Astanga

Hooray, another six day week, complete! This summer is just flying by, but I’m enjoying every minute of it.

As I left for the Shala this morning, the skies opened up and released a warm, summer rain. It was like bathwater from the sky!

When you know you’re going to be soaking in sweat soon anyway, a little bit of water doesn’t matter very much. I smiled and enjoyed it. And I got a free bath coming home too! :-)

During my practice, I listened to the patter of rain outside and the smell of it wafting in through the open windows. It was my favourite practice of the week.

I had a magical moment in Supta Padangusthasana. At the very moment I brought my leg out to the side, a cool, delicious breeze floated over me. I wanted to stay there forever.

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Since Friday is my ‘day off’, it’s often the day when all of my insomnia and pitta-over-work tendencies catch up with me. I usually crash hard! Today, I slept for most of the afternoon, curled up with Princess Fur on the bed, in the air-path of a fan. I’m sorry that I missed the opportunity to sit on the balcony with a book, but I needed the rest.

Now I’m wide awake and ready for some fun! Vegan Potluck countdown: 1 hour. One of my Shala North informants tells me that there will be plentiful food for the gluten-restricted at this shindig. I’m very excited! *happydance*

Tomorrow, I’ll post recipes for the goodies I brought.

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Princess Fur has her very own fan! At night, I turn it to ‘low’ and aim it under the bed, where she likes to sleep. During the day, I put it on the balcony so she can enjoy fresh air and chill out at the same time.

Astanga

I’m so tired right now, my bones are actually aching. My day started at the Shala with my practice, continued with a long walk and some work on my ‘secret project’, then I taught a couple of classes. Afterward, I biked to the store to shop for provisions and I spent the next 5 hours baking.

I love baking. But I don’t have air conditioning and my apartment is approximately the size of a shoebox. My kitchen basically *is* my apartment and right now, it’s about a kazillion degrees in here. The oven has been running all day! By mid-afternoon, it was so hot, I half-expected Bikram Chodhury to step out of the oven, wink at me, and steal a muffin! The temperature *outside* was 43C with the humidex (that’s about 110F). I’m sure it was far hotter than that in my kitchen.

But I whipped up the following:

-2 batches of vegan muffins

-1 batch of vegan double chocolate brownies

-1 batch of gluten-free vegan double chocolate brownies

-1 batch of blueberry crumble squares

And tonight I put together a vegan stew, which will bubble away in the crock pot into the wee hours.

My fun and very social weekend starts tomorrow evening with Shala North’s vegan potluck.

Just consider the last two words of that sentence and you’ll understand why I’m *so* excited: VEGAN! POTLUCK! An entire table full of food that I can actually EAT! Without worrying about the ingredients! (okay, let’s just ignore my gluten and bean semi-allergy for a moment)

Heaven!!!

And that’s not all! Once I’ve filled my plate, I get to sit around and chat about Astanga yoga with a bunch of cool and interesting people. I’m embarrassed to admit how incredibly excited I’ve been about this. I’ve been anticipating it for weeks!

Then on Saturday, Shala South is celebrating their anniversary with a yoga class, dinner and musical performance by my chanting/philosophy teacher’s kirtan band. Since Sunday is a Moon Day, I can enjoy it all guilt free - no worries about ‘turning into a pumpkin’ at 9 p.m.

I might just need a weekend to recover from my weekend! ;-)

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Practice report:

When I arrived at the Shala, it was COLD because the air conditioning had been running all night. A few cracked windows solved that problem, though. It was hot out, even at 6:30 a.m.!

Good news: I didn’t get attacked by any flies today.

More good news: Backbending was pretty good!

This is the first day in about a week I haven’t been suffering from ‘secret project’ induced leg aches. My legs felt fine, so I was stronger. P watched me do the first two backbends, then pulled my hips forward for the last one.

Something shifted in my brain during this adjustment and I suddenly got it! I understood it better (it’s never made any sense to me before). I pushed down into my heels, lifted my hips up and forward against his hands. All of the experimentation I’ve been doing with shifting the weight around in my feet led me to this point. It was kind of an ‘a ha!’ moment. P gave me positive feedback.

I worked really hard in the last three backbends. I walked my hands in (Pingu arms!) each time I pressed up - P kept encouraging me. The third backbend, I walked them in A LOT and P said: ‘Good!!! You’re walking them in far!’ It felt like it! I kept breathing, maintained my Driste, came down after 5 breaths. My legs were shaky and tired, but I felt okay.

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I had another breakthrough moment with my ‘secret project’ today.

This one took me entirely by surprise and I think it was an important step forward for what I’m trying to accomplish. Not that I was very successful or anything. ;-) I was so gobsmacked that I fell over, then ended up flat on my back, laughing at myself. Then I tried again! No dice. I guess it was a fluke, but a good one!

It’s hard to be fearful or angsty when there’s a blue sky stretching overhead and the entire world is green and sparkling. Even if nothing substantial comes of this, I have these memories of soft grass under my feet and a sense of transcending my own perceived limitations. Yoga is awesome that way!

Astanga

Gah. My practice is very boring these days. There’s nothing to say. What passes for excitement in these lazy summer days of broken hamstrings and sloppy backbends?

Well, how about sneak attacks from creepy crawly creatures?

This morning, as P was assisting me in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, I glanced down at my mat and noticed something small, dark and ominous advancing stealthily towards my foot. Keep in mind, I don’t wear my glasses at the Shala so everything passes by in a blur. I couldn’t see *what* it was, but I knew it was getting closer. And closer.

As I brought my lifted leg out to the side (and dutifully settled my Driste over my opposite shoulder), I could almost feel it approach. The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I realised that IT, whatever it was, had crawled onto my foot. It started moving slowly up my leg.

I kept breathing and thinking: How important is Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana to me today? What if that thing is actually a poisonous spider? What if it bites me and I fall over dead in Utkatasana?

I couldn’t take it anymore. I glanced over at P and said: “There’s something crawling up my leg.” Then I reached down to take a swipe at it.

It was an ordinary housefly!!! P was *extremely* amused. I was a bit embarrassed. So much for creatures going bump on the Manduka mat!

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The heat wave continues. I have two fans running to keep the air circulating in my tiny apartment.

I’m all punch drunk on sunshine, heat and abundant free time. I only taught one class today! I have three books on the go, a couple of them on my Kindle. I’m thinking of pre-ordering the new book about Guruji for my Kindle (it would be ‘autodelivered’ on the 20th, the day the book is released). But I might want a print copy anyway. There’s also a new book coming out on Krishnamacharya. Lots of good summer reading for Ashtangis!

Work on the ‘secret project’ continues, secretly, outside the Shala. Susan offered some good advice which I put into practice today. I ‘lowered the bar’ a few notches and went back to the basics. I don’t want to fall into bad habits and develop incorrect muscle memory!

In the end, it all comes back to...Pingu!

Yay! PINGU!!!

I should try this. But when I land, I’ll do it with STRAIGHT ARMS! *grin*

Astanga

It’s wonderfully hot out right now. Steamy with high temperatures and a humidex that’s unbearable to most people and absolutely perfect to me. Since I typically spend the entire winter shivering, I absolutely live for this weather! The last two summers have been a bit disappointing in that regard. Last July, I was still wearing a medium weight coat in the mornings as I rode my bike to work. This year, I’ve finally cleaned up the balcony so I can sit outside and delight in the warmth.

Air conditioning? Who needs air conditioning. Don’t have it, don’t want it and I hope it stays this hot all summer. I’m in bliss!

The teachers posted a ‘heat alert’ on the Facebook page and brought emergency, backup Mysore rugs to the Shala. I didn’t think it was *that* dire in the room this morning, but it was definitely hot! Hot enough that the we could crack the windows and get fresh air without bringing down the temperature of the room. And I’m sure it was steamier later in the morning. I practice early and it’s usually cooler then.

The all-over body ache subsided somewhat overnight. I set another alarm to go off two hours before I usually wake so I could take some arnica, then sleep it off. I also took an epsom salt bath before heading to the shala. It was all helpful. I’m feeling less like the walking wounded today.

I had a good practice. True to my word, I tried to avoid ‘the Lazy’ in my jumpbacks and paid attention. I’m being very careful of the placement of my hands and the action of the jumpback, to protect my right shoulder. I haven’t felt a twinge there in about a week. The gremlin has moved into my left shoulderblade.

The great news is that my left hamstring is feeling better! Today, I noticed that I was feeling the stretch in the body of the muscle rather than in the attachment to the ischial tuberosity and I was able to take some of my forward bends a bit deeper. I even managed a straight-legged Paschimottanasana after my (very lame and pathetic) backbends.

I had a breakthrough in my secret project today! It’s going well! ;-)