Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Great Weekend!

Had such a great long weekend down in Ocean Shores/Byron Bay region. My friend Vic and I walked on the beach, went swimming in the surf (all with a dog!), cooked dinner one night, and then went out to dinner with friends in Byron another night. We lazed around talking, reading the weekend newspapers, and generally having a great relaxing time.

And then on Sunday morning I got up early and drove to Byron to go to Dena's Sunday morning class. When I saw her I thanked her again for letting me come, and she said (smiling), you may regret it! The class that morning was led Primary, with full vinyasa, coming to samistithi between each of the seated poses. It was certainly full-on, and I came to really appreciate the one breath (or was it just an exhale?!) standing in samistithi before moving into sun salute and the next pose ...! As Dena was practicing along with us she wasn't giving 'individual' attention, but as well as counting she was constantly talking us through different aspects of each pose, which was great. Now if only I can remember more than a bit of that!!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Yoga Perceptions

It's funny ... this week has been a really bad one for yoga practice. Since my Saturday class I haven't managed to do any of my normal lunch-time practices, as the room I've been using wasn't 'available' (ie. the owner of the room had stopped going out at lunch!) So when I went to class last night (Wednesday) it was my first practice for 4 days, and I was expecting that my stamina at least, would be affected.

Somehow in these circumstances I kind of imagine a big sign hanging over me, saying 'she has obviously not been practicing properly'!! Ridiculous I know ... and let's not even get into why I should imagine that the teacher(s) are micro-managing me to the extent that this small 'lapse' would be obvious to them! (I'm not going to deny that, rightly or wrongly I do care what my teachers think about my practice in general!!)

And then out of the blue, I was just moving into Parsvottanasana when R came up to me and said "your poses have really been improving, and and in this one you should have a wider stance to bring it up to the same level as the others ... !"

I was floored! Not that I'm repeating this coz I think my practice is great or anything - god I still don't seem to be able to bind in MariC let alone D! But it just goes to show that what goes on in my head is not necessarily the 'true' picture, or what is actually happening ... !

Today I went to the uni gym and did a standing sequence practice there (followed by a few of the seated poses I really need to work on, specially before Sunday). I went with a workfriend, and she ended up wanting to do yoga too, and follow me! So I had to talk her through it a bit which is a bit strange - takes you away from the rhythm of following the breath. But it was good to do some semblance of daily practice again, and good to find a place where I can definitely practice - as long as I don't mind practicing in a room full of machines and people using them!!

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Brisbane floods retrospective

For those who haven't read much about it, here is my friend Angela's account of her experience in the January Brisbane floods, published in the London Review of Books blog.

Now it's nearly a couple of months ago and it's hard to quite believe it really happened - that I was marooned, unable to drive more than about 2-300m from my house, with no electricity for 5 days! Quite surreal ... I guess if my house had been flooded badly, like many people's were, it would still be an ongoing issue and I wouldn't have any problem. Things to remember to be thankful for ... :)

Monday, March 07, 2011

Last weekend busy - next weekend Byron Bay and Dena!

Ooh I'm so pleased! I'm going to Byron Bay (well, nearby Ocean Shores) for a long weekend this coming weekend, which in itself is something to be very pleased about! And then I thought - why don't I see if I can go to a Sunday morning class at Dena's shala. I didn't really think I could - she is running a (fully booked) month-long intensive there at the moment. There is no other Sunday class, so effectively I would be asking if I could crash her intensive class for one day! But I thought if I don't ask, I definitely won't be able to ... So I did, and I got an email from her today saying I could come!! YAY!!

Very busy weekend last weekend. Saturday was taken up with car issues (flat battery, ending up needing to be replaced), doing heaps of edits on a website I look after, then off to the sourdough bakery to get some bread for the freezer, getting eyes tested for a new pair of glasses (having lost my previous pair somewhere!), going to the library, and finally yoga class.

I don't know how I'm going on my attempts to speed up (or not be so slow!) my yoga practice. I think I managed 1 hour 50 minutes, but I did miss a couple of poses out, so ... I guess it'll just have to be a work in progress. When the teacher gives you attention and goes through poses, makes you do them again, it is always going to take longer, and it's not as though I'm going to say 'oh no, I need to keep the speed up so I can't try out what you're saying'!! I did discover that I appear to have always been doing something extra in supta padangustasana, which is apparently not part of the series, but kind of an extra stretch. Very strange (that I never knew this wasn't right). I must have been told to do it when I was first given it. I guess I never discovered this wasn't 'correct' as I never go that far when I'm practicing with people like Dena or Hamish ... :)

Anyway, yesterday I collapsed for a while ... did the final website edits, and then went out for dinner and the movies with a friend. Went to see The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Loved it - I had loved the book too of course. Ross, my friend, hadn't read any of the Stieg Larrsen Millenium series books, so I had to give him a bit of the back-story over dinner as I knew it wouldn't be explained! But he surprised himself and loved it, subtitles and all!!

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Ashtanga high speed!

This has been posted on lots of yoga blogs now, but for those who haven't seen it yet - enjoy a 90 minute ashtanga yoga practice compressed into 3 minutes!! And watch the animals move around - especially the savasana cat ! :)

 

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