Absence of yoga practice

This post is just a whinge (Australian expression!) about how sick I've been the last few weeks, so be warned if you read further <grin>

I have been sick for weeks and weeks. In fact I started coughing badly the minute I stepped off the plane in Bali nearly 3 weeks ago. Then by the middle of the week the rest of this flu/chest infection caught up with me and I had no energy to do anything except class with Dena, and possibly a trip into Ubud to get a massage. Not interested in eating - most unusual for me! I was almost glad to be leaving at the end of the first week, as it had felt harder and harder to be involved in the class - specially with all the paroxysms of coughing ... I don't know how I got through all that pranayama!

Now it's nearly 2 weeks since I got back and only now, the 3rd type of antibiotics finally seem to be working. The cloud is lifting from around my head, and I almost feel I might have the energy to set foot on my yoga mat again - but a very short practice, and at home only!

Still feels like it'll be a while before I feel 100% again. I took some time off work last week, but didn't have much sick leave so had to come in this week. All I could do when I got home was collapse in bed with a cup of soup!

Turns out I've had some obscure flu that is very hard to get rid off. My lungs got infected, and that made the whole flu virus keep re-infecting! Lovely!

Don't think I want to write anything much about Bali at the moment - want to wait till I'm better again and can see it all through clearer eyes. It certainly was hard this time, which I had never ever expected!

Anyway - I do feel better than I felt at the beginning of this week, and people at work even say I look better so that's good! Hopefully it's all upwards and positive from here on ... :)

Steve Jobs ... thank you

I was sitting in a cafe in Ubud in Bali when I heard the sad news. And yes, as Barack Obama said, I was one of so many who heard the news by reading it on a device that was inspired/created/refined by him (and his team). 'Devices' that have changed the way we communicate in so many ways - it's hard to get your head round how much.

This is a short bit from his famous speech to Stanford University graduates about 6 years ago ...

 "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Read the whole speech here or watch it on YouTube. And a great article here by Henry Porter (one of my favourite authors) in The Guardian.

He lived those ideals ... And we are all the richer for it.

I will miss your inspiration Steve ... go gently into that good night (sorry Dylan Thomas!)

Bali days

One of the things everyone seems to do in Ubud is have massages. I didn't last time I was here but yesterday I went and had a "deep tissue" massage Is that the right term? Not sure but no doubt you get the drift! The two photos above are from Body Works, the massage place (predictive text changed that to massacre!!!) When I walked into the actual massage room the music playing was the Gayatri mantra which was nice. It wasn't nearly as painful as I had been fearing and I slept really well last night. Think I'll do it again before I leave!

After you have the massage you are taken into the garden (pictured above) to sit and drink a mug of herbal tea and have some fruit ... Really lovely - can't imagine a massage place like this anywhere but Bali!



And this picture was taken just before an afternoon workshop. The ducks seem to live in the rice paddies outside the yoga studio, and gather together in the evening to be shut into their duckhouse ... :)

Today's workshop was really good. Dena was talking about 'conscious stamistithi', and taking those principles into every pose. In a nutshell (and if I've remembered it correctly!) she says that at the beginning of every pose you should first Stretch (or lengthen), then Protect (activate uddhiyana bandha), and then move into the direction of the pose. That makes a lot of sense. Can't wait to see if I can remember/do this!

She also talked about how the practice of yoga will help people stay healthy as they (we) age. Which sounds like a wonderful idea since we can't avoid the aging bit!

Apart from the yoga, I did a bit of shopping today with my friendly driver Sujana, from last time! At a batik place I had fun buying a couple of little dresses - for Richard and Katy's daughter Margaret, and if Elizabeth has a girl this time, then one for her too! It's lovely to have young children to buy presents for!

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Back in Bali!

Here I am back in Bali - that little island of paradise. I'm sitting on my balcony looking out at the rice paddies that run all the way through the hotel on a not too hot, overcast morning. Been for the first yoga practice, been for yummy brunch with everyone in the Indus restaurant across the road ...

Going to have a relaxing day today ... May go down into Ubud later, but mostly I want to just laze around, read a book, think vaguely about what I may want to do over the week.

Class was lovely. After we each introduced ourselves and said a bit about our practice, we did some breathing practice and then did a full led primary. I did all the poses in my modified practice and all seems good! Last week Richard gave me back 3 more poses and a couple of days later my knee wasn't at all happy. Which freaked me out somewhat (though I did keep Dena's wise words to me in mind!) But a couple of days rest seems to have done the trick - though I am more aware of being extra careful about alignment.

And I've met up with the other bloggers Bibi and V! Which is really nice ... :)


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