Made it to Mysore

Finally I made it to mysore! Every time I make it to mysore I feel like I climbed Mount Everest. Don't know why but I feel like I accomplished a feat. Hopefully it will get easier for me and a little less daunting the more I find my schedule groove and practice groove. Have I told you my nemesis is stamina and endurance. And ashtanga works that to my very core that weights and cardio do not. But I digress ...

Here's my proud notables:

• Felt smoother in my practice and I wee more stamina. Just a wee. Woohoo! I can now see how this could get stronger and less arduous AND more shall I say meditative for me.
• Totally missed out parshvakonasana and the twist! And that's such a fundamental posture in standing! Thought I was doing so well in my flow and only realized when I went to bed that I skipped it. Haha!
• Bhuja pidasana was nothing to write home about. Was able to wrap my legs and tilt a bit but nowhere near the ground yet. Still worried about my wrists. Then exit was a total disaster. Totally flubbed getting my legs into bakasana and then it was just a droop down from there.
• However, I redeemed myself in supta konasana which I did all by myself! It was rather kinda awesome even though I was so looking forward to S.'s assist because she likes and I LOVE when she folds my feet behind my head. I just LOVE it! I'm thinking freak is she really doing that and is my legs really letting her??? I always feel like WOW I have arrived! I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought I could do that. And also it's such a stereotypical yogic tied-up-in-knots-sorta-contortion-pose that I always felt unattainable to the lay innocent that it thrills me to no end that I'm halfway there! lol! But anyway she didn't do that famous assist and just let me do my thang. And I did! I was able to not only finger bind but wiggle my feet side-by-side and as I eye-balled it I felt that I could just somehow wiggle my right foot on top of my left and wouldn't ya know it with her verbal encouragement I caught that last wind to do just that and totally bound my feet! It was pretty satisfying I must say! And my exit was way better, was able to get both legs into bakasana and do an almost jump back into chatarunga. Not bad.
• Urdhva  dhanurasana was an eye opening experience. I totally flubbed the first try. Couldn't get up for the life of me and thought I was a goner for the next 2. And was hoping I could just slip by it. No chance! But for some inexplicable, what I can only say miraculous reason, I was able to push up with unusual super human strength the next two making very reasonable for me wheels. I was flabberghasted! Totally amazed where all this strength came from out of nowhere!
• By headstand I'm usually at my worst energy wise. But I once again surprised myself. Number one I was able to go up with floating straight legs. Yeah! I was too wankered the last time to do that. Number two, even though my teacher spotted she didn't have to touch me at all, I was able to balance on my own. But then I bailed when trying to do the 90º hold. So what does an amazing teacher do when she's trying to build your stamina. Get right back on that damn horse and do it again! And so I did with her wise encouragement to lower not to 90º but to as low as I can hold it for to build my strength and endurance.

This is why I LOVE mysore and keep on coming back to my personal Mount Everest!! So I can make my mountain a molehill!!

... practice and all is coming.

Short & Sweet!

And no, I'm not talking about shorts this time. It's because I did nada! Nada thing! Because I had a super-duper wonderful weekend and then celebrated my awesome nephew's birthday last night. So there!

One's still gotta schedule in some fun now and then. Life's too short! No pun intended.

P.S. Maybe hitting Mysore tomorrow night. If I can muster my lazy sitbones back into gear after basking in the afterglow!

My Lazy Week 2 Schedule and Post-Mortem

Well I followed my Friends Week 1 Schedule with some few tweaks. Here's the original schedule:

If Out With Friends:

SAT: Gym Legs & Back work (See how my wrists handle the weights. Got a bit of wrist issues)
SUN: Home Practice
MON: Step (Cathe Friedrich: 4 Day Split Higher Intensity Step)
TUES: Mysore
WED: rest
THURS: Out with Friends
FRI: Home Practice
SAT: Gym Legs

Here's what I ended up doing. Still got my goals in there though I had to flipflop: 

Post-Mortem:

SAT: Gym Legs & Back work (my wrists handled the weights with flying colours!)
SUN: Step (Cathe Friedrich: 4 Day Split Higher Intensity Step + Namaste Yoga Season 1, Ep11, forward fold to lunge to standing splits sequence. That's such a nice flowy stretch sequence, perfect for post cardio. And my hips and hamstrings were nice and opened after jumping around. Felt amazing!)
MON: rest
TUES: The Rocket DVD (couldn't make it to Mysore, had to work late)
WED: Friend reunion. Totally fun!
THURS: Mysore (totally awesome, had the teacher all to myself at the end. Nice!)
FRI: Too.Much.Grocery.Shopping.Yikes!
SAT: rest
SUN: The fun and fab Finding Your Lift Workshop

Here's My Lazy Flexibility Reigns Week 2 Schedule:

MON: nada!
TUES: Gym Legs and Back
WED: nada!
THURS: Mysore
FRI: hmmm ... will see
SAT: hmmm ... be flexible
SUN: hmmm ... flexibility reigns supreme

Lol! Gotta have some lazy flexible weeks where you do what you feel. I may wake up and feel like yoga or I may wake up and feel like jumping around. And that could even change as the day wears on. Who knows my hmmm days may turn out to be VERY active AND flexible.  ; )

Mysore and My Money's Worth

I made it to Mysore! And I got my money's worth! Woohoo! You see I paid $40 for a newbies unlimited 1 month trial. Awesome! But one has to make it worth their wile. And I was scared I wouldn't because I left for a one week vacation just after I paid thinking I'd get one class in before I left and then would have almost 3 weeks left to make up for lost time. Well you see, as luck would have it, my good intentions flew out the window. I was just too poopered to go the one class before leaving, turned out I just wanted to have a do nothing weekend. And off I went on my travels. And of course when I got back I was just too poopered again — the vaca lag — to ramp up that quickly. I did get in a class last week and I finally got there tonight. And have now done 3 classes which would be $60 normally. So not bad. Gotta do better. But I digress ...

I got my money's worth tonight in another way. It was a beautiful sweatfest! And oh boy I sweat! My 2 amazing teachers W-O-R-K-E-D   M-E   O-U-T! They take no guff! lol! They make me do ALL my vinyasa's. I used to skip between sides. Not anymore! And lor it's a workout! By the time I get to janu-B the pickups and pseudu drag backs have all but dissappeared. By the mari's they're gone, never to be seen again. By then I'm planting my hands down and jumping back. But I'm still jumping through. You GO gurl! Mind you I'm still trying to gauge where the teachers are in the room that perchance maybe I can let one slip between sides here and there. They're not having it. Haha!

THE DETAILS:
Utthita hasta padangushthasana: I got a great assist with her holding my leg as I fold over and helping my hip to stay down when to the side.

Ardha baddha padmottanasana: She gave me a great modification for my wonky right knee and stiff hip. To cross my right leg over my thigh just above my knee and then bend the left knee quite a bit so I can feel the stretch in my right hip and then take a forward bend from that position. Interesting and a great beginner's way to get the hip to open.

Bhuja Pidasana: One of my fav poses but my nemisis. Keep forgetting I'm supposed to cross my right foot over my left. Feels so awkward. I like it the other way, feels more comfy and natural. But that ain't ashtanga. lol! Still can't bend all the way forward. It feels like I'm going to break my wrist. So I do have to play careful with that move as my wrists are still wonky and I don't have great flexibility in it. So of course I kept falling out. It wasn't my best presentation! So S. had me do it like three times! Awesome! Then we just worked on the exit but by that time I just couldn't manage the lift one leg to the back while wrapping the other around the arm then lifting the other leg back before jumping to chatarunga. Fell out once again. Argh! However, she was awesome, she let me redeem myself by going into bakasana and jumping back. I can do that! Wee what fun!

Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana!: Another fav. Now that was awesome! Had S. again adjusting me and man she tied me up good and proper. Yes! My head tucked just so under my feet crossed just so. Loved it. Then I got my hands beautifully wrapped. I was able to hook my fingers. I felt sublime! And then I was able to do a beautiful lift up (by my standards) AND watch this, I did get each foot back and did an almost jump back. Yippee!!

Urdhva Dhanurasana, Chakrasana and Closing: Had the wonderful S. practically as my one-on-one teacher by then talking me through all of closing and giving me great assists (my timing was perfect as people were leaving by then, nice!) : Urdhva, still a bomb! Arms could barely even attempt to straighten, that crazy back of mine! I was just knackered, but she made me do 3 none-the-less even though the last 2 were unrecognizable. Ouch! But she gave me a beautiful paschimottanasana squish. Nice! Then she helped me learn chakrasana — a work in progress. Must learn to really push off both hands in a just PUSH IT! mindset. Yowza! Continued through closing to headstand where I did it in the middle of the room for THE first time! Yeah! Was doing really good but couldn't straight leg raise as I was wonked. But balanced nice for the full breathe count though when it came time to lower to 90° I lost my mojo. Couldn't hold for the life of me and came D-O-w-n! Oh well, my stamina's got a ways to go!

I gotta say Mysore is magic! One day "Is all a-coming" ....

Making it To Mysore

I'm going to set my face like a flint! I want to make it to Mysore! I had a terrible sleep last night - a bout of insomnia - and clocked a measly 4 hrs. And then tonight I made up for it by having a wonderful night out with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. Suffice to say we had a lot of fun catching up! With that I'm exhausted! But I digress ...

I'm trying to challenge myself to keep to my schedule. Yes it's a humble one at that but its still mine. Kinda like the Bikram 30 day challenge except it's my own little personal keep to my schedule challenge. Just to see if I can. Also because I find the more consistent I am to my workout plans especially with ashtanga the incrementally easier it gets for me in the practice. I get stronger, more flowy suri's, greater stamina throughout the practice and smoother more controlled pickup/jumpthrough vinyasas. Not to say I don't have a WAYS to go in them but they just seem less arduous and clumsy. Lol! And I just get more open and that feels SO good! And thus becomes more a meditation in motion than a workout. Wish me luck!

etc. etc. ...

My Wishful Scheduling

Here's my first wishful scheduling for this week. I wanted to go to my Mysore class tomorrow or rather today but my shoulder muscles are too sore due to an unplanned week off on vacation to beautiful Quebec. I had all good intentions of doing my yoga there, brought my mat and all, but only got one practice in before distractions set in. What are vaca's for. I'm quite undisciplined. Another thing I'm still working on. lol! So with that and taking my led primary yesterday then coming home to some chatarunga holds and practice tuck, jump backs, I did my shoulders in. Ouch! My wee shoulders are a bit DOMSy (delayed onset muscle soreness). So schedule gets a reshuffle like this:

If Out With Friend:
SAT: Gym Legs & Back work (See how my wrists handle the weights. Got a bit of wrist issues)
SUN: Home Practice
MON: Step (Cathe Friedrich: 4 Day Split Higher Intensity Step)
TUES: Mysore
WED: rest
THURS: Out with Friend
FRI: Home Practice
SAT: Gym Legs

If NOT Out With Friend:
SAT: Gym Legs & Back work
SUN: Home Practice
MON: Step (Cathe Friedrich: 4 Day Split Higher Intensity Step)
TUES: Mysore
WED: rest
THURS: Mysore
FRI: Gym Legs
SAT: Rest

etc. etc. ...

A Whim & A Mash Up

Well here I go! This is my first blog ever! I'm sure you've heard that one before. I'm not much of a writer so rest assured this will be no top-rated literature. I mean I cried in my high school English class no less! I just couldn't condone writing essays in class. How dare my teacher! But dare she did by exiling my desk and moi out in the dregs of the hallway to complete my essay. The nerve! And a study in mortification! Bwaaa! But I digress ...

So be forewarned as this blogging may be a bit of a whim and a mash up, with a little bit here, a dribble there, a novella at times, a possible snore at other times, inconsistent, and most of all I hope will be somewhat of a diary, a schedule, a tracking, a purging of my continuing adventures in my love of yoga, ashtanga, weightlifting, step aerobics (yes I even do that, how old-fashioned but SO much fun!), fitness and health aspirations, journeys, etc. etc. ... Now that is what I call a superior run-on sentence in memoriam to my beautiful, brilliant, adventurous and hysterically funny cousin Donna — the storyteller of all storytellers!