Jumping the queue

Yesterday, there was a lingering delay on the subway line. Already running late, I despairingly watched train after train come and go, packed to the gills with commuters.

When the third one was about to leave the station, I succumed to desperation and stepped up to the door and pleaded: "Please, everyone. Squeeze in and make room for just one more. I'm a yoga teacher and if I don't make this train, 20 people are going to miss their yoga class!!"

There was a pause, then a shuffle of bodies. A voice called out "Let her in!" and I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea! I was packed in next to the door like a sardine, but I was on my way.

As the train sped west, the woman wedged to my right quietly said "I would just DIE if I didn't have my weekly yoga class!" I wondered if her voice was the one that rallied the troops to make space earlier.

And I kinda felt like a super hero! :-)





I'm about to mull over some Lady's Health Issues now and, taking a page from Skippety's book, I've decided to issue a warning to the squeamish.

-----WARNING: I am about to talk about my uterus!------

Most of you know that I have a very conflicted feelings about the pharmaceutical industry. In general, I try to never take drugs of any kind. The top shelf of my kitchen cabinet is packed with natural remedies...and a single over-the-counter pain medication.

Some of you may also have an inkling that my Lady's Holiday is a miserable time for me. I'm in agony for at least 24 hours. If this 24 hours coincides with a busy teaching day, it makes for some interesting classes. Cristina (an Anusara teacher) has observed that she teaches some of her best classes when she's feeling under the weather. I concur; I become incredibly focused, my instruction is crystal clear.

But there are those very 'special moments' when I have to put an entire class of 25 people into Balasana and excuse myself to the washroom so I can double over in pain and weep.

This month, I tried a little experiement with a drug commonly used to treat menstrual discomfort. I'm not going to name it here, because I'm not in the business of promoting the drug industry, but if you're really curious, email me.

Per instructions, I started taking it as soon as I knew my LH was on its way and stayed on a specified dosage through my 'holiday'. And it worked! It was AWESOME!

The first day, I felt some mild discomfort which was eased immediately with a mild pain medication. And then, NOTHING! I didn't feel a thing! It was like a miracle, which is why I'm sharing it here. I can't believe this stuff existed all this time. I had NO IDEA.

I'm still leery of putting chemicals in my body, but I'm happy to continue with this one because of the positive effect it has had on my quality of life. I almost seems 'to good to be true'. I hope it works next month!

-----Okey dokey, I'm done talking about my uterus!------

I did my full practice this morning and it was fine. I had some slight shoulder discomfort but *only* after I got a little bit of The Stupid and tried jumping back and forward a few times. Oopsies!

Each time I've practised since my month break, I've struggled with Bhujapidasana, but not today! Today, it's like someone flipped on the 'Bhujapidasana Switch' in my brain. I effortlessly dipped down and placed my chin on the floor. Even as I was doing it, I couldn't believe I was doing it!

The thing I notice most about my practice these days is that I'm content with it. I enjoy it. I don't stress out too much over it and when I'm not practising, I don't think very much about it.

It's a fine state of affairs and I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Astanga

Have you noticed how the Internet has taken the mystery out of just about everything? I can still remember hunting down song lyrics as a teenager. In the early 90s, I recall spending hours at the library trying to track down the origin of a quote. In the pre-web-olden-days, if you needed to know something about moon phases, you had to track down a farmer's almanac.

Now, I just Google everything I want to know and the answers magically appear. As for moon phases...well, there's an app for that!

So for those of you who were wondering if the Moon Day is *really* on Saturday, even though most shalas have it scheduled for Friday: The app says that it's a New Moon as of 12:52 a.m. Saturday morning. But given that the change back to Standard Time happens on Saturday night, I think it's fair to say that this one is definitely 'on the cusp.'

I'll probably practice on Friday. If for no other reason, my LH is upcoming and I know I'll miss my practice during those days off.

Thanks for all the feedback on the Vegan Protein Debacle. Here's an update: Health Food Store #1 is ordering Seitan for me. If I like it, I may try preparing some homemade. Everyone keeps telling me how easy peasy it is.

I found Vega on sale (but shit, it's expensive!!!), bought the Vanilla Chai flavour. I don't have a good history with concentrated protein so this is an experiment.

My first Vega smoothie was just 'okay' but the second was mind-blowingly fabulous and found myself craving it. Nothing changed. I think it was just a case of my body recognising holy-smokes-there's-protein-in-this-stuff. I've been getting bizarre cravings for chocolatey 'energy bars' too. Again, I think my body is just craving the protein.

In addition, I did a thorough analysis of my overall diet and filled in a few gaps so I know I'm getting all the nutrition I need.

Practice this morning was good. The jump into Bhuja P was not happening today for some reason. I tried it twice and moved on.

I've changed my approach to Laghu Vajrasana after realising that I had reached a point where I can 'pigeon peck' endlessly. I've reintroduced the block and I'm now lowering to the block and holding for five breath cycles before coming up.

Sirsasana was dodgy the first two days of this week. My hands were slipping and I felt unstable. The past few days have been very good in the pose (hands are less sweaty maybe?).

It's been a Bad Transit Karma week with many delays and long waits. On Monday, I was 10 minutes late to a class. This almost never happens because I build time into my commute to account for possible delays.




This is what the platform looked like. Almost too crowded to move. People were not happy.

MOO!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Astanga

Practices this week have ranged from 'just okay' all the way to the low end: 'you've gotta be kidding me'. Let's see...Sunday was stiff, Monday I practised late because of the alarm clock fail and yesterday, I had a raging headache.

But today was awesome, which makes it all better. Hey, Astanga! I like you again. You can call off the dudes in the white coats for now. The Crazy has been averted. *phew*

I'm continuing to jump into Bhuja P with mixed success. I'm jumping every time, but my feet don't always clear the floor. Lately, I've been taking whatever the landing I get as the starting point for the pose, however sloppy. I just do my best with it. I find that trying repeatedly to get the jump just frustrates me. I do it once and move on. The exit is almost always a fail, but figure this is a good motivation to jump into it better.

The Big Awesome for today was my exit from Kurmasana. In the workshop, D instructed us to lift up from Supta Kurmasana with crossed feet, then straighten the legs into a Tittibasana. Keeping the legs engaged, drop the heels while lifting the hips to bring the legs into position for Bakasana.

When D was demonstrating it, it looked like his knees were pivoting in place on his arms. Today, I managed to do the same and instead of my legs sliding further down my arms (and making the Bakasana jumpback feel impossible), my knees stayed in place and I was able to nail the jumpback. It *almost* felt easy. Awesome!




We're well into the orange-and-red-huge-leaf-piles phase of the season. The weather has been nippy too! I love this time of year. It makes me so happy :-)

Today is our lovely Owl's birthday. Happy Birthday, wise one! I hope your day was full of awesome!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Astanga

I feel like a python. During the workshop last weekend, I devoured a huge amount of information and now it's just sitting there while I slowly start to digest. Digesting could take weeks. Or months.

Over the first couple days of practice this week, I started to build a clearer mental picture of what I had learned. I thought to myself: 'Okay, I kind of have a handle on this.'

But I really didn't and I don't. I will...eventually. I know for certain that a month from now, I'll still be having these awesome lightbulb moments when something D told me a million times during the workshop suddenly comes into sharp focus. "Oh. THAT'S what he was trying to get me to do!"

Case in point: Bhujapidasana.

Pre-workshop, I shot a nice little video of Bhujapidasana. This was back in my 'glory days' of Bhuja. This month, I had finally come to peace with the pose and could pull it off with grace and confidence.

Now? I'm back to struggling. Over the weekend, D got me started trying to jump into it. This hasn't been going very well, but every morning I try at least three times before coming into the pose my old way and moving on.

It took a day or two, but I finally figured out that if I shoot my feet forward with the intention of plopping them on the floor, I'm not going to get anywhere. I need to keep faith that I will actually land on my arms. I literally need to 'pretend' that's possible.

So I try and most of the time, I land on my bum. And that's if I'm lucky! When I actually *do* land on my arms, it HURTS. I have a big bruise on my left tricep from one of my hopeful crash landings.

I need to keep my chin up - literally, as well as figuratively. When he was helping me learn this, D held his hand in front of me to provide a Driste, then offered feedback on what my head was doing as I jumped forward: "No, it dropped a bit. Dropped a bit again. You did it again..."

*sigh*

It feels impossible. But today, on the third repetition, I finally jumped roughly onto my arms. And stayed there. To celebrate, I lowered to the floor and completed the pose. It was not the 'prettiest' Bhujapidasana in the history of the pose at least I did it.

Just don't get me started on the exit. *sadtrombone*