Third Home Practice: 2 victory poses!

Today was my third Ashtanga home practice. Amazingly, I did it after a 27km bike ride. To tell you the truth, I am exhausted right now!

The thing I noticed when I did my poses the last few days was that if I did them hurriedly, or as a sealing measure before I go to sleep, my practice reflects my state of mind. If I was having a particularly busy and rushed day, I didn't balance well, I was not strong enough to lift up in Lolasana, etc. But usually when I start my practice with the mindset that it's going to be my exercise for the day, things felt nice.

Today's practice wasn't planned. I meant to do a couple of standing postures and a few of the earlier seated poses to stretch my legs after the ride. But since I didn't do the practice fully for 2 days now, I felt why not? Plus the beauty about yoga is that you do it as it comes - you can stop when you want to stop and continue if you feel stronger. As least that's my promise to myself. I want to enjoy yoga, not hate it because I couldn't do the poses.

Sequences today:

Surya Namaskara A

Surya Namaskara B

Standing Postures

Seated Postures - Lolasana in between poses and each leg, sometimes a half vinyasa between poses.

Finishing Sequence.

My focus was half in and half out when doing this - maybe because I had meant to do it as a cool down stretch. I find myself pausing in between poses to reply to text messages and what not. My balance in the Revolved Triangle was a little bit unstable, but better than the previous days.

When I was attempting Bhajupidasana, there was a split second where I could almost feel things working perfectly; my bandha lifting my butt up and head coming down but at the last minute my feet crashed down on the floor. But in that split second I felt the lightness of my feet when I'm in the final pose and understand now why the vinyasa is important. My normal way of putting my feet down and then moving into the intended final pose made my feet seemed very heavy.

Also in Kurmasana - I think my legs went down flatter a little than the previous days! Yeay! Also, thanks to the cycling, my legs were fully stretched and warmed up, so there was not a lot of stiffness. I shall try doing this after a run.

I am now working on Upavisthakormasana - working on maintaining that balance where my spine stays straight and lifted as well as my legs. When I was doing it before, I was hunching my back just so my legs could be straight.

2 biggest joy and celebrations:

I could do Chakrasana! It really is as simple as rolling backwards without thinking. I was too scared to do it and practices only until my legs were over my, but I think last practice I kind of did it quick and it was easy. Today I tried to be in the moment of how my body was working while in that pose. It was wonderful!

My Salamba Sirsasana is quite stable. I moved myself farther away from the support and tried very slowly to lift up and I think I got the hang of it. I only stayed maybe 5 seconds but it was soo worth it. I came down praising Allah swt for giving me this strength to attempt this pose. I was so happy and smiling while doing the Child's pose.

My target pose to nail:

Setu Bandhasana - could never balance well, and my neck hurts sometimes after. I think I am doing it all wrong and needed my teacher's help to guide me and make me understand the science behind this.