Another update (No 3)

Another week, another update on my health! I think this past week has been a case of one step backwards, two steps forward ... at the end of last week I had a couple of days when I was really really tired. Collapsed on the sofa all day, no thought of doing any yoga, finding myself falling asleep around 7pm (!!) in front of the tv...

But things started to get better over the weekend, and I haven't actually felt anything like as tired since then. Of course, when I re-started yoga earlier this week I did have to start from the beginning again ... Surya Namaskar B is still hard (energy-wise) - and I think I'm just now back at the stage I'd got to ... in other words, 3 x Surya Namaskar As and 2 x Surya Namaskar Bs ... Its going to be very interesting to see what happens when I get to some of the poses that I used to find challenging - eg UHP (balancing!!), and Marichyasana C - will I still be able to bind that I wonder?! Well, hopefully I'll find that out in the next couple of weeks!!

Next week is my last 2 rehab sessions in Tweed Heads - I definitely think they have helped me a lot. And then the following Saturday afternoon I'm having an Alexander Technique treatment which should be really interesting.

And the singing, the choir practice (of The Messiah) goes on, filling a lot of my day, happily. Today a friend is coming round in the morning bringing coffee and cake (!), and we may do some singing too ...


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Life goes on ...

Life goes on ... my yoga practice is coming back together, slowly but surely. Still only managing 3-4 practices a week at the moment but hopefully that will expand over the next few weeks/months. I'm not going to sweat it - I remember how surprised I was to discover that I had somehow ended up with a 5-6 day a week practice without me realising it! So that should come in its own time - when the planets align!  And as we're going through a spell of unseasonably hot spring weather (even for sunny Queensland, Australia!) I don't always feel like walking across campus in the midday sun to the space where I can do a lunchtime practice ⟨grin⟩

Still enjoying my Sunday morning yoga practices with Helen. Sometimes other friends join in, sometimes it's just us. Last Sunday Helen brought out a DVD that we used to use way back when we did Friday lunchtime yoga sessions at the University about 3-4 years ago. Really nice - set in a subtropical garden in Byron Bay - or so I've always thought! Anyway, it was lovely to see it again, and catch a few hints as I did my own ashtanga practice!

My health is inching its way back to normal. Still coughing but less, and I no longer feel like I'm operating at 80% or less!

Choir rehearsals for The Messiah started again this week. I was really reluctant to make the (rather large) effort required to get to rehearsal, but of course am really glad I did! To be honest I don't even know if I'll be able to sing in the concert - that all depends on how my cough is going then. There's nowhere to hide when you're part of a large choir sitting on the 'stage' in the Cathedral when you're not standing and singing your heart out! But even if I can't sing in the actual performance, I just love singing it and it's wonderful to be part of the choir going through all the choruses again ... Do hope I'll be able to sing though ... :)

Singing in Handel's Messiah

Last night I sang in a performance of Handel's Messiah, at St John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane with the Bach Choir. It was (again) such a lovely experience ... I didn't sing in it last year as I'd only just got back from overseas, and so missed most of the rehearsals. But this year, since I'd given up on my regular choir, I'd had it in my mind as my 'choir' experience for the year. And yes, sometimes it was hard to come home for an hour, and then drive back into the city to go to rehearsals. But it was so worth it!

I know pretty much all of the music now.The only chorus I still have a bit of a problem with is the final one - the Amen chorus. But I felt that I mostly had it! And it's so wonderful to come to the end of a chorus, and stop singing, then hear the sound echoing back to us from the cathedral's vaulted ceilings ... :)

Today my friend Helen came round and we practiced to the Mark Darby DVD. For various reasons, I hadn't been able to practice for 3 days, so it was really nice to get back onto the mat. I did a few poses that I'm not doing in class yet (ones that have been 'taken away' because of my meniscus injury and haven't come back yet). Some of them were quite good - others I could see I was a long way away from being able to do them again And in fact my knee felt a bit tender afterwards ... So I won't be pushing to get some of them back again yet!!