engage the core' and 'observe the engagement of the core' in the poses. If you replaced the word 'core' with 'bandhas', you would have a great prep class for Astanga. That's what I did: each time I heard 'core', I engaged Mula Bandha and Uddiyana Bandha.

My favourite part of the class was the transition from 'Airplane' (Virabhadrasana III with arms back along the sides) to 'Standing Splits'. I also found the Utthita Trikonasana variation challenging. I'm looking forward to trying the longer versions of this class (45 minute and 60 minutes).

If you're curious about this class, you can download the 20 minute version for free.

Vinyasa

I have to give tremendous props to my partner. Mid-afternoon, she took off to give me time to practice. Isn't that nice of her?

Okay, actually, she wasn't entirely without ulterior motive. A couple weeks ago, I bought two Braincandy Novels at my favourite sidewalk book sale. I had intended to read them on the camping trip, but didn't get around to it (last year's Braincandy Book was 'The Brain That Heals Itself' The year before that, 'Eat, Pray, Love').

I finished one Braincandy Novel yesterday and passed it off to my partner. Into the first few chapters, she looked up from the book and exclaimed: “I CAN'T stop reading. I can't stop!” She went home, curled up in bed and read for most of the afternoon.

Meanwhile, I had three hours to myself, a vast expanse of free time. What did I do? I promptly plomped on the futon and started reading the *second* Brandcandy Novel. And I read, and read and read. I ended up with 45 minutes to practice, after the Guilt finally got to me. But it was a nice afternoon.

For the curious, here are the two braincandy novels. Procure at your own risk; they're literary crack. Make sure you have nothing important you need to do for a few days:
Year of Fog by Michelle Redmond
(and, wait for it...)
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult (I *love* her books)

Disclaimer: I'm not saying that this is great literature or anything, but these books are good fun. Beach reading.

I did a really intuitive vinyasa practice, 45 minutes, basically went into a flow and followed it wherever it wanted to take me. I ended up doing some standing poses, a few seated, a twist or two. Nothing too strenuous, but I made a point to follow my breath like a line of stepping stones. Very relaxing.

Then I went back to my book. Baaaaaaad! :-D