Day 182

It was nice to get back on the mat this morning after my day off. Also nice to know that the momentum I established in January is still serving me in February. I got up early and had a very good practice.

Those two handstands were on my mind all through the Mari's and wouldn't you know, they were totally anti-climatic! I was able to hop up with both legs easily, bringing my feet lightly against the wall, then straightening my legs from there. I can come up without doing that, but that seemed like the thing to do today so I just went with it. I'm feeling less anxious about the handstands now. But how will I feel tomorrow? Time will tell...

Musical Sirsasana was Rachael Yamagata, 'Meet Me By the Water', (4 minutes).

I have a confession: I don't enjoy Savasana very much. I've been guilty of skipping it. Since I've been doing Ashtanga I've been more diligent: I do it , but grudgingly. I just can't seem to relax in that pose. It's not that I'm a live wire and don't like laying around, because I do. I can happily lay in bed, doing absolutely nothing, for hours.

I decided that perhaps I need to pamper myself a bit more at the end of my practice and make Savasana 'my happy place'.

A few year ago, during Yoga Teacher Training, I worked weekends at a gallery. My employer gave me a wonderful polar fleece blanket/pillow set when I left. They're cozy - the blanket has a side that's fuzzy, fake lamb's wool. I dug these out of my blanket box and designated them my official Savasana props: blanket on top and pillow to prop my legs. I even put on the hot pink fuzzy spa socks one of my students gave me.

And I did have a better Savasana! Maybe I was just cold before, or felt too exposed (It's food for thought, in terms of my students and their needs in Savasana).

I had a spectacular day off! Doing yoga every single day in January threw my cleaning schedule off. I usually clean the apartment on Saturday mornings, wash the floors on Moon Days, and try to wash my Mysore Rug every two weeks in winter, once a week in summer. Last month, I didn't do any of these things and though I made a half-hearted effort to keep up minimal cleaning, it wasn't enough.

I didn't realise how filthy the apartment really was until yesterday. Yuck. I woke up at 4:45 a.m. (I know! I know! I woke before the alarm...), read my book for a bit, then spent three hours doing catch-up cleaning. I cleaned everything: the kitchen, the floors, scrubbed down the bathroom, dusted, cleaned up my altar. I washed my Mysore Rug. The apartment is now sparkly.

Then I baked some bread (Ahhh! Hot bread with raspberry fruit spread = heaven) and prepped a small batch of homemade yogurt. I am the soul of domesticity! And I'll be eating well this week!

Today, I went to the soup kitchen in the morning, went for a long walk in the afternoon. I stopped in at the LCBO to buy a bottle of wine and then went to Madeline's for a perfect, tiny cupcake. :-)

I love weekends!