Hello new year, new beginnings

The beginning of a year always (? - well, maybe mostly!?!) seems to be a special time. A whole new blank canvas ahead, with who knows what adventures to come.

Looking back, 2013 was a very mixed bag for me. A lot of time spent dealing with my mother's estate, and the sale of her house. Then packing up/dealing with the contents of that house, which was (unsurprisingly) quite an emotional experience. And all through that I was dealing with various health issues - some of which were no doubt related in some way to the emotional stress of losing one's mother. And all of which meant I wasn't able to practice yoga for many many months. Finally I decided it was time to take control, to just get back to the mat no matter how much I was coughing! I made a decision to go to Dena Kingsburg's Bali retreat again, and had such a great time, I haven't looked back!

And behind all of those events I have been working through my own 2 or 3 year plan, to move down to northern NSW. I spent a lot of time fixing up things in my house, and finally when I got back from Bali it was time to get the real estate agents in. The house has been on the market for a couple of months now, and there have been at least two potential buyers who were very interested in it. Although in the end these fell through, I'm still very heartened. I always knew it would take a while to sell, as it's in the country, and needs a particular type of person who likes that sort of life. But I do feel confident that things will move in the not too distant future. And then it'll be time for me to move!

So, 2014 and New Year's Resolutions ...

There is much to look forward to, and one thing I really would like is, (as a friend on Facebook said) 'more yoga'! But I also really want to remember / be aware, that this all isn't a dress rehearsal. This is my life and I want to be living it now, not waiting for things that I want to happen in the future. To stay connected inside to reality and to just enjoy the ride!

I wish that for everyone ... :)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela has gone ...  so sad that he's no longer here with us, but talk about a life well lived! Very few people have made such a difference - I believe he truly changed the world.

I've seen lots about this on Facebook - including a photo of Mandela with a friend (must be such a thrill for Joe to have that photo now!) It's nothing really, but this is my Mandela story.

When Angela and I first came (back for me) to live in Sydney, back in 1988, we came from London, where there was a very strong anti-apartheid movement. So, we were looking around for a house to buy, and ended up buying one in 'Pretoria Parade, Hornsby'! Honestly, we had very nearly refused to even go and look at it. The idea of having Pretoria Parade as our address was just anathema to us! (And Angela's sister was living in 'Avenue of the Revolution' in the Caribbean!!) And then, when we saw the gorgeous little timber cottage, we loved it, but ... our compromise was to give the house a name that would stand in opposition to that apartheid connection and that name was 'Mandela'!

I went through old photo albums, and found this photo of the name on the gate (with a very young godson, who's now grown up and living in Portugal)!

Sunny day news

I got a new iPad Air today - I'm thrilled! As I'm going from the first iPad, the difference is immense! Half the weight, double the memory, and the new (to me!) Retina screen. It's smaller dimensions-wise but the screen is the same size. And so so much faster!

I'm gradually being given more of my 'old' yoga poses back, which is great. Fingers crossed that I don't come down with some other injury to set me back again!

And tomorrow is the first 'open house' - yes, my house is now on the market. Caused a large amount of panic and soul-searching when I got the real estate agents in and signed on the dotted line! I seem to be ok at the moment, but I'm sure there'll be more of that to come ... !

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad Air

Location:Kholo Road,Kholo,Australia

Post Bali wrap-up

Back home now after a truly wonderful few days in Bali. My experiences last time (of being sick) had somewhat coloured my memory of Bali, and all those stupid worries I had about whether I was healthy enough to go and take on the intensities of a yoga workshop just made me scared to commit. I knew inside I was being pathetic (!) and, oh I am so glad I went. Bali is just a magical place. The people are so uncomplicated and happy. The way ceremony and their religion intertwines throughout their daily lives every day is just amazing ...

But - despite all of the beauties of Bali, this trip really was all about the yoga for me. Dena is such a wonderful teacher - the way she is just really clicks with me. (I think I've said it before, but she so reminds me of my favourite friend, Wendi!!) Another thing to look forward to when I move down to Ocean Shores is that she will be my yoga teacher down there ...

Anyway - I will have had 3 days at home before I go back to work tomorrow ... when I guess the normal day-to-day stuff will come back in and take over more of my consciousness - sadly! Going to a yoga class this evening ... it was a choice between choir practice (for the Messiah) and yoga, and I'm afraid yoga wins out over choir!!

Yoga in Bali - happy times

It's now the middle of the 6-day workshop with Dena ... Well actually it's past that - just 2 more practices to go. And it's been such a lovely experience ... So unlike last time I was here (2 years ago) when I was sick the whole time and could only manage to struggle to the yoga practices and spent most of the rest of the day in my room feeling sorry for myself!!

Yes I've had to be careful, and I still only have a pretty restricted practice, but I feel I have taken on so much this time round. On the asana side, what Dena has been (what word to use? Teaching? Demonstrating? Encouraging? Yes, that's the best maybe) encouraging has manifested in a complete overhaul of how I do the sun salutes. They were a pretty sorry sight before! Two of the things she has talked about a lot is "conscious samistithi" and (her analogy) making the lazy players in the team do the work. In other words, not relying on the bits that are already flexible to do all the work. Specifically in this case, forcing my thoracic spine in the upward dog bit of the sun salutes and vinyasas to do some bending rather than my lower back. And the 'conscious stamistithi' (which I'm not going to elaborate on here - would take too long! Suffice to say - earth, stretch, protect!) can be carried into so many poses, and in this case chataranga - or my attempt at it!

So, even though I still can't do chataranga properly, and the backbend in my upward dog is pretty much invisible to the naked eye (!) I am putting the elements of sun salutes together a whole lot better. Dena did say the difference between this time and last was pretty noticeable!!

Apart from that, among many other topics, she talked about yoga teachers, giving respect to the teachers who do the 'hard work' with their students in their daily practice, and not to get seduced by the glamour of 'workshop teachers' who had a few good tricks and stories for 5-6 days and then were off elsewhere!!

We have been singing some lovely chants each day - one which really resonated with me had the words 'sat chit ananda' in one line. Premies will know what I mean. We used to use that as a greeting many many years ago!

Internet is hit and miss here. All the cafes and restaurants have free wifi, but the wifi at the hotel is confined to the restaurant and reception areas. And this evening it was pretty much non-existent! So I'll have to post this at breakfast tomorrow morning! I'll upload some photos to the blog soon, but have been adding some to Facebook anyway!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ubud, Bali

Almost there ...

Have been keeping it very quiet (blog-wise) but I have paid everything for the Bali trip, and it's now just 2 days till I fly off!

My practice is definitely getting stronger - managed to get through a led series of sun salutes at last weekend's class which always has more than 5 of each! But for a reality check - I am only now just about able to grab a finger in Marichyasana A for goodness sake! I guess that's what 12-14 months away from yoga does for you, but ... ! In fact, I'm not even really supposed to be doing that - Richard hasn't given me that pose back! But I am practicing certain missing poses 'on the side' so I can do a more straightforward practice in Bali.

Today's my last day at work. Tomorrow (my normal day off) I will be supervising the arrival of a large (4,000 gallon) water tank to replace one that rusted away ... Luckily there are going to be 4-5 people to do the 'manhandling' of it! It will have to be rolled part of the way as after that water tank was originally installed, a row of golden cane palms was planted in front of it. They have gotten huge! I've had a couple removed and the others thinned out. So there should be just enough room to roll the tank between the edge of the house and the palms!! Fun ... must remember to take a photo!

Tempting fate

I was tempting fate when I made my last post about all the 'progress'! I think it was actually the next day that I suddenly developed some kind of muscle strain in my back! In fact it is/was remarkably similar to what I had a year ago ... My osteopath tells me that it's muscles that attach to my diaphragm and the strain/whatever is caused by coughing!!! If only I could stop!!!

Again I am finding myself unable to do anything involving a forward bend ... not so much the going down as the coming back up - my back can feel really unsupported (and painful!) But it's worst at night. I've once again established a close relationship with Voltaran - after only a few weeks away from it!!!

So, I don't know how many times I've said/done this over the last few weeks - but I will make a final decision on going to Bali after I see my osteopath again this evening. I'm pretty sure I'm still going to go. I just don't know how I'll manage sun salutes etc etc. What a pain!!

I wasn't able to practice on the weekend - had visitors, but yesterday I tried again. Sun Salutes were difficult - I ended up have to kind of 'creep down' onto my hands & knees to get to the floor, and then on with the sun salute. (Only tried one!) I did manage to do padangusthasana although coming back up from it was difficult. The Prasaritas weren't so difficult - maybe the wide-angled stance helps ... Maybe when I do my lunchtime practice in the uni gym today things will have got a bit better!