Sunday, June 28, 2009

It's a new day.

My success in binding dwi pada unexpectedly yielded two new poses - dhanurasana and parsva dhanurasana. I have been doing my last three for no more than 3 seconds, and here we are, new poses. Sometimes I just do not understand the logic behind this business of pose giving. Not that I am complaining! :)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Dwi pada ups and downs

I bound in dwi pada on my own for the first time on Sunday. Supta Kurmasana felt like heaven after that - I thought I could bind my wrist for some reason, but alas, it was just adrenaline talking. I was so excited that I let practically everyone around me know what happened. Like, "Did you see? I did it!" Crazy, I know.
My neck did not share my happiness next day, though. Good thing is was a moon day, so it had a chance to recover. Mostly muscle tension from overworking, no structural damage (I hope!) Today the leg bind in dwi pada did not happen, even though I tried my darndest. Oh, well, it happened once, it will happen again. Aliya believes in me, and who am I to argue? :)

Work keeps me very busy lately; interferes a lot with my ability to visit the blogs. In additon, there have been a lot of subbing lately, not sure why. I feel conflicted - crave free time, but when I get it, I immediately start sabotaging it. Would be good to analyze it, but there is no time. Besides, there is one thought dominates in my head - Will I bind tomorrow in dwi pada or not? :D

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Advanced yoga

Searching for inspiration for my tomorrow's class, I came across this gem. Just could not hold myself from sharing it:



Ain't it precious?

In comparison, this guy seems to be awesome:

Monday, June 15, 2009

Commencement

Whew, I am back from the trip to California. That was a lot of flying and sitting at the airports, not a lot of time with my son, unfortunately. I was supposed to arrive to LA on Thursday, around noon, but due to all kinds of trouble with the airlines, it turned out to be after midnight. So my trip to a Mysore practice on Friday was not quite plausible, and I settled for a practice in the hotel room. Boy it felt good after a whole day of sitting!

The commencement ceremony was not very festive. Turns out that two students committed suicide very recently; one in May, the second - just two days before graduation. I can not even imagine what the parents felt. The school honored them with a moment of silence during the graduation ceremony. One could tell that the mood of the crowd was very somber because of that. The gray sky and drizzling rain did not help either. B

But the city was as beautiful as ever. There were lots of trees with purple flowers, and the whole Pasadena seemed to be covered in a purple haze. Falling purple flowers carpeted the ground as well.

Anyway, here are some pics. Unfortunately, my son politely declined the leprechaun jump for me. I am not surprised, though - this is the same person who does not want me as a friend on Facebook! Ugh. I still love him. :)


U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steve Chu gave a really good speech:


Purple trees

And purple carpet....



And this is a little frog - just for Arturo. It was sitting next to the pond at the Caltech campus, contemplating something scientific, I bet:


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bhekasana and trip to LA

Yep, got salambasanas and bhekasana. Still feels good to get a new pose, no matter what I say about not caring anymore. UD felt really good afterward.

I am leaving tomorrow early in the morning for LA, my son's commencement ceremony. Need to have those pictures in a square hat, and now also with a leprechaun jump (Thank you, Liz!). Pity it is such a short trip, but better than no trip at all, which was a real option for a while.

Feeling vastly better today, even though I had to sub a class late yesterday, so I got only 6 hours of
sleep. I just do not understand anymore how my body works and what it requires to function properly. So far it seems that rest is not only overrated, but even detrimental for well being. Who knew? :D But it is exciting to get re-acquainted with the body again, throw new things in it, observe and make conclusions. Just like science I do for living.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

In need of an energy shot.

For some reason, I am not in a blogging mood lately. Feel physically tired. This fatigue is not practice related - I was exhausted yesterday evening, and it was a moon day with no mysore in the morning. Took an hour-long nap at 6 pm, but then by 8:30 was ready to retire to bed completely. This is not normal, no? Might be a side effect of "detoxing" or somesuch.

Today's practice was a little slow, but very satisfying in the end. David asked me what my last pose was and whether I was ready to move on. Hell, yes! It has been nearly a year since I got a new pose. I know he is just being cautious with all my multiple injuries, so it is OK with me. I feel that at last I got over this urge to get a new pose. Or maybe I lost this urge temporarily because I have this challenge of getting into Dwi Pada - Supta Kurmasana on my own, and it keeps my competitive fibers occupied at the moment. Whatever is at work, I feel good about my practice at the moment.

At work craziness starts with summer students arriving. It is a good kind of craziness, though. Two of them are here already, one will be here next week. Our quiet lab is not so quiet anymore!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

OK, I am at peace with this week after all.

Two days of ladies holiday gave me an opportunity to spend some time with a beautiful baby Ananda. We got along really well; the first day he did not cry even once in 2 hours, the second - briefly a couple of times, but then he got into a good mood again. My son was not such an agreeable baby.

This morning's practice was really good. I did not eat anything in the morning, and felt fine through the practice. Blood glucose level was 94, so probably there was lots of fuel to go around. No farting today (thank God), though lubricated skin-to-skin traction during arm insertion in Garbha produced a suspiciously similar sound.

I can consistently bind now in SK, but I can't get there on my own yet. Aliya claims I am hair-thin close to being able to do it. Just need to believe in it myself.

I am subbing a vinyasa class late tonight. Maybe I manage to sneak in a nap sometime today? Would be nice.

It is raining and kind of cool outside. Lots of things to take care of, so I should better start.
Have a great day, everyone!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Can we start this week over, please?

My new diet is not without glitches. Yesterday I tried a slushy mixture of frozen medley (cherries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) in pomegranate juice and loved it. Strong taste, but very pleasant. This morning I decided to repeat this recipe before practice and regretted it already on my way to shala. Heartburn and big, loud burps, combined with feeling of movement inside the belly. As a result, the practice was not a happy one. Every time I was upside down, my heartburn got worse and I was feeling a little sick. Tried to get myself into supta kurmasana without any success. Aliya came by and squeezed me into the pose and out of me a big, loud, juicy fart. Feeling sick to my stomach in both figurative and literal way, I briefly considered quitting yoga or switching back to Iyengar, but this passed by the end of the practice. I guess breakfast is not a good place for experimentation after all. The funny thing is that after practice I felt absolutely fine, no heartburn or burping. Go figure.

 

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