Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cheating (in blogging) but Cheating (less) in practice


I can’t believe I’m into Week 3 already.  The week opened up with the 1st Led Intermediate Series class on Sunday.
[Just to explain to the non-Ashtangis, the 1st and last days of the week are Led classes.  Always Primary on Friday but on Sunday, if there are enough people doing Intermediate series, there will be a Led Intermediate class. See a previous post for a little more info and a link to a picture of the shala .. you can even see the infamous shala clock!

The class was Super Intense to say the least. Ironically, in a masochistic way, I love this class.  It’s the only class where my mind finds a one-pointed focus  - you have to, or you’ll die because not only are Sharath’s counts seemingly slower than his Led Primary count but there is no break.  So, it’s really just you, your mat and your breath.  Of course, this should happen in every practice but being human, your gaze (and hence attention) wanders, you fidget, you cheat etc etc :o)

This morning (Tuesday) I woke up feeling tired and achy .. and I’m not even halfway through the week which is a full week (ie no moonday which is a rest day we enjoy every other week).  You get through it though … somehow you do …  and lying on your mat afterwards in relaxation Is the best feeling on earth.  Then you reward yourself by eating whatever you want for breakfast!
I haven’t had time to write what I intended to because I’ve been busy sewing .  But I’m done with the first Christmas stocking.


I amazed myself by completing it so quickly.  Goes to show what you can achieve whilst watching 7 episodes of Downton Abbey, 7 episode of Episodes (some American tv series) and about 8 movies!  This is not counting the hours spent in friends houses stitching whilst they napped, chatted etc

So, I’m going to cheat a bit and share another Mysore blog with you.  There are so many Mysore blogs out there and I have been lucky to meet some of the authors.  They possess an eloquence, style and a way with words that I don’t.

Here are a few links to Magnolia’s blog which that I hope you will appreciate:
- To give encouragement to those of you who struggle to maintain a regular practice
http://blog.mysoresf.com/2011/07/15/the-da.aspx

-  There’s a lot more to Yoga than just seemingly crazy postures!

PS.  Insect & creature update
a) I seem to have little ants living in my laptop … see! one just ran across my screen!  It’s been getting colder so perhaps they like the warmth of my laptop?
b) The other night, just after dusk, I was going around to the back house to visit a friend and as I rounded the corner, I almost ran right into a toad who was squatting right in the middle of the path, like a guard.  Eeeeuuuu .  I think the yoga is helping me because I didn't scream and calmly walked past it.