Out of Nowhere!

I love it when you actually manage to go into practice with no expectations for it. Your cup of tea is empty waiting to be filled for once. Then as a reward, the most wonderful thing happens, a practice that you would have never been able to expect anyway.

Today's practice was rare, I managed to have a one-pointed, even meditative mind, and kept my breath on and rolling the whole time. I finished feeling larger than my physical body, buzzin with prana, and blissfully happy...

Did I jumpback correctly, No...Did I manage to exit Supta K into Tittibasana? Almost....Did I care about that? Not at all :) What a wonderful gift we have been given in Ashtanga Yoga.

A taste of the old days...

Last night I went, *gasp*, shopping! I haven't been shopping purely for recreation in months! I also got to hang out with one of my very best friends that I have been neglecting as a result of my practicing and training all the time...luckily she is a pharmacist with a serious boyfriend and is almost as insanely busy as I am! Anyway, we went out shopping for clothes, and while I did buy some yoga gear, I even managed to buy some work clothing as well. It was really nice to take a day off and see her. It's funny how special spending quality time with close friends becomes as you get older and commit yourself in more and more directions. It makes every visit a special occasion, which is kind of nice.

Tonight I plan to go to led primary. Right now I have to go to the same teacher every class, as I have to fill so many hours practicing with my mentor for my teacher training. I'm looking forward to finishing those so that I can branch out to new times and teachers...freshen things up a bit. Also I chose my mentor based on convenience, as he teaches in the evenings after work at the studio right near my house, and I'm craving some other teachers with different teaching styles.

It's interesting that this teaching program is nine months long. At first that turned me off a bit, as other programs are much shorter, but now I am really glad. It is an awful lot of material, and it is great to have time to let it sink in and notice how it applies to my life and the world around me. I'm loving this process, and feel a great transformation is beginning.

Early Morn Mysore with David Swenson

Okay, so I know this is a little illegal, but I usually practice (led and mysore classes) in the late afternoon/evening....So waking up at 6 this morning to go to David Swenson's mysore class was a little unnerving...I was extremely worried about being to stiff and sleepy to practice.

Turns out, it went really well, and it was really nice to have the whole day ahead of me after practice. I was a little sore for the rest of the morning, but I felt so much more relaxed and healthy for the rest of the day.

The class was really fun, David brought his wife Shelly, and they co-taught the class. I felt like I was adjusted at least every other posture! Mari D was a challenge, I'm thinking because of the time of day, and Supta K was damn near impossible, even with Shelly pulling my hands together. I loved the experience, and it made me realize how much I crave to study with an advanced, experienced teacher....

Teacher Training Marathon!

Not literally running for 26 miles marathon, but 10 hours of training felt like a marathon session to me! Awesome classes! Today was "Musculoskeletal System", "Foundation and Alignment", and "Yogic Diet and Nutrition". Tomorrow it starts all over again! Only 6 hours tomorrow because I've rescheduled the morning class to attend David Swenson's Mysore class. At any rate, it will be another day full of yoga.

Anyway, I'm wrecked, so I'm off to eat dinner!

Purification

I decided to practice yesterday despite my sore throat. I think it was a very good decision because from after my practice on, I have felt 100% better. Score is one for detoxification, and zero for conserving energy! I even managed to lift in Setu Bandhasana with my arms crossed over my chest, which is a first for me.

My backbends are starting to feel much more comfy. I really feel like I am stretching out the muscles along the front of my body and lengthening my back. I think I owe it all to NOT bringing my knees into my chest in between! Glad I figured that one out.

Today, I'm hoping to skip out of work one hour early to go to a led full primary. I don't like to leave work early, but we have a dear friend coming in from NC tomorrow, and a lot of cleaning needs to be done in preparation...and then I won't practice again until Sunday morning.

Sunday morning will be Mysore style with David Swenson. I can't wait!

To practice or not to practice, that is the question

So, I woke up with a sore throat this morning and the glands under my chin are swollen. I remember reading on a blog somewhere that Sharath suggests you practice everyday, unless you have a fever, which I don't. I don't want to get anyone else sick, if I am in fact brewing up something in this throat of mine, so practice could be mysore style at home...but my question is, should I practice at all?

I'm of two minds, the first is that I could use the detoxification. The other is that I may need to conserve my energy....but I am usually more energetic after practicing anyway....so there is my conundrum...

I wish today was a moon day...

so that I didn't feel so guilty for not going to practice tonight. But, I'm pooped and I've decided to invest the evening in reading the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and cuddling my boston terrier puppy!
Maybe even with a glass of red wine!

Tomorrow will be a mysore class, which I like more than led classes anyway. I always feel like I make more progress in the mysore classes, which makes sense being able to go more slowly and/or deeper if I so choose. Plus more personal time and adjustments with the teach are nice.

I'm finding that practicing kurmasana and supta kurmasana are making my hips sore on the outer edges, I guess it's from stretching them in this new way, feels really nice actually. I love how an ashtanga practice (and the body practicing it) are always changing. I love to feel parts of the body open up, and other parts solidify and strengthen. And most of all I love the thought of all the changes I have yet to undergo.

Too much attention....or not?

Today's practice was pretty good. I was a wee fatigued from yesterday's mysore style class, but it is always nice to be a part of the collective breath and energy in a led class of 45! Still loving the rug, it feels really good to lay down on in savasana, and I found myself scratching my back on it by wiggling when coming down from each urdhva dhanurasana! Felt so good!

Interestingly, the teach came over to me in almost every single posture and corrected something...whether it be foot placement in a standing posture, placing my heels together in navasana, binding lower around my thighs in pindasana, etc...I felt like I could do no right. And I know my practice hasn't changed that much from yesterday!

So, I'm hoping that he feels we have built enough of a student teacher relationship to adjust me often. Either that or he is too tired of all my many mistakes to let any slide by! We'll see tomorrow! Either way, It was nice to have all the help, I feel silly when I find out I have been doing something wrong for so many months, if someone had just mentioned it sooner, I would have corrected it.

Bound well in everything but Supta K today, and still no headstand, but I could feel the teach eyeballing me, it is only a matter of time before he comes over and tells me to come up.

My jumpback is almost there, I can feel it coming. I am so close to connecting the tipping back with the shooting out my legs into chataranga. Don't worry, you will be the first to know if and when it happens:)

The New Rug Rocks

So, I went to a Mysore class today with the new rug, and I love it! I covered the top of my mat with the end of the rug during surya namaskar, which gave a nice shelf for my hands to rest on, no slipping for the first time! Then, I unrolled it right before Dandasana. It worked out beautifully! YAY!

Practice today was one of those few and far between that just feel so right. My jump-throughs were controlled, and while I wasn't jumping back in one motion, it was much smoother, and I could feel the elements coming together. I have faith that I will be able to do it! I will, I will! :)

Bound hands on both sides in all the Mari's, even bound hands in Supta K! with a little tug from the teach of course. Still no headstand, I'm so exhausted by the end of practice, that I'm just taking my hips above my head, and lifting my toes off the ground here and there by shifting my hips back. I've decided I won't allow myself to go into full asana until I can lift both legs straight up from that point.

Can't wait for tomorrow, a led full primary. With my new rug!

The rug came....and went

I received my first cotton rug. I was extremely disappointed in it....It was from a very popular yoga supply place that represents itself as being quality...I won't name any names...but this rug was loosely woven and floppy, more like a blanket than a rug, and it was shedding lint everywhere!

I've sent it back, and acquired a rug I am very happy with! So, my first practice with my newest rug will be today. I'm thinking I'll do my surya namaskar and standing sequence without it, and then roll it out right before dandasana. Usually the only part that slips during any of this are my hands in downward dog...so we'll see ! :)

I just finished reading "Tree of Yoga" by BKS Iyengar...I felt like it was very informative, despite feeling like his stream of consciousness on paper! His anecdotes speak a lot to his personality, which seems to be playful but strict. I do like the analogy of the limbs of yoga as a tree, and it is helpful to me to organize them in this way.

Reading this text, along with the Sutras, the Gita, and the Pradipika, has brought up a lot of questions for me. It seems like these texts are all encouraging us to still the mind and leave the ego part of our intelligence behind, but I feel like by reading these texts I am trying to use precisely these elements of myself to navigate my way through yoga...I realize that this is because I am a green yoga student (as I'm hearing we all are for years and years)...but I am having real trouble finding another way to navigate. My instincts tell me to analyze, intellectualize, think my way through it, but that is taking me farther and farther away.

My plan for the foreseeable future is to press on, practice daily, keep reading and surrounding myself with strong teachers. OH, and of course to share it all in this blog for anyone who will read it! :)

Stuck like Glue

So, I haven't been able to practice for two days...and I can tell that I am more attached to my practice than I should be. It seems like a bit of a catch 22. Asana, and the seven other limbs, should be practiced dilligently, but you aren't supposed to be attached to practicing them. I haven't quite figured out how to do that. All I can think about is going to class tonight. Well, that is for two reasons, the fact that I haven't practiced lately, and the fact that I finally ordered a cotton rug from Hugger Mugger. I'm actually awaiting UPS right now!

I'm really looking forward to practicing with a cotton rug, right now I'm using Yogitoes, but I'm not entirely happy with it. It's a little to slippery before it gets damp, and even when damp it gets crumpled on my mat after several jumpthroughs. I know that the stronger I get and the smoother my transitions, the less it would move around. Some of the more advanced students use Yogitoes and they don't wrinkle at all! I'm still hoping the denser cotton rug will stay put.

While writing this post, I just had the most odd sense of Deja vu. I wonder what causes Deja vu, and if any gurus or yogic literature have explained this phenomenon. Hmm....

Valentine's Day

No practice today so that I can spend the day with my husband. It couldn't come at a better time anyway as I am super tired from work, practice the last four days in a row, and what I assume is my own natural rhythm. I just seem to tap out once a week or so.

I've been thinking a lot about the involvement of the mind in my practice. I feel like many asana are much more mental than physical. For example, headstand for me is all about my confidence level. I can do it at home just fine (even the headstand cycle), and in class, not so much, I don't even try really... I just don't want to fall, much less in front of everyone. I hate that it is only me standing between me and my headstand, it's a war within myself.

I've also been thinking about the involvement of the mind in injury. I've had this shoulder tweaky thingy for a few weeks, and while I was convinced it was a pinched nerve, I'm now wondering if I'm only convincing myself that it is. It seems like some of my "injury" has been invented by my mind, as soon as I allowed it to not be an injury, it isn't bothering me very much at all. It's a goal of mine to use my practice to cut through this bull*&^% that my mind creates, and be aware of what is really going on within my body. I also think that it is possible that I may misinterpret an "opening" or change within my body brought on by practice as an "injury". This may all be semantics, but it seems like some pain and change could be a good thing.

Any thoughts?

Monkey Mind.........

Is it too soon to be burned out on blogging? Kidding, but I am having real trouble coming up with what I want to say about today's practice...

I'm still taking it a little easy in class, take-it-up asanas and the like...But today I was actually able to escape the fluctuations of my mind for a moment, towards the end of practice. It seems like when I first started it was easier to forget about the world, the other students in the room, the teacher, and just breathe...but for the past couple weeks I've had trouble not thinking the whole time, my monkey mind is just running away, and taking my peaceful practice with it. I think part of it is that I'm thinking about my injuries (and how not to make them worse) too much. The funny thing is, by doing that, I think I'm losing my flow and only aggravating them...

On the plus side, five pain free urdva dhanurasanas today...for the second day in a row! That's a big deal considering up until yesterday I've either done less than five with pain, or serious modifications.

Another interesting thing that came up in class today...The teacher wanted to make sure that students know that adjustments do not necessarily mean that something is wrong with your pose...sometimes it is that you are doing something right and they feel you are ready to move on in a new way...I wonder how to tell the difference?

Okay, more tomorrow...

No Experience Necessary

Okay, so no pictures yet, but here is the rundown.

I have been practicing hatha yoga for about 10 years, but very sporadically, and ashtanga for only 7 months. So, my current practice is the primary series up to Supta Kurmasana...Although sometimes I get to cheat and do other asana past this in my led primary classes! :)

My first ashtanga class was at the University of Texas' recsports classes with the most wonderful teacher named Pamela Brewer. After my first class I knew that this would be a life long journey. I don't think that I have ever connected with anything the way I have with this practice. I realize that I am only 7 months in, but it is a similar feeling to when I fell in love with my husband...I just knew that this was it for me!

Since then, I have been practicing at Yoga Yoga here in Austin. I'm attending Mysore and led classes with two teachers. Today's practice was led primary. I've recently injured my right shoulder (pinched nerve from asymmetrical chatarangas I think) and my left ankle (from Mari D I think), so I skipped the vinyasas between sides and was very careful with Mari D on the right side, no binding for me on that side.

I've been toying a lot with jumpbacks and throughs lately. I'm now finally able to jump through with crossed shins with some amount of control....but my jump backs are still pretty atrocious, with me tipping back, landing on my shins, then pushing off into chataranga dandasana...I am consciously working on jumping through/back because I feel that my practice lacks a certain amount of flow without them...It's harder to keep my breath on and rolling.

So, I promise some pictures soon! And I'll probably post thoughts/themes from my teacher training classes, because I love them, and it's a good way to document that process, too!

Okay, so I've succumbed

It seems like everyone has a blog about their ashtanga practice....now so do I. I decided to make the commitment to documenting this process after my hubby said, "You spend so much time reading everyone elses, you really could be posting your own!"

Fine. I'm posting my own. I hope that it brings someone even a part of the enjoyment that I have gotten from reading all the other inspirational and entertaining ashtanga blogs out there. Stay tuned for a synopsis of my practice thus far, and definitely some pics!