Warm boots, crunchy numbers and an icy park

I woke early this morning but my LH was in full force, so instead of practising I cleaned out the bottom of my closet.

This is part of my continuing decluttering efforts. Clearing the closet has been a surprisingly emotional task, so I've been moving through it incrementally, shedding items in a trickle instead of a diluge. Seems like every few days, I accumulate a bag to take down to the clothing donation bin. It's finally beginning to come together!

There's an online group dedicated to wearing only 33 items of clothing for 3 months in order to reduce and maximise a wardrobe. I'm intrigued by the concept, though I'm not willing to go that far (and I wonder if it's even possible here in Canada, where layering is a necessity). Really, most of us only wear a tiny fraction of the clothing we own.

I don't tend to hoard clothing for three simple reasons: 1) I hate shopping 2) I have simple tastes which favour comfort 3) My main wardrobe consists of yoga pants and tops. Makes things easy!

I also tend to buy quality and keep stuff around *forever*, often for TOO long. My current winter gear is a great example. My winter coat is 5 years old and up for replacement (very soon! stay tuned!).

My winter boots have been with me since the last century. They're in such horrible shape that this winter, I started wearing another pair of boots, not intended for snow, which are already 6 years old. Enough is enough! On Saturday, I reluctantly treked to the mall and spent two hours trudging from shoe store to shoe store. But I found a wonderful half-price deal. I love my new boots!





The rest of my weekend was spent bogged down in tax preparation. I've made a promise to myself not to fall behind in my accounting this year like I did last. In that spirit, as soon as I finished with 2010, I moved right on to January 2011. Done!

When I completed my data entry tasks, Princess Fur and I took the new boots out for a walk in the park. The natural rink has been flooded for about a week now (I haven't yet been out to skate on it). The neighbourhood winter festival was in full swing as we passed by: Barbeque, neighbours and an obligatory hockey game.





Yoga practice was Restorative today (I finally unrolled my mat just before lunch). I followed the during-menstrual sequence from Bobby Clennell's women's yoga book. Tomorrow, I'm hoping for something a bit more active.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Astanga

Well, that was a relief! I was really worried that this week would be a repeat of last, with sluggish, difficult practices that dragged on interminably. But apparently, afternoon naps make everything better! Hooray for adequate sleep!

I was up at 6:30, bright-eyed and energetic and my practice was great!

I’m having some fabulous Hamstring Moments these days. Near the end of last week, I stepped things up a bit, but I was initially worried when I noticed some soreness in my left hamstring. It wasn’t anywhere near the site of the injury, but rather in the body of the muscle which is TERRIFIC news! This means that when I ‘push the edge’ in my forward bends, I’m maintaining the stretch throughout the muscle (rather the attachments which could stress the injury site).

Poses are continuing to ‘come back.’ My knees are now only a tiny bit bent in Kurmasana. I’m able to do the Supta Konasana exit with straight legs all the way to the floor (instead of the bent-knee landing on my heels).

I can once again roll up to Ubhaya Padangusthasana with straight legs. Ditto for Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana (and I can even come up holding the edges of my feet). Now that UMP is more-or-less back, I’m revisiting the old struggle to balance on my bum. Darby gave me some good advice while I was in Montreal. He told me to pull my arms in and elbows down as I fold. This is such a fun, but frustrating pose. I always get SO close to the full expression, only to roll onto my back!

Yesterday, I braved the Saturday crowds at our downtown mall and went to Lu. I wanted to pick up some capris (they’re now called ‘crops’...whatever). I quickly found what I was looking for and requested a second pair in my size. While Chirpy Sales Associate #1 checked the back, I chatted up Chirpy Sales Associate #2. Before I knew it, I was getting a substantial discount for being a full-time yoga teacher. I verified my ‘status’ by displaying my website and schedule on my iPad. Technology!!!

I was kind of hoping the capris would solve my ‘slippery arms’ problem in Bhujapidasana by making my legs less of a slip-n-slide. Wouldn’t it be nice if new yoga clothes could fix all the trouble spots in the practice? I figured if *this* worked, I would go back and buy the ‘Stand Up From Urdhva Dhanurasana’ yoga top.

Alas, the capris were definitely not the magic bullet I hoped, but it was easier. There was no slipping today - in fact, I was surprised by the side effects of my newly ‘sticky’ legs. I kept catching my legs on my arms in jumpthroughs!

I was worried about Garba Pindasana, but it was fine. I needed a bit of water on my arms to get them all the way through (I didn’t roll my pants up as I’ve seen shalamates do). Kukutasana was full of awesome!! My legs stayed above my elbows instead of sliding down. I felt VERY tall in that pose! :-D

I spent a lot of time on backbending today. I did three Urdhva Dhanurasana from the floor, walking my hands in each time until it was slightly uncomfortable. Five hangbacks to the wall, coming back up and focusing on using my legs to initiate the movement. Then: more Urdhva Dhanurasana with some rocking.

Globie posted his notes from Kino’s recent workshop in London and this bit of advice jumped out at me: When rocking, Kino told him “not think about trying to come up and being disappointed because it never happens, but instead to try and rock and bounce the hands. She said eventually it will come.”

I did three dropbacks and though they were not fabulous, MY FEET WERE ALL THE WAY ON THE MAT! I’m finally losing that cheaty wide stance. I’m sure dropbacks will feel a bit weird for a while, but at least I’m making progress towards better alignment. I think the hip opening work I’ve been doing is helping!

Ending on an even happier note: The best part of my practice today was Laghu Vajrasana! Yeah, really! Surprise :-)

I feel like I’m finally understanding the pose and I’m enjoying it. Yes, it’s difficult, but now that I get the action of coming up (using the legs, leading with the chest, coming up on a strong inhalation and the head comes up last), it’s kind of awesome! Going down is even better. I can’t really explain why - it just feels good.

I set my block to the horizontal position today because it was becoming far to easy for me to come back up. The floor is now less than 10 centimetres away! Soon, I’ll be lowering all the way down. What seemed inconceivable just a week ago is now easier. I love how this practice changes my notions of what’s possible!

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More than once on our holiday, my mother implied that maybe I had chosen to be a vegan ‘just to be difficult.’ I assured her that no, my food choices had nothing to do with a hidden, malicious desire to make life impossible for people around me (read: my mother).

But then again, she might have a point.

Exhibit A: Bag containing a veganized burrito from my favourite little neighbourhood hole-in-the-wall.

No! No! No! No! No!

But extra guacamole? HELL,YEAH!!! ;-)

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Nancy Gilgoff recently visited Halifax, Nova Scotia and offered a series of amazing workshops. Even a hurricane couldn't stop Nancy - she taught through Earl! :-D

A cybershalamate carefully transcribed her notes from the workshops and I'm linking to them here. They are incredibly detailed and informative (and have further fueled my desire to someday study with Nancy - what amazing wisdom about the practice!).

Workshop Day 1

Workshop Days 2 & 3

Astanga

I resurrected Sharath's led Primary from iTunes purgatory and loaded it on my Shuffle today, then took my practice to the park. It wasn't nice out, but it wasn't raining either. It was gray and cool, but at least the park was quiet.

I was enjoying the fresh air and the subtle suggestion of background noise: children laughing, cars going by, a soccer ball in play. That is, until a Canadian Idol reject arrived with his acoustic guitar in hand. *sigh*

I play my guitar in the park too, so I can hardly be critical. In fact, I would have enjoyed the sound of his guitar, had he been playing quietly. But this guy sat down a few metres from where I was practising (it's a BIG park; there are plenty of benches to choose from) and proceeded to sing classic rock favourites LOUDLY.

I managed to tune him out for most of my practice, but as I settled into Savasana, I realised there was no chance whatsoever I could relax with that racket going on the background (he just got louder and louder). So I abruptly picked up my mat, called the dog and headed inside. It's probably for the best. I'm covered with mosquito welts from the beach yesterday. Not 'bites', 'welts'. If I had stayed, the mosquitoes might have carried me off! I enjoyed an indoors Savasana.

My goal for practice today was to do absolutely everything - no skips - to see where I'm at with the Primary Series. So I tried to do Janu Sirsasana C, which I always skip (ouchmyfeet). I did Marichyasana D, which I often skip (I can't bind anymore, or at least, I couldn't today). I did all the vinyasa between poses (but I always do - that’s my favourite part!). I did every single Navasana (there are five on that recording). I even attempted to do Setu Bandhasana (argh).

Tomorrow morning, Shala Central is offering a led Primary Series and I'm sort of planning to go. I want some help with a few poses and would like to get feedback on my practice. Sharath is here at that end of this month. I can't afford to go to every session he teaches, but I would like to attend one of the led Primary at least. I'm hoping the class tomorrow will give me some confidence to do that.

I went shopping today for a pair of capri-style yoga pants (so I won't need to humiliate myself by wearing short-shorts to the shala; my long yoga pants are way too warm). I ended up with two capris and two new yoga tops. All were discounted overstocks from Winners, nice clothes and I'm delighted.

The purchases are under the pretext of 'clothes for work', tax write-off, yada, yada. But EEEEEK! The money! The money I don't have! I wish I could be one of those people who 'trusts the universe to provide' but my Responsible Spending Genes always override my faith in Cosmic Abundance.

Manifest! Manifest! Manifest?

But hey! I'll sure look snazzy tomorrow as I break my neck in Setu Bandhasana!