Good Intentions

Well more good intentions out the window. Project deadlines continue to crash down on me at work so I didn't make it to Mysore once again. I forsee a pattern repeating itself until the end of next week. And I see my yoga clothes and mat rotting away on my office floor no less. I'm scared they're going to start thinking of me as the very delinquent and flaky yogi at my school! lol! I'm just going to have to say, "But, but, I had very good intentions" But I digress ...

So once again the very flexible yogi that I am, I went home and did Kino's very excellent Primary series DVD. Among my many Ashtanga vid's (I have a few, oops! David Swenson, Beryl Bender Birch, John Scott, David Garrigues, Ease Into Ashtanga by Yoga Hawaii among others, must do reviews on some of them as there so good in different ways.) Kino's has very nice pacing. Somebody said it's the same as Sharath's pacing. It lends itself more to my own breath count which is a little faster than most (due, I'm quite sure, to years of smoking in the far away past. Ouch!). And I just love moving a little quicker as I have less dread factor. Haha! I tend to need to move a little quicker so it doesn't feel as much of a mental and physical slog especially when I'm feeling very fatigued or sleepy. Though saying that, I do like to relax into the seated poses especially when I want to go deep or need a wee bit of calculated strength mustering. I tend to find ashtanga at home can feel so daunting after work and doing it at more of a clip with great music on really helps me to focus and "Just Do It or Just get it on" if you know what I mean.

Anyway it was a good practice after mentally psyching myself to "get it on the mat!" and almost backing out twice. My music helped with momentum and Kino's wonderful cues got me in the zone. I lacked a little sweat factor in standing but my seated was no shortage as I didn't shirk my vinyasa's. Yeah! Man those vinyasa's can keep you warm especially when you don't cheat and do them between sides.

Practice Overview

I'm just going to speak about the positives and accomplishments in practice this time:
• I can now touch my chin to shin in parvottanasana
• Also in parvottanasana I can get my hands in backwards prayer without being super warm. Before I could only do this in class as my wrists and shoulders are super tight. My shoulders are another story which deserves another post, no pun intended. lol! So this is quite an improvement. Though bottom palms of hands remain apart. (Oops! Wasn't supposed to say negs.) But will get there yet!
• My forward folds are getting deeper and deeper with torso now skimming legs. Way awesome.
• My marichyasana C twists are getting deeper and deeper. I can fully bind with hand to wrists and my twists feels deep and sweet. Improvements would be loving to see my shoulders more level. Hopefully that will come in time as my shoulders open more, I think?

I did up to the marichyasana's and left Kino there. I felt SO accomplished having done it since I honestly have to psych myself up each time. But it makes it all the more rewarding when I complete it. Hallellujah! Also, was quite proud that I did two practices in a row. Not common for me as I do still need to be cognizant of my wrists and not work them two days in a row. So slap my wrists! It's always nice to break the rules sometimes!

Practice and all is coming ...