As I don’t have any exciting yoga news I thought I would do Liz’s then and now thing… so here I am…..
7ish, I think.
34
June 16, 2009
Last week was a bit of a no-hoper for practice, what with a tube strike, a morning where 3 of my colleagues were staying with me and one hangover, I only managed to fit in a single practice.
Anyway, new week, new me, so it was back to the mat yesterday. I have signed up for another month at TY having resolved not to get to attached to where I practice, as long as I get a practice. The convenience factor of TY is certainly winning me over at the moment. I’m super busy with work and house stuff; I had an offer on my flat the day it went on the market, but haven’t even found anywhere I remotely like to move to, so I’m in a bit of a hurry to find somewhere. This is influencing my decision not to worry about where I practice, as at the moment, I don’t think I can restrict my house hunting to only shala convenient locations!
My practice today, although good physically, was challenged by my mind racing off to other places… who said yoga calmed the fluctuations of the mind???
May 31, 2009
Not much writing going on from me at the moment. Far too many things going on, holidays, work, trying to move house….
I am still practicing at TY having singed up for a month, which expires in about a weeks time. I have been continuously wavering about what to do next. I had a week where I really missed the shala and had decided to go back, but then last week we had a different cover teacher, who has been fantastic, so now I don’t feel I can make a final decision until I have tried the regular teacher who gets back from Mysore at the beginning of July. So, for now I think I may do a couple of weeks of June at THE shala, then give TY another go…. Anyway, both of them are not going anywhere so I can take my time, I suppose.
Practice has been OK. I am FINALLY making what can be described as fair progress with the back bending. I’m now doing 5 drop backs on my own, with help coming back up… I feel so nearly there, just not quite. I’m working on walking my hands in so as to get my hips further over my feet, which will help me to stand up. I think practicing with different teachers has helped to the extent that I got complacent at the shala. H knew that I couldn’t really do it, so I just relied on being properly assisted, but with the new teachers, I am working on the basis that there is an expectation that I CAN do it, which is definitely a better mental starting point for me!
Other than that, it has been a marvelously sunny weekend, and I have enjoyed doing not very much other than sitting in the sunshine and hanging out with friends. Nice.
May 18, 2009
May he rest in peace.
Guru: An advisor or teacher. The term, which comes from Hinduism, refers to a spiritual teacher. “Gu” means darkness, and “ru” means light; thus a guru turns ignorance into enlightenment.
May 13, 2009
Here I am in the airport, killing time before a meeting which the client scheduled for 12.30, then re-scheduled for 1.30 AFTER I had booked my flight. Anyway, It’s nice to have a few spare minutes to write when I don’t really have anything else nagging me.
Monday practice, back at TY was OK. Lots of adjustments and a new found enthusiasm for drop backs after my weekends sucesses. I ended up doing 3 urdvha D from the floor, one unassisted drop back, from which I couldn’t stand up, then five assisted drop backs. I prefer dropping into back bends than pushing up from the floor. Pushing up puts more strain on my lower spine and seems to wrench my shoulders a little. Yesterday I had the same enthusiasm for the back bending and was assisted for 6 drop backs. The teacher is making me inhale for the first part of the descent, opening the chest and relaxing the shoulders, then exhaling for a controlled descent, then inhale back up. This may work, although so far I inhale and bend, then pretty much crash down on the exhale. My own drop backs are much slower, but I suppose that is part of slowly learning which muscles to engage to get the required control.
My hamstring has been playing up a bit, On Monday it felt like it was threaded with steel cable, just not stretching at all. This may have been due to three mornings off practice.
No practice today due to the early flight, but I should get back to the mat tomorrow. I have paid for a month at TY to see how things settle. One observation is that there are more absolute beginners dropping in, and they are quite teacher time intensive, and without an assistant, this means that adjustments can be sporadic. I am still keeping an open mind.
May 9, 2009
Anyone who knows me even a little bit will know that I ALWAYS rise to a challenge…. so here you are. Live (almost) from a hotel room in Maidstone….
doneThe exceptional part of this challenge is the fact that I stood up too, which I haven’t done since I was about 12 and did gymnastics!!!!
Go Team UK!!!!
May 7, 2009
I have been to another shala this week, certainly with mixed emotion. The only reason I have done this is because I’m having trouble scheduling my practice to fit into the time available at AYL.
It has got to the point at AYL that almost every day I am there I wait, then only do half a practice or make a decision to get to work late. This introduces stress into my practice, which isn’t a good thing.
None-the-less, I feel very conflicted about the change. I love the feeling of community at the shala, I love H and the assistants. I suppose I feel like I am deserting my teacher and that I should try to make changes to my routine in order to fit in to what might work at the shala, but at the end of the day, I really can’t.
As I am not in the position to make other people stop practicing at AYL or make the space bigger, I need to make other changes myself for the sake of my practice. I am reminding myself that it is my practice and I need to do what is best for me. How strong should an attachment to a teacher be? It feels odd to say ‘I am not going to practice with a teacher’ only because I can’t fit it into my schedule. So, at the moment I need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages or practising somewhere else. Does loyalty to my teacher make up for the inconvenience and unpredictability of my practice at the moment?
My experience at TY hasn’t been bad this week. On the first day I didn’t get many adjustments, but fair enough. I would expect a teacher to want to see my whole practice before adjusting. As I understand it, the teacher is only covering for the regular teacher who is in Mysore for a couple of months. He had a whole room of new faces this week, so it will take him some time too.
Today was better, being recognised as somebody who is dedicated to actually turning up to practice (most of the time!). I got a good adjustment in Supta K and was held there for about 10 breaths, and also had an amazingly strong adjust in Baddha konasana, which is rather a ‘nemesis’ in my practice.
I also had a bit of a mental revolution today and whilst waiting for assistance to drop back I psyched myself up and actually did one on my own. In the past I have shied away from trying in case I fall because I am tired. Standing waiting I thought to myself ‘why am I not doing this on my own, I know I can, ok, it hurts a bit, but lets try….‘
Advantages which actually don’t really weight my decision include having 6 feet of space around the mat rather than 6 inches (ok, slight exaggeration), a reasonably good temperature, being able to have my glasses close at hand when practising, and of course, having a shower on site… There aren’t really any disadvantages other than having a different teacher, and having to get on the Central line!!!
But even after writing all of this my head is saying, do you really need to leave your current teacher?
How do I make the choice?
April 28, 2009
Today the shala was packed even fuller than I have ever seen before – Tuesdays are obviously going to be the most busy day of the week. The queue peaked at 10 people whilst I was waiting, and it took half an hour for me to get a place.
N, a yoga teacher who practices at the shala managed to get everyone in the finishing room to squish up and fit one more in so there was an inch between each mat, and I started my practice under the chalkboard with the side of my mat actually touching the wall. Got into the main room for parsvottanasana, had adjusts in UHP and pachimottanasana, managed to get to Navasana, do one quick back bend then had to run off again to get to work.
I’d like to get my full practice in tomorrow, but looks like I may have to get there at 6… yawn, I’m going to a gig tonight too.
April 27, 2009
Back at the shala today after taking Thursday off, couldn’t face the pre-moonday queue, then Friday off for Moonday. I was staying with friends over the weekend so didn’t get to practice then either.
Nothing too startling in the mat today, thankfully the shala was much quieter than it was last week so I got started soon after arriving and managed to get through my whole practice. I had one slight surprise when I got to bujapidasana and found no sciatic pain, and only a small twinge in baddha konasana. Wow, it would be nice if that went away permanently.
Back bending wasn’t so great today, I just didn’t feel that bendy. Either I get up and feel like I can do it, or like today, I just don’t feel strong enough to control my myself during the drop down backwards!
Only two more shala practice week as I am off to Moscow for a long weekend – unless anyone out there knows of a shala in Moscow?
April 21, 2009
After a fab weekend workshop with Kino, I took a well deserved morning off yesterday. I had done 7 days practice on the trot though, so I don’t feel too bad about it!
I seem to have got my practice groove back. I feel as though things are running smoothly again. The left hamstring is still twingy, but I think I have managed to stretch them back to their old length, so although the injury is still there, I am not pulling on it so much when I forward bend.
Susan has done a great job of writing about Kino, but I shall do a brief update of my own experience. The counted Mysore class was good, but very, very slow. I have only done 2 counted classes before, both in San Diego last summer. As a result, I managed to get into trouble by getting ahead whilst doing my half vinyasa. It seemed to me that she counted the jumping back bit quite fast, but then stopped before Chaturanga. I didn’t realise this was happening, so kept going and was told to go back and hold chaturanga again! I enjoyed it though, but counting the class takes away some of the control you have over the amount of time you hold your postures for. I suppose this is a good thing really!
The strength class was much the same as the one we did in Dublin last year, and although I didn’t learn much new that I needed for my own practice, it is great from an instructional point of view. Although I have never got around to using my teaching qualification, I have been teaching the BF some beginners ashtanga, and on Monday morning I went through the basics of getting on hands and knees, engaging the stomach and tucking under the tail bone, then engaging the upper back before stretching the legs out. It makes a massive difference to a beginners technique – so full marks to Kino for that one. I’ve always been an exercise junkie and feel like my mind and body are well connected, but for someone who hasn’t got such a sporty background, I think it helps to get the muscles engaged in zones so you get a feel for how the postures should feel.
On Sunday we had a Mysore session in the morning. I was in the second slot starting at 10.30 and didn’t really feel that I got much out of it. The room was already quite full when I started and I only got one adjustment, Mari B, first side. Even at Supta K, she was busy doing drop backs, so I made an attempt then moved on. I did manage to get my head to the floor in Baddha Konasana, on my own, which was a first and I was very happy about that. At the end of the day, I wasn’t too bothered about the adjustments as I get lots of attention from H and the crew at AYL during the week, whereas there were other people there who don’t get daily teacher attention.
In the afternoon we had the drop back session. I started off feeling a bit negative about the session, the mats, which had been pre-laid out on the Saturday had not been arranged for the Sunday afternoon session, so it was a bit of a free for all, and people had spread out in a rather space consuming manner. I was right at the back corner, next to the windows and the back wall, so wasn’t able to get a particularly good view of what was going on. We started off stretching the psoas by doing some deep lunges, then added in the upper back by stretching our arms over our heads and looking backwards. Although I like the lunges with the upper back stretch, I get a bit freaked when the arms are involved. I just can’t get my elbows past my ears, and the extra weight of the arms feel quite uncomfortable. We then went on to ustrasana, then working in pairs, assisted kapotasana and purvottanasana. I didn’t really do this one as my partner didn’t seem very strong and I didn’t trust her not to drop me on my head!!
Giving an adjustment – a touch of ‘man arm’ here?
We finally moved onto doing full drop backs, a couple in pairs then having a go on our own. I was really pleased to be able to drop back on my own as I hadn’t done so since before Christmas. I still can’t get myself back up, but I can lift my hands a few inches off the floor if I rock enough. It will come though and I feel quite optimistic.
Today I was in a good mood and was looking forward to trying my new found drop backs in the shala, but arrived to a queue of 10 people!!!! At one point this peaked to 13 people when two more arrived after me, one left immediately though. I finally got on the mat just before 8 so had to have a very quick practice – I got to mari C. I did manage 4 drop backs with H though, me getting down, and him pulling me up again.
So, all in all, a good few yoga days. Hopefully it will be quieter at the shala tomorrow!
