32 and A Cleanse

I'm 32 years old today.

All things considered I'm in better health both mentally and physically than I was 10 years ago. I'm perfectly happy about turning 32.

My practice this morning was awesome. I sweat a lot, landed some poses I was struggling with and have made good improvements on my back drops.

Tomorrow I'm starting a cleanse. My body needs some clean out time. 10 days of the "master cleanse". Last time I did this cleanse I only made it 7 days. I'm hoping to go for the full 10 this time but I will take things as they come and make adjustments to my time frame if need be.

I imagine I'll be resting a lot this week. I'll probably be posting about my cleanse too.
Wish me luck!

Graduation! Stuck it!

I graduated college over the weekend AND landed Laghu Vajrasana.

I did some serious eating during all the family celebrations so this week I'm working on moderation and feeding myself only healthy foods. More apples, nuts, water, and vegetables less deviled eggs, cupcakes, and lemon mascarpone pound cake with figs. I can do this!

I'm getting rather obsessed with this pose, I've been watching videos and reading up on it. I think what will help me be more comfortable as I continue to move into second series postures is to land my drop back on my own. I'm pretty close to having the confidence to go it alone but not quite there yet. I still need mats to land on or teacher assistance. It is all in my mind. I know this. I must let go of the fear of falling on my head and breaking my neck. I will work on that this week too.

Outstanding!

I had an amazing practice this morning. Really, really, really good and unexpected. 

I was instructed to work on the next two poses in the intermediate series, Ustrasana--nailed it! and Laghu Vajrasana--butchered it. 

I'm a little confused why the teacher thought I should move forward. I thought my practice was crap last week and yesterday and the day before. I have been feeling the effects of, 1) putting on 5lbs (a little over to 2kgs) which has seriously altered my binds. Altered them to the point where I am getting only fingers in poses that I had my wrist in 2 weeks ago. Ugh! And, 2) I was not at practice bright and early at all this week. Even today I didn't get there until a few minutes after 7am. 

I don't need to dissect it, I have new poses to work with and it's exciting stuff. 

Ustrasana 

Laghu Vajrasana 

Badly

I miss proper Thai coffee with sweet milk.

Lazy Day

There is nothing like a proclamation to make it untrue.
Today, no practice for me.
Yes, I was lazy.
I stayed up WAY too late last night--I got sucked into a film--and when I got up at 5:30am I felt totally and completely exhausted.

There is still hope though, it's possible I will go into the shala at 4pm for afternoon practice.

Or, I might just hang out with my family and enjoy the beautiful spring weather.

Tomorrow I am planning a trip to NH. If I make it out the door in time I will do Mysore practice with a new teacher.
I'll post about how it goes. 

All Can Take Practice

After my last post I started thinking about how I stay motivated to do my daily asana practice. 
I have days where I definitely have to argue with myself about getting on my mat. Sometimes I wake up and think, "oh no, today I need more rest," or, "today I will only do half primary" or, "today I will practice in the afternoon". These thoughts surface often enough that over time I have learned a way of dealing with them and that is to ignore them. 
Sure, some days the best course of action is to rest. Ladies Holiday, rest day. Moon days, rest days. Injured, rest day. Otherwise, practice! The best advice I have when it comes to whatever your practice is (meditation, yoga, running, etc) is to fight the urge to skip it and just go. I have played this game with myself for enough years to know that I am better at life when I go to practice. I am happier, healthier, more mentally fit and just all around better when I do my daily practice. There were times in the past 3 years when I slipped away from my daily practice. What I learned from the hiatus, every time, is that it's much more difficult to get myself back into the rhythm of getting into the shala after a two or three day break. More difficult than it ever would have been to just force myself out of bed and get there on those one or, two or, three mornings where I felt tired and lazy. 


The quote that comes to mind is, "Old man, stiff man, weak man, sick man, they can all take practice but only a lazy man can't take practice." Sri K Pattabhi Jois 


So when I feel like being lazy, I remind myself of this quote and I get out of bed, shower and put on my yoga clothes. 

3:30 am, Yoga, Dedication

I've been back home now for 2 weeks and seem to be able to keep up with my 3:30am wake up call. I've had a few snafu's after nights out visiting and eating late with family and friends. But, for the most part I'm in bed by 8:30 or 9pm and able to rise pretty easily for my early morning alarm.
There is so much beauty to the early morning time. I really enjoy waking up before the city and getting to practice with the sunrise, or before. It's quiet and lovely. The best part of it is that I'm finished with my daily practice (7:00am ish) long before most people are even out the door. I'm tired early at night which keeps me from participating in some social engagements but I prefer it this way. I would rather be left out of the evening time fun and continue to stay dedicated to my yoga practice. I feel good about myself and alive when I am practicing regularly in the early mornings.

I continue to chip away at the culture shock of being back home and I know that having a daily dedicated asana practice is helping my assimilation.

Life is good.