July 13, 2008

Back in practice. My first led practice with Sharath...but it wasn’t. Sharath led the first one and Saraswati did ours. But Sharath popped out just before Navasana to adjust people in Marichyasana D and then Supta Kurmasana and Bhuji Pindasana. I struggled through Navasana and he saw me, I didn’t get an adjustment in Supta Kurmasana and barely got into Gaba Pindasana. He stopped me. RRRRR, I was afraid of that. If you can’t do a pose then you’re stopped and have to sit out until finishing postures. I soooo wanted to go through (and have been) the whole primary series. I don’t particularly want to ever do second series but I do want to be able to complete the whole primary series including Chakrasana and headstand (not against a wall). Then, to make matters worse he asked me if I was registered and made me go get my card! I think Jude was more upset than I but it wasn’t fun. I was a bit upset all day that I was stopped.

On the positive side though, my practice until that time was great. It really flowed and I was strong. I even got up in headstand...and then fell over barely missing the woman in front of me. Oh well.

Breakfast at home (almond butter and some yummy banana carrot cake from a guy who sells bread, hummus, tofu and juice to the students as they come out of the shala).

I started my Yoga Sutra class today at 10. Again with Laxsmish. He’s such a sweetie. The Yoga Sutras are the bible of yoga. They were written (they think) by a sage named Patanjali. He also wrote treatises on grammar and medicine (Ayurveda), thus encompassing language, the body and spirituality. Does this sound familiar to anyone? For all of my Tony Robbins friends it should...physiology, focus and language (it’s just a
fu$#ing triad!) Written thousands of years ago. It doesn’t talk about the asana practice at all, but the other components of yoga and the ultimate goal of all yoga (stilling the mind). We’re using Iyengar’s translation which I happened to bring with me with the intention of reading. Very glad I’m taking the class, it will give me a structured environment to finally study the Sutras.

Big lunch today back at the Southern Star. Buffet and we even had dessert! Met Joseph and some more friends who have just arrived for Guruji’s birthday; a couple from Canada and a woman who’s moving from Japan (although originally Canadian) to Finland and then maybe Poland. Lots of interesting people here.