Yoga and visitors

Yesterday I was just hanging out the washing while waiting for Helen (my yoga friend) to come and do a yoga practice with me, when I caught sight of movement in a shrub next to the house. This is what/who it was!! A young-ish carpet snake, happily curled up on top of some outside lights ...  I showed it to Helen - and we agreed that (speaking generally) we don't worry about snakes with patterns on them like this. It's the ones that are all one colour - brown or black specifically - that you need to be wary of!

We both practiced to the Mark Darby Ashtanga DVD ... I did some poses that I'm not supposed to be doing again yet (naughty!) Like mariA and B (but the easy version of B). And then Supta konasana ... and even shoulderstand. I was careful (very careful) about not doing anything bad to my knee, but it seemed fine! Some other poses - eg. Janu Sirsasana C and Triang Mukhaikapada Paschimottanasana (which name I had to copy and paste from a website - too long to remember!!) Anyway, some poses I look at and think - it may be a whole year before my knee can cope with that again!! But still, little by little it is coming back, and I am taking the opportunity to concentrate on other areas of my practice, so it's all good.   ( I suppose !!)

This weekend Maharaji is speaking at a 2-day event at Amaroo - it's 2 years since I last saw him! I am so looking forward to it. I've got people coming to stay for it too. My Mum is coming out of hospital on the Monday and I'm going down to look after her for a week. She could have come out on Friday, but I had to ask her to put it off till the Monday so I could see Maharaji ... Luckily she understands how important it is for me ... :)

And then when I get back from my Mum's it'll only be 3 weeks till I head off to Bali for Dena's workshop!

Yoga bookshelf!

Grimmly did a blogpost about yoga bookshelves and invited everyone to send in photos of theirs! Sounds like fun! I've just sent him a couple to choose from, but this one is my favourite because it shows part of the shelf below, and you can get hints of other books that I have! Remains to be seen which one he'll pick though ... :)

My Restricted Practice Sequence

For those yoga-tragics among us who are interested in minutiae, this is a list of the poses I'm allowed to do at this point in my recovery from a knee meniscus tear.

++++
Both Sun Salutes, although I have been instructed to use blocks in the 2nd one, getting into and out of the Virabhadrasana section.
++
Then Padangusthasana and Pada Hastasana
Trikonasana
Not Parivrriti Trikonasana
Utthiti Parsvakonasana
but NOT the Parivritti one
Then Prasaritta Padottonasana (just the 1st and 4th variation)
Parsvottanasana
Utthiti Hasta Padangustasana - but only holding the wall with one hand and my knee with the other (!)
Not Ardha Baddha Padma Uttanasana
though I can do that tree pose (again holding onto the wall)
Utkatasana
Not Viradbhadasana A or B
++
And then to seated:
(Note: Not allowed to do any attempts at jump-backs or anything yet - so the vinyasa I am doing between poses/sides is Navasana for 4 breaths, which does keep the heart rate/heat up!)
++
Paschimottanasana
Purvottasana (although only the 'table-top' version)
Not Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana
Not Trianga Mukaikapada Paschimottanasana
Just been given Janu Sirsasana A again - yippee!
But not Janu Sirsasana B or C
Not Marichyasana A or B
Marichyasana C
And forget Marichyasana D!
Navasana
Ignore everything else to
Baddha Konasana
Upavista Konasana
Not Supta Konasana
Supta Padangustasana - somewhat modified. I have been told to keep my outstretched leg bent (right angles) when it's to the side
++
That's it. I usually do those seated poses twice, and then go onto Finishing, but no inversions at all at the moment, except a 'preparation for headstand - dolphin' pose.
++++

Bali - flight booked!

It's been ages since I posted here (except for the burnt marmalade episode!) Quite a few things have happened in the past few weeks - some (one) of which will have to be its own post, when I feel up to talking about it.

But I really wanted to get back here, and ... late last week I got the wonderful news of confirmation of dates for my meditation teacher's events in Australia. Really looking forward to a wonderful weekend at Amaroo with him at the beginning of September!

Which also meant that I am now able to confirm my trip to Bali to Dena's workshop. Booked my flight on Saturday, and have emailed Dena with info about my knee issues ... :) Of course the flights were more expensive that I thought they'd be - but in a way that's something you have to expect! Partly because of having specific dates (which may coincide with some school holidays), partly because they never include all the extras/fees/charges in the online quoted price!! But anyway ... booked and paid for now!!

Apart from the yoga, and Dena, and the wonderful Ubud and Bali, I am really looking forward to finally meeting up with fellow ashtangi bloggers V (hiddenashtangi, which is really hidden at the moment!) and Bibi (pakistaniashtangi.wordpress.com/). You kind of feel you get to know people online, but it's great to have that face-to-face connection too ... :)

And, finally Masterchef Australia has finished (last night) so I won't be sucked into watching quite so much TV - every night!!! I have really enjoyed having a new focus on cooking over the past year or so and I'm sure that won't change. I used to cook a lot of Indian food ... now I'm drawn to more 'Asian' style food/ingredients - fish sauce, kecap manis (Indonesian soy sauce), 5spice, palm sugar, etc etc. I find when I go to the library these days I'm always picking up cooking magazines (Delicious, Master Chef) as well as books. And I bought that Jamie Oliver 30-Minute Meals book and have been cooking some of those (really yummy) recipes, though not attempting to do the whole meal, or in 30 minutes. It's lucky I'm a 'vegetarian who eats fish' though!

Burnt marmalade ... !

I can't believe that I spent half of Sunday making marmalade, and have ended up with a burnt-out saucepan and nothing else!

Actually, really what I can't believe is that I thought it was OK to spend all that time cutting up the specially purchased Seville oranges (with a tangelo and a lemon), going through all the laborious processes ... and then decide I could leave it boiling furiously with all the sugar in the mixture on the stove for the final 20  minutes, and wander out into the garden to do a bit of planting (green bean seedlings) and watering!

What was I thinking?!!!  <eyes rolling>

Needless to say, I came back to a house full of burnt marmalade fumes and smoke! I guess I should just be grateful I didn't leave it longer and find the saucepan on fire! I ended up emptying the blackened marmalade down the bank outside ... maybe someone will want to eat it <grin> Now the pan is soaking with a mixture of bicarb and cream of tartar - apparently a magic cure for burnt saucepans. I have to boil it up tonight ... sigh!!

Yoga, my knee and other things in my life? Maybe tomorrow ... :)

Yoga class again :)

Went back to class on Saturday afternoon - after 5½ weeks without yoga. It was so nice to be back ... :) Teachers didn't want to know about the Matthew Sweeney sequence - they have their own sequence (called the Laghu Krama sequence) they like their students to follow when coming back from injury, or absence from yoga practice of more than 3 or so weeks. We tweaked it a bit to take account of my knee, but really it is very similar to the Sweeney knee sequence (although shorter). So the plan is I'll follow this for the next week, and then he'll start adding poses back in, bit by bit over the next 6-8 weeks.

R kept a very close eye on my practice, and kept coming to give suggestions/advice. Although no adjustments at all, which seems pretty right!

This week I'm going to follow this sequence in my lunchtime practices (or as much as I can get through), and probably add in the couple of strengthening 'exercises' I've been doing - triceps dips and plank, plus a tiptoe one that my osteopath recommended.

There are many conflicting things going on in my life over September/October with dates still to be confirmed, so I'm still unsure whether I will get to Dena's Bali workshop at the beginning of October (much as I want to). I may not know dates for the other things for another month, but by that time I should have a better idea of how my knee is progressing, which should in turn help me to decide whether I should go (if it's still a possibility). I really want to go if I can. I know I can go next year if I don't make it this year, but I am really hoping to get to meet a couple of fellow Ashtangi bloggers who are going this year. Kind of out of my hands at the moment though ...

finally - back to yoga!

My osteopath said yesterday that things were going very well, and I can now go back to yoga ... I took in my copy of Matthew Sweeney's modified knee sequence to show her. She crossed a few more poses off his list (things like virabhadrasana and baddha konasana), but it's oh so good to be able to start again.

I did a short half-hour practice at lunchtime at work today (in my boss's room as she was away!) I just wanted to feel it out - see where I might have a few wobbles. In one of the prasarita's I felt a bit of strain in the knee, so I stopped doing them. It was muscles I was feeling, so maybe they're just not used to it after 5 weeks' "holiday". I will try again in class tomorrow and see what happens. UHP she'd said I should only do with the wall - not sure why, but that's what I did anyway! Balance has never been a strong point of mine!

It will be interesting to see what my teachers say/suggest when I go back. I read a really apposite (lovely word!) post by Nobel (Yoga in the Dragon's Den) on the pain of being stuck at a certain place, which was also about having to go backwards because of injury! What I had been working so hard on has been taken away from me for the moment! But hopefully I can see it as an opportunity to work more deeply on other poses, and also on that pesky 'asana progression attachment' issue!!