I skipped yoga today. Ladies holiday, beside, wasn't really feeling it.
I did ashtanga monday and tuesday, knowing that I wont really do ashtanga today (moon day) and the next 3 days. This time though, I am trying to let go of all expectations, and instead focusing on the breath. I often say that don't I, but this time I was adamant. Trying hard to level the in breath with the out breath (the outbreath always longer). I enjoyed the forward bends, the janu sirsana as always. I have noticed that I favor certain poses and dread certain poses. It starts from the beginning - surya namaska B is not my favorite, then the UHP, then the revolved plank, then Navasana. I always do feel happy approaching janu sirsasana, bandha konasana, supta konasana, and now wheel. Surprisingly. I love wheel now. Cant get enough of wheel.
I have also noticed that my jump back seems smoother after bandha konasana. Definitely the open hips is the main reason, which always amazes me because I feel the same, but my hips showed me otherwise (that they are more open after bandha konasana). Goes to show that you might not realize it, how your body are already reaping from the benefit of the posture.
My Garbha pindasana was the best one yet. It is obvious what a properly calculated breathing could do to make your GP roll as perfect as sushi. I came up high and did perfect 9 rounds. It's like cutting 9 slices around a big gooey cheesy cake.
I have decided to forever take out setu bandhasana. Have tried to incorporate the real setu bandhasana (charlie chaplin pose) with my hands supporting the head, but it might not work with my body and injury. I did on Monday, and felt the repercussions of it the whole entire day. On top of my always and continuous achy neck and shoulders, my left elbow and fingers were tingling and numb. Bad bad sensation. It couldnt be the finishing postures because I've done the same thing about a few weeks ago and nothing was this bad. Definitely not going to be in my practice. Maybe... I would do viparita dandasana instead. Hmmm.
Forgot to let you know that I've sort of incorporated a few poses of second series into my practice. Not an ego thing... I just feel my backbends would benefit if I could incorporate the first few postures. It's not really a real practice - straight after Urdvha D I would do the first 6 poses straight, sometimes with a tiny vinyasa in between. It is more like a backbend supplement.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Bhujaaaa
Tuesday: What a great choice, I took a vinyasa flow with Seane C, a class that concentrates on hips hips and hips. We warmed up with sun salutations a and b, and got started. It was hard! We did the fire hydrant pose first on knees which was hard enough as it is and then standing. I failed those... could not even lift up my leg! We moved to reverse lunge, a lot of warrior 2, triangle pose, bound side pose, then onto the low deep lunges for long holds. That was insane... it was just mental. We also did supine gomukhasana.
Wednesday: Full Primary... with modifications. No chaturanga... only once or twice... or thrice, can help it, but mostly I just did full plank. My current issue on the practice now is Bhujapidasana. It's funny, isn't it. This wasn't an issue for me from the starting but once you sort of get deeper you realize there are ways to deepend the pose and that's when you fail. Trying hard to get the descent down on Bhuja, as well as the transition from titibhasana to bakasana AND jump back. It's hard because I get so sweaty my legs slipped off my arms. Will have to wear pants when I practice. At least legs wont slip easily down in Kukutasana too.
Lovely practice, and now finding myself looking back forward for the udrvha dhanurasana. As always, the first three was a serious one, then the last 2 a more relaxed, stay as long as I could. Less pain on the back, if I took the time to properly lift up following noah m awesome awesome advice. Then for fun I did one dwi pada viparita dandasana. Feels good, can feel it stretching my upper back.
My left shoulder feels doubly sore right now. Have to carefully not push myself so hard on Friday.
Wednesday: Full Primary... with modifications. No chaturanga... only once or twice... or thrice, can help it, but mostly I just did full plank. My current issue on the practice now is Bhujapidasana. It's funny, isn't it. This wasn't an issue for me from the starting but once you sort of get deeper you realize there are ways to deepend the pose and that's when you fail. Trying hard to get the descent down on Bhuja, as well as the transition from titibhasana to bakasana AND jump back. It's hard because I get so sweaty my legs slipped off my arms. Will have to wear pants when I practice. At least legs wont slip easily down in Kukutasana too.
Lovely practice, and now finding myself looking back forward for the udrvha dhanurasana. As always, the first three was a serious one, then the last 2 a more relaxed, stay as long as I could. Less pain on the back, if I took the time to properly lift up following noah m awesome awesome advice. Then for fun I did one dwi pada viparita dandasana. Feels good, can feel it stretching my upper back.
My left shoulder feels doubly sore right now. Have to carefully not push myself so hard on Friday.
A Real Yoga Entry
I was doing my daily rounds of reading yoga blogs and I just realized how different their entries are from mine.
Theirs are definitely more in depth, an exploration of their wonders and thoughts while going through the practice. I love the ones where the writer muses about the effect of a good, or a bad practice. They usually resonate with what I feel after my own practice.
My posts on this particular blog was at most, short, and squat. It bears a scary resemblance to my now quite defunct triathlon blog and literally has the mark of a triathlete. When I was training for races, I kept a blog/journal of my practice. They were always short, in lists, and informative: stating my drills, the routes, timing, and something new I introduced or learned. Hardly there was an entry about what I felt at that moment, unless it was really a mood changing training.
It sort of seeped into this blog.
The reason I opened a new blog was because I always feel I have a lot of things to write about with one interest. I just love to write, that I grew up with tons of blogs for my interests - I had a sewing blog, a running blog, etc and now a yoga blog. I had meant to use this as a vessel to chart my progress, both physically and mentally, well spiritually and emotionally as well into my forays of yoga. I wanted to write about how awesome this feels and how I am always feeling good after a practice. I want to yell out loud that sometimes I feel like I could sing from a good, hard practice. I want to write about how my hips would definitely feel more open after Bandha Konasana every single time. I want to write that practicing using a tennis skort is annoying.
It didn't happen. What I have instead, is a bunch of hastily written blog posts on the practice I did, more on quantity, than quality. It's an old habit of mine, to keep a record of every single workout. It doesn't matter if it doesn't sound pretty.
Would I change it? I don't know. Most of the times I get too busy to keep track of my practice, which explains the harried entries. Usually I enjoy the good feelings just by going through it, and when the feeling left me I was just glad to have experienced it. Being a serial documenter growing up I am starting to want to enjoy moments in its purest form, not to have it delayed by writing a post or taking a picture of it.
Anyway, here's an entry I did on my main blog, which sort of explain my inner relationship with yoga:
Theirs are definitely more in depth, an exploration of their wonders and thoughts while going through the practice. I love the ones where the writer muses about the effect of a good, or a bad practice. They usually resonate with what I feel after my own practice.
My posts on this particular blog was at most, short, and squat. It bears a scary resemblance to my now quite defunct triathlon blog and literally has the mark of a triathlete. When I was training for races, I kept a blog/journal of my practice. They were always short, in lists, and informative: stating my drills, the routes, timing, and something new I introduced or learned. Hardly there was an entry about what I felt at that moment, unless it was really a mood changing training.
It sort of seeped into this blog.
The reason I opened a new blog was because I always feel I have a lot of things to write about with one interest. I just love to write, that I grew up with tons of blogs for my interests - I had a sewing blog, a running blog, etc and now a yoga blog. I had meant to use this as a vessel to chart my progress, both physically and mentally, well spiritually and emotionally as well into my forays of yoga. I wanted to write about how awesome this feels and how I am always feeling good after a practice. I want to yell out loud that sometimes I feel like I could sing from a good, hard practice. I want to write about how my hips would definitely feel more open after Bandha Konasana every single time. I want to write that practicing using a tennis skort is annoying.
It didn't happen. What I have instead, is a bunch of hastily written blog posts on the practice I did, more on quantity, than quality. It's an old habit of mine, to keep a record of every single workout. It doesn't matter if it doesn't sound pretty.
Would I change it? I don't know. Most of the times I get too busy to keep track of my practice, which explains the harried entries. Usually I enjoy the good feelings just by going through it, and when the feeling left me I was just glad to have experienced it. Being a serial documenter growing up I am starting to want to enjoy moments in its purest form, not to have it delayed by writing a post or taking a picture of it.
Anyway, here's an entry I did on my main blog, which sort of explain my inner relationship with yoga:
In my yoga practice these days, I am obsessed about backbends. Backbends tend to choose their students. Someone would just take up yoga only for a day and could do an advanced backbend while alienating a dedicated yogi who’s been practicing for years. The thing about backbends is that it tends to make people practicing it to be emotional. It brings out the emotional picnic of panic breakfast, wistful lunches, and heartbreaking dinners. If you’re clueless as to what I am talking about, backbends essentially require you to bend backwards, which means you have to keep your heart open. Heart Openers is another name for backbends. And if you got issues in your heart, it’s not easy to make them open.
So here I go everyday working on my backbends. The process is challenging physically and draining mentally. I came to the world of yoga a skeptic on the spiritual mumbo jumbo of it. It’s just stretching, at least that was what I thought. But after bouts of crying and feeling emotional after a particularly intense session, I took notice. I would have a totally taxing session that night and suddenly burst out crying in the car on the way to work FOR NO REASON. Life was good. I just had sex. Money was aplenty. But I cried because I did backbends.
Needless to say, these backbends have turned me into a raging believer. It’s like having a totally heartfelt session with a therapist about my issues. It’s like writing in my journal with a cup of hot chocolate beside me, only I my body feels good afterwards. Sometimes I would think about my cat Daisy. Sometimes a face of a friend I have long forgotten popped up. Sometimes I came to it nervous, moody and irritable, but bending bending bending, I opened myself up to feelings I cannot describe. It’s a beautiful, emotional journey, and being a totally emotional person I never felt better.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Recappp
Wow I havent really updated in a while. Here's a recap:
Thursday: It was a public holiday so I planned to do a super long yoga session. First it was a 60 min class with Tiffany C, which was hard and tough, and it had me doing the standing splits and three legged dog and reverse half moon. Also crazy core work, like navasana crunches. Then it was a 90 minutes Marc H class. It was good. Attempted handstand hops and succeeded a few times. Loves it.
Saturday: Visvamitrasana class with Step S. What a class, it was fast paced to the point that I got annoyed. She never gave us any rest! But I managed to hold Visva for a split second on my left side. Worth it.
Sunday: Simple lovely class with Tara J. She's a little bit kooky, but love her twistting and side crane and urdvha poses.
Monday: Primary series. I did it in a no-nonsense style, just going through the poses concentrating on my breath, flow in and out. It went by fast. I attempted Setu B, supported. Felt it all the back of my body. Then did 5 wheel. And then I continued with second series - Pasvasana, Krounchasana, Salambasana, Dhanurasana, Utrasana and that's it. I think I'm going to incorporate the second series into my practice now... just to strengthen my back.
Daily night yoga: Handstand, Pincha, Urdvha, Dwi Pada Viparita, Bakasana. Loves it.
Thursday: It was a public holiday so I planned to do a super long yoga session. First it was a 60 min class with Tiffany C, which was hard and tough, and it had me doing the standing splits and three legged dog and reverse half moon. Also crazy core work, like navasana crunches. Then it was a 90 minutes Marc H class. It was good. Attempted handstand hops and succeeded a few times. Loves it.
Saturday: Visvamitrasana class with Step S. What a class, it was fast paced to the point that I got annoyed. She never gave us any rest! But I managed to hold Visva for a split second on my left side. Worth it.
Sunday: Simple lovely class with Tara J. She's a little bit kooky, but love her twistting and side crane and urdvha poses.
Monday: Primary series. I did it in a no-nonsense style, just going through the poses concentrating on my breath, flow in and out. It went by fast. I attempted Setu B, supported. Felt it all the back of my body. Then did 5 wheel. And then I continued with second series - Pasvasana, Krounchasana, Salambasana, Dhanurasana, Utrasana and that's it. I think I'm going to incorporate the second series into my practice now... just to strengthen my back.
Daily night yoga: Handstand, Pincha, Urdvha, Dwi Pada Viparita, Bakasana. Loves it.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Last Mysore
the last class with Kiri was sweet. It was actually a moon day, but we went anyways. I took my time, this time properly breathing and focusing my breath on the postures. It was actually quite therapeutic. I got to (weakly) kick back after bhujapidasana. My supta K is still tight... K still positioned my feet on her knees instead of my neck. Maybe it's the injury... who knows. I told her I want to attempt setu bandasana... and she showed me, quite fast and abruptly, in my opinion. Maybe she felt I was more than ready for it? It was harddd, tough for the legs, and I foresee a looong time of supporting this posture with my hands before I got the guts to put them on my chest.
Went for a run this morning, and then did a 60 minutes of sweet flow with Jo t. she's fast becoming my favorite in yg! Her classes, like amy I, are always doable but at the same time challenging enough to break a sweat. It was a class filled with warrior 2 and 3, half moon, baksana, runners lunge, crescent lunge, twists, and a nice backbend to finish. Lovely!
Went for a run this morning, and then did a 60 minutes of sweet flow with Jo t. she's fast becoming my favorite in yg! Her classes, like amy I, are always doable but at the same time challenging enough to break a sweat. It was a class filled with warrior 2 and 3, half moon, baksana, runners lunge, crescent lunge, twists, and a nice backbend to finish. Lovely!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
urdvha
Fifth practice today with lovely K.
Nothing much, except that I felt soo tired and sweaty and out of breath. Maybe it is just lack of sleep... and a disturbed emotional state. My chaturranga was still mindful and proper; I skipped it sometimes if I feel I could not deliver it really well, alignment wise. My urdvha dhanurasana was good, the teacher asked me to walk my hands deeper and she helped me stretch. It felt good... only my armpits couldnt handle the stretch, the elbows always feel like splaying.
Fourth class was on a saturday. It was good, a bit fast because I didn't want to be the last one in. Again she helped me with urdhva D, it was good. Thankful for Noah M for the proper alignment and tips.
Thinking to attempt setu bandhasana tomorrow. Last class.
Nothing much, except that I felt soo tired and sweaty and out of breath. Maybe it is just lack of sleep... and a disturbed emotional state. My chaturranga was still mindful and proper; I skipped it sometimes if I feel I could not deliver it really well, alignment wise. My urdvha dhanurasana was good, the teacher asked me to walk my hands deeper and she helped me stretch. It felt good... only my armpits couldnt handle the stretch, the elbows always feel like splaying.
Fourth class was on a saturday. It was good, a bit fast because I didn't want to be the last one in. Again she helped me with urdhva D, it was good. Thankful for Noah M for the proper alignment and tips.
Thinking to attempt setu bandhasana tomorrow. Last class.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Yummy Practice
I have noticed a pattern.
When I practice ashtanga, I do the full primary series in the comfort of my own place. I do it every other day, with either hatha or vinyasa flow or yin in between. Reason? I do not want to overwork my injury prone body. Or maybe that is only an excuse. Maybe I am lazy to commit, to devote myself to a full 6 days practice.
I will get there.
However, when a visiting teacher comes and teaches at the KL shala I go to, I would take the full advantage to come and commit to a 6 day classes. And usually, it would be back to back. Only then I get to practice straight.
The first time I did it, it was 2 months ago. And I noticed that I began to feel lethargic and sick on the third day. It was such a horrible feeling, that laziness, that urgency NOT to get up and practice. Wanting a break. I had fever. I had sore throat. I just did not feel good. I went anyway, pushed myself and it went ok. I left the practice wondering if it was normal but Google didn't really tell me anything. Maybe it is just me.
Then it is happening again. Yesterday way my second day. It was, to be honest, a simple good practice. My bhujapidasana jump back was still horrible, but my urdvha dhanurasana was the deepest, and the most pain- free yet. I felt nothing, not even a twinge. It was amazing. The teacher helped deepened the pose by pulling my upper chest back and it felt realllly good. I wanted to continue but she was pushing me to pashimottasana. My left shoulder felt ok. I was careful.
Later that day, I felt it, the fever building up. And then my throat started to get sore. My head feels heavy, I felt sick. The same timing, the same symptoms. This seems too... precise to be a coincidence. Maybe this is the result of a straight back to back practice. And this decides whether you're devoted enough to commit and push to establish yourself a full 6 day practice. I know committing to a 6 day practice isn't easy, but if this is the preview of how you are going to feel it is a little scary. All that strength emotionally to fight your internal laziness, your reasoning of giving space to your body to 'relax'.
Today was a delicious, yummy practice. Everything was going well. I focused on my breathing a lot; attention did stray but I quickly reigned it in. My vinyasas weren't getting better, but the best part about it is that I don't really care. I have kept at this for a year, long enough to know that when the time comes, it comes. So many poses held evidence to that testimony: upavistha konasana, UHP, navasana, garbha pindasana. Today as I flowed through my garbha I noticed that touching my fingers to my head as I rolled up felt effortless, as was landing on my calves in supta konasana. And a few months back these two were so hard, so unimaginable to me. It really does work in your favor - practice, and hard work, and mindful alignment.
The teacher pushed me deep in urdvha dhanurasana again today, which I did 4 just for extra work. It felt goood. And as usual, my the UHP was the most dreaded part in the practice. With her holding to my feet I kinda have a hard time balancing, but it felt nice to let the feet rest instead of doing all the work. But for Supta Hasta Padangusthasana she strongly pushed on my straight thigh and asked me to lift up to kiss my knees. I did it! alhamdulillah.
When I practice ashtanga, I do the full primary series in the comfort of my own place. I do it every other day, with either hatha or vinyasa flow or yin in between. Reason? I do not want to overwork my injury prone body. Or maybe that is only an excuse. Maybe I am lazy to commit, to devote myself to a full 6 days practice.
I will get there.
However, when a visiting teacher comes and teaches at the KL shala I go to, I would take the full advantage to come and commit to a 6 day classes. And usually, it would be back to back. Only then I get to practice straight.
The first time I did it, it was 2 months ago. And I noticed that I began to feel lethargic and sick on the third day. It was such a horrible feeling, that laziness, that urgency NOT to get up and practice. Wanting a break. I had fever. I had sore throat. I just did not feel good. I went anyway, pushed myself and it went ok. I left the practice wondering if it was normal but Google didn't really tell me anything. Maybe it is just me.
Then it is happening again. Yesterday way my second day. It was, to be honest, a simple good practice. My bhujapidasana jump back was still horrible, but my urdvha dhanurasana was the deepest, and the most pain- free yet. I felt nothing, not even a twinge. It was amazing. The teacher helped deepened the pose by pulling my upper chest back and it felt realllly good. I wanted to continue but she was pushing me to pashimottasana. My left shoulder felt ok. I was careful.
Later that day, I felt it, the fever building up. And then my throat started to get sore. My head feels heavy, I felt sick. The same timing, the same symptoms. This seems too... precise to be a coincidence. Maybe this is the result of a straight back to back practice. And this decides whether you're devoted enough to commit and push to establish yourself a full 6 day practice. I know committing to a 6 day practice isn't easy, but if this is the preview of how you are going to feel it is a little scary. All that strength emotionally to fight your internal laziness, your reasoning of giving space to your body to 'relax'.
Today was a delicious, yummy practice. Everything was going well. I focused on my breathing a lot; attention did stray but I quickly reigned it in. My vinyasas weren't getting better, but the best part about it is that I don't really care. I have kept at this for a year, long enough to know that when the time comes, it comes. So many poses held evidence to that testimony: upavistha konasana, UHP, navasana, garbha pindasana. Today as I flowed through my garbha I noticed that touching my fingers to my head as I rolled up felt effortless, as was landing on my calves in supta konasana. And a few months back these two were so hard, so unimaginable to me. It really does work in your favor - practice, and hard work, and mindful alignment.
The teacher pushed me deep in urdvha dhanurasana again today, which I did 4 just for extra work. It felt goood. And as usual, my the UHP was the most dreaded part in the practice. With her holding to my feet I kinda have a hard time balancing, but it felt nice to let the feet rest instead of doing all the work. But for Supta Hasta Padangusthasana she strongly pushed on my straight thigh and asked me to lift up to kiss my knees. I did it! alhamdulillah.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Back to primary
After 6 days of time off, I returned to Primary. A visiting teacher is around, so I needed to take that opportunity to practice.
To be honest I caught myself going through the sequence in my head before I sleep, because it felt like forever since I rested!
I took extra care with my shoulder - skipping the chaturangga when I feel like it.
The teacher was sweet - why are they always sweet? - and didn't really adjust me much. Then came bhujapidasana. I took this chance to ask me questions - could I 'cheat' by walking my feet back and resting my head on the floor instead of slowly building strength to lower down? Yes, she said. You should do that, it will come to you later.
She taught me how to exist bhujapidasana. After bakasana, to lower my head on the floor, and kick back. By the time I wanted to try my arms were already fatigued, and when I kicked back the legs sort of fell in a heap on the floor, knocking my knees. Too tired to even kick back.
She said that I have strength.
Here's a thing I feel like I have to address: I hate practicing with other people because of my inner ego. I hate it when I mentally compare against other people... and feeling the pride when I know I am better, even to only one person. It sucks. I usually chastise myself, berate myself for feeling it but the feeling has come and gone. I do not get this when I am practicing alone at home.
5 days more!
To be honest I caught myself going through the sequence in my head before I sleep, because it felt like forever since I rested!
I took extra care with my shoulder - skipping the chaturangga when I feel like it.
The teacher was sweet - why are they always sweet? - and didn't really adjust me much. Then came bhujapidasana. I took this chance to ask me questions - could I 'cheat' by walking my feet back and resting my head on the floor instead of slowly building strength to lower down? Yes, she said. You should do that, it will come to you later.
She taught me how to exist bhujapidasana. After bakasana, to lower my head on the floor, and kick back. By the time I wanted to try my arms were already fatigued, and when I kicked back the legs sort of fell in a heap on the floor, knocking my knees. Too tired to even kick back.
She said that I have strength.
Here's a thing I feel like I have to address: I hate practicing with other people because of my inner ego. I hate it when I mentally compare against other people... and feeling the pride when I know I am better, even to only one person. It sucks. I usually chastise myself, berate myself for feeling it but the feeling has come and gone. I do not get this when I am practicing alone at home.
5 days more!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Backbends and Injury
For Sunday I did an easy backbend. Well, maybe I should change the key word to detailed. And focused.
It was Marc h teaching, and his classes are superb for alignment in backbending. He taught us the basic of curling the upper body back for backbend while standing and clenching the block between your inner thighs to feel your tailbone tucking in. It was surreal, the backbending your body is doing when you are aligned. Not to say that it felt easy, it just felt right. I do not know whether I could bend more than I normally do, but I felt 'bendier'.
A lot of cobra with good alignment. I only have to remember to suck my lower ab in to protect my lower back and my cobra automatically felt good. One bow pose, more standing and clenching and bending. Then urdvha dhanurasana, which was magnificent! He gave really good tips: lift the tailbone up, then move your shoulders back, physically moving the hands back, and curl your upper body more... and then lift. You will not feel it in your lower back. The bend is evenly distributed along your lumbar and thoracic spine. This is a class I could see repeating over and over for easy backbend days just to slowly cultivate that strength to dropback.
Then Monday I did a slow hatha with Steve E. It was a really good slow class - sun salutations, lunges, crescent, one bakasana thrown in, half moon, and ustrasana. Really relaxed and slow, with fairly strong poses.
My left shoulder cuff is reallllly injured. Hurts to even lift it up.
Tuesday: easy hatha with Amy I. did not even break a sweat, but it was a simple good session to stretch. I failed at the half moon arm circling thing btw!
It was Marc h teaching, and his classes are superb for alignment in backbending. He taught us the basic of curling the upper body back for backbend while standing and clenching the block between your inner thighs to feel your tailbone tucking in. It was surreal, the backbending your body is doing when you are aligned. Not to say that it felt easy, it just felt right. I do not know whether I could bend more than I normally do, but I felt 'bendier'.
A lot of cobra with good alignment. I only have to remember to suck my lower ab in to protect my lower back and my cobra automatically felt good. One bow pose, more standing and clenching and bending. Then urdvha dhanurasana, which was magnificent! He gave really good tips: lift the tailbone up, then move your shoulders back, physically moving the hands back, and curl your upper body more... and then lift. You will not feel it in your lower back. The bend is evenly distributed along your lumbar and thoracic spine. This is a class I could see repeating over and over for easy backbend days just to slowly cultivate that strength to dropback.
Then Monday I did a slow hatha with Steve E. It was a really good slow class - sun salutations, lunges, crescent, one bakasana thrown in, half moon, and ustrasana. Really relaxed and slow, with fairly strong poses.
My left shoulder cuff is reallllly injured. Hurts to even lift it up.
Tuesday: easy hatha with Amy I. did not even break a sweat, but it was a simple good session to stretch. I failed at the half moon arm circling thing btw!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Arm Strengthening Saturday
Woke up feeling well rested.
Started the class with Jo T, who is slowly growing over me. I love her sweet voice and her accent, australian, and the fact that her classes are similar to Stephanie S, strong but doable. She lead us to a bakasana twice early in the class, lunges, one legged plank and chaturangga, half moon, and then visvamitrasana, the peak pose, which wasn't hard, as our bottom leg is supported in the middle instead of straight out. But it was a good stretch holding the leg up. Love the way she provided access for us to work with advanced asanas.
Then it was a no-nonsense 20 minutes class with tiffany c, where she taught us ways and asanas to strengthen the upper body. It was a 2 minutes long dolphin pose with a block, to omit the alignment worries and focus on the strengthening aspect instead. Then some core work, with a block in between the thighs and our arms cupping the head, lifting the butt up while exhaling. Then it was a handstand against the wall, holding up 1 minute. I couldnt make it, my arms were shaking so bad. Even pincha against the wall I couldn't do in 30 seconds. Then she made us the the L-handstand and L-pincha. which was good, and I am going to incorporate that during my menstrual time. Then it was a downward dog with slightly bent elbows which put the whole outer part of my arms on fire. That was good.
Then a 45 minutes class with Jason C, whose voice irritates me a little bit but I love his classes because they are always delightfully dry but effective. He had us do repetitions of plank to chaturangga lifting up to downward dog again and again. I love when he asked us to pull our shoulders back and flay our palms away from our body, because I felt all the muscles and the sore parts engaging. That works the external part of the muscle but I felt the burning inside.
Great access to building strength in my arms shoulders and core to better prepare myself for arm balances and inversions.
Great day!
Started the class with Jo T, who is slowly growing over me. I love her sweet voice and her accent, australian, and the fact that her classes are similar to Stephanie S, strong but doable. She lead us to a bakasana twice early in the class, lunges, one legged plank and chaturangga, half moon, and then visvamitrasana, the peak pose, which wasn't hard, as our bottom leg is supported in the middle instead of straight out. But it was a good stretch holding the leg up. Love the way she provided access for us to work with advanced asanas.
Then it was a no-nonsense 20 minutes class with tiffany c, where she taught us ways and asanas to strengthen the upper body. It was a 2 minutes long dolphin pose with a block, to omit the alignment worries and focus on the strengthening aspect instead. Then some core work, with a block in between the thighs and our arms cupping the head, lifting the butt up while exhaling. Then it was a handstand against the wall, holding up 1 minute. I couldnt make it, my arms were shaking so bad. Even pincha against the wall I couldn't do in 30 seconds. Then she made us the the L-handstand and L-pincha. which was good, and I am going to incorporate that during my menstrual time. Then it was a downward dog with slightly bent elbows which put the whole outer part of my arms on fire. That was good.
Then a 45 minutes class with Jason C, whose voice irritates me a little bit but I love his classes because they are always delightfully dry but effective. He had us do repetitions of plank to chaturangga lifting up to downward dog again and again. I love when he asked us to pull our shoulders back and flay our palms away from our body, because I felt all the muscles and the sore parts engaging. That works the external part of the muscle but I felt the burning inside.
Great access to building strength in my arms shoulders and core to better prepare myself for arm balances and inversions.
Great day!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Week roundout
Tuesday I did a nice hatha with Dharren R. He wasn't really my favorite after 2 classes with him but I like that he gives good strong poses, and his flow was good. He threw in locust, bow, UHP and its 2 sisters (which I loved), half moon! humble warrior (another favorite) and best of all the last pose he threw out was astravakrasana! That was a surprise, a good one because I really love that pose. Nailed it somewhat, even with gimpy arm.
Wednesday was my last day practicing primary before my period came.
It was a much needed exercise. I omitted chaturangga from the whole practice just to give more space for my left shoulder to heal. After all, there is a mysore style class I will be going to next week and I plan to really practice to get better adjustments.
Things were good from the practice. I took my time, focusing on my breathing, aligning my awareness to what I am doing. I really took my time for this one; I was on leave, therefore I was not subconsciously rushing myself through these poses. My Bhujapidasana needs work... it is not improving probably because I am not currently pushing at the moment, with my shoulder and all. UHP of course is getting better and better. Navasana always the hard one, this time I was too tired to lift my seat up but managed. Suptakurmasana I felt was still tight... wondering when I'll able to lift my feet off the floor but I am enjoying my time, no rushing. It was a sweet practice that came Urdvha Dhanurasana my back wasn't really hurting, and I managed to stay up for 5 breaths (albeit a shorter version) 3 times... plus 2 more times for strength and endurance. I was really a good practice.
Thursday I decided to do a long sianna s flow... which to be honest, wasn't really nice. I didn't really enjoy it because I felt she chatted a lot and in my opinion she sounded high. Maybe high on yogi endoprhins. But she gave good poses like half moon, bound half moon, reverse half moon, reverse UHP, natarajasana. Anusara definitely isn't my style.
Today due to my period I skipped ashtanga and did 2 csimple classes - hatha with dice and yin with tiffany. These two are one of my favorites! I love dice because his classes are always challenging and worth it. And tiffany because hers are always so painful but it works. I love her variation and flow from warrior 2 with gomukhasana arms leaning towards front leg, then flowing to side plank, which she said strenghten the whole rotator cuff and shoulder girdle.
so arm balances saturday and backbend sunday!
Wednesday was my last day practicing primary before my period came.
It was a much needed exercise. I omitted chaturangga from the whole practice just to give more space for my left shoulder to heal. After all, there is a mysore style class I will be going to next week and I plan to really practice to get better adjustments.
Things were good from the practice. I took my time, focusing on my breathing, aligning my awareness to what I am doing. I really took my time for this one; I was on leave, therefore I was not subconsciously rushing myself through these poses. My Bhujapidasana needs work... it is not improving probably because I am not currently pushing at the moment, with my shoulder and all. UHP of course is getting better and better. Navasana always the hard one, this time I was too tired to lift my seat up but managed. Suptakurmasana I felt was still tight... wondering when I'll able to lift my feet off the floor but I am enjoying my time, no rushing. It was a sweet practice that came Urdvha Dhanurasana my back wasn't really hurting, and I managed to stay up for 5 breaths (albeit a shorter version) 3 times... plus 2 more times for strength and endurance. I was really a good practice.
Thursday I decided to do a long sianna s flow... which to be honest, wasn't really nice. I didn't really enjoy it because I felt she chatted a lot and in my opinion she sounded high. Maybe high on yogi endoprhins. But she gave good poses like half moon, bound half moon, reverse half moon, reverse UHP, natarajasana. Anusara definitely isn't my style.
Today due to my period I skipped ashtanga and did 2 csimple classes - hatha with dice and yin with tiffany. These two are one of my favorites! I love dice because his classes are always challenging and worth it. And tiffany because hers are always so painful but it works. I love her variation and flow from warrior 2 with gomukhasana arms leaning towards front leg, then flowing to side plank, which she said strenghten the whole rotator cuff and shoulder girdle.
so arm balances saturday and backbend sunday!
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