Practice Spaces

It's quite surprising but somehow without me noticing it, I seem to have acquired a 5 or 6 day a week yoga practice! As opposed to a 3, occasionally 4 day practice only a few months ago. And all this under the quite difficult circumstances of my current working week - ie. being out of the house for over 11 hours a day.

Of course, this isn't 5 or 6 full practices. It's two 2-hour classes, and the rest are short half-hour lunchtime practices plus a vinyasa class I often take on Fridays (not sure if that really counts, but ...!) and frequently a Sunday morning practice with a friend ... But whatever - I am really pleased to discover this has happened without any discernible struggle or effort.

I thought about this after I read this post from kalbe on her A Breathing Practice blog. She also has to leave for work really early - too early to do a morning practice. So she rented some cheap office space in an old building near her office and turned it into her own personal practice studio ! I think she works in a small American town, as opposed to a city where this would just not be possible, but I am totally amazed at her dedication!!

Not sure that I'd be doing anything like that! I started off using empty offices at lunchtime (I've always been a mostly lunchtime practitioner). Then when I changed jobs and campuses, the best I could come up with was using my boss's office when she went to the uni gym at lunchtime. I also signed up for the gym in the hope that I might be able to use some space there to do yoga. At first it wasn't really possible (although there was the Friday lunchtime vinyasa class), but things have changed at the gym and now I can use a smaller staff gym to practice in. This means I don't have to hang around waiting to see if/when R goes to the gym, and can choose when to go etc.

Anyway, I think this has all helped my yoga practice develop ... which I'm very pleased about!

Friday morning yoga

I had Friday off as a flex day ... so I was able to go to the only morning class at my shala. It felt so nice to be at a class in the morning - I almost always practice at lunchtime, or go to evening classes. It was a lovely change. Well, probably just the fact of having a day off work, and being 'on holiday' fed into the happy feelings ... Whatever - I had a lovely day!

Had a bit of a chat with R my yoga teacher and have now got another 'project' to concentrate on. I really need to build up strength in my arms and shoulders. I still can't hold chataranga dandasana, my arms just collapse at a certain point. And until I have that arm/shoulder strength, I also won't be able to hold dhanurasana, or headstand. Which I really want to do!! I have been trying to build up it up, and am going to do a few additional things at home to strengthen those recalcitrant arms! I need to develop those strong swimmers' arms/shoulders ... :)

On Saturday afternoon I went to a video afternoon at Amaroo and heard about how Maharaji is wanting to come to Amaroo again this September. And how we can make it happen. Very nice and inspiring ...

Today (Sunday) a friend Helen came round and we did a led Ashtanga practice with my new DVD of Mark Darby. It was the first time I'd practiced with this DVD - I really like it. He reminds you so much to be with the breath. Highly recommended ... :)

I've also enjoyed being able to do a few things in the garden, as the weather finally seems to be cooling into an Autumn. It felt very nice. I haven't looked at the veggie garden though - I mean, I have and it's a total mess! But I haven't tried to do anything with it ... just stuck to smaller easier tasks to start off with!!