Urdvha Dhanurasana progress

I made a good choice resting my body last night. I do not know why, but I felt like I needed to not do anything. Yesterday's morning I took it easy with a slow yin class, nearly falling asleep (and did, from savasana until forever) because I was tired. That was my only workout.

 This morning, refreshed from a good rest, went for my ashtanga. It was more or less a good practice, with 50% concentration on the breath. Lost it halfway due to company of M, who came in while I was halfway through my first series. We talked on and off.

 When I did my urdvha though, I managed to hold for 5 breaths all five times, even walking my hands closer to my feet. But M told me she saw that I've been keeping all my weight to my upper body, and nothing on my legs. They were straight, bearing no weight. So with her guidance she made me grip her leg placed in between mine while I was in wheel, and that made all the difference. The first time though when she pulled me forward to transfer the weight to my legs, I couldn't tell which way was which. It was that disorientating. I would use this helpful tool to work the legs even more. Put a block in between and then learn to engage the quads. I cannot believe the progress I have made in my urdvha D. It took me a year to finally feel pain free, thanks to tips from Noah M and other wonderful teachers. It is all about patience and practice. I realized now that I love the journey and work put in the practice that I don't even mind not nailing it. Because after hard work getting it just feels amazing.

 No progress on Bhuja. Forget about the vinyasa. But well, its all about the practice!

Reflection of a yogi

I havent been updating. But thats because I was having a ball of time, loving my practice. It's been a steady 3x per week of ashtanga, with vinyasa tuesdays and thursdays, and weekends are for backbends and arm balances.

 What I learned: When you let go of expectations, and just enjoy practising for what it is a clarity for the body and mind. I tried to focus on my breath more, just inhaling exhaling, feeling good and sometimes feeling nothing at all, just awareness of my body, my legs engagement, shoulder engagement.

 Arm balances class saturday was really sweet. Pretty easy, with vashistasana variations (of which all 4 I could do) bakasana, prasva bakasana, titibhasana and bhujapidasana. I find that the more I get rid of my expectations or frustrations of wanting to nail a pose, I find a peace within the practice that is waaay better than nailing a pose. My neck injury taught me this. In a way, that injury was sort of a gift. A gift to realign my mindset of how I approach yoga.

 No technical updates here, just what I've been thinking about.