Driste

The Bees Knees

Ow. My knees. Hurt. So I have broken down and I'm seeing a doc tomorrow. I'm so very nervous I'll get bad news.... but I will keep a PMA. That's Positive Mental Attitude. This morning I slept in a bit, so practiced at home instead of at the gym. Physically, not a great great practice, because of said knees. Skipped Ardha Badha Padma Paschimottanasana, skipped Janu Sirsasana A-C, modified Marichyasana B and D. However, driste, bandhas, focus, and breath... All good. Even with hubby making coffee and Kula licking my face in vinyasas.

Tonight, hubby and I have switched places. So he's at my folks house in SC, and I'm home in SLO. He has some business up in SF tomorrow. So I get to relish in reading. I just finished Iyengar's Tree of Yoga. I'm actually looking forward to reading it again. I really enjoyed his prose throughout. And he interjects a little humor here and there. Next up: Atlas Shrugged. I feel a slight sense of foreboding picking up this book. Over 1000 pages, and the smallest type I've ever seen in a published book (not including footnote fontsize). Luckily, finishing books has never been a problem for me. So wish me luck.

The cutest thing at my folks house this weekend: They just put a new roof on the house, and I guess they had to change the gutters as well. Over the past few years, each spring this pair of scrubjays had made their nest in a little corner of the house, right underneath the eaves up by my parents' bedroom. The old roofing and gutters created a little niche and platform for their nests each year. Unfortunately, with the new roofing and gutters, no platform. But the scrubjays pressed on. They've been attempting to build their nest every morning. And all the twigs, wires, and string they find and bring just blows off the gutter. Beneath the gutter, there's this pile of nest-building materials. It broke my heart to see all their hard work on the ground. My dad built a little platform, screwed it into the gutter, and Voila. Sunday morning: both birds were happily building their little love-nest.

Speaking of love-nests....
The house plans are coming along! Hubby saw the sketches of the outside this weekend. This is going to be such a test of my patience. I want it NOW! We talked to some friends who are remodeling their kitchen, and they are willing to practically offload their pretty new, very well cared for appliances on us! Fridge, dishwasher, stove and range! Can't imagine life without the love and support of friends and family....

Burgundy Heaven

Had a good day Wednesday after the NewGuy incident. Good day @ work, went for sushi with Yogasushi afterwards, which was an absolute blast. And I may have talked her into coming up to SF for a day or two. Thursday, not much of a practice. Just some sun salutations, standing series, backbends, and finishing. Just happy to be on my mat and in my breath. We had our monthly staff tasting on Thursday. This month's varietal: Burgundian Pinot Noir. We taste blind, 12 wines in this case. There were two ringers thrown in: California Pinot's. Talley Rincon Vineyard Pinot Noir, and DuMol Pinot Noir from the Russian River. All the rest were Grand Cru's from the Cote d'Or. We had been given some Burgundy background info to study a few days before with the advisement that we were going to be given a quiz, and there were going to be prizes. I didn't do such a great job studying, but I did read over the packet twice. At any rate, before the tasting, BT (the boss) started asking questions. If you answered a question correctly, you got "bling," as BT called it: a half bottle of our pinot. And I got one! I was jazzed. Then there was the "bling-bling," the magnum of pinot. We were given the names and vineyards of all the wines in the tasting. We were then given a brief description of the typical characteristics of each vineyard. Through the tasting, we were to write down which wines we thought matched which vineyard. Who ever got the most correct would win the bling-bling. Wonder of wonders: I got two right! Should have been 4 actually. I identified the two ringers, but kept changing my mind: which was the talley, which was the dumol. At the last minute, I switched them one more time. And got it wrong. But I got two right, which was one more than anyone else. So BLING BLING!!! I was in Burgundy Heaven!!!

The New Guy, Continued

Okay, can finally, hopefully finish yesterday's post. After our practice, I voiced my concerns to the Dental Assistant. It's not that I want the room all to ourselves, it's not that I don't want others joining us. But to offer an open invitation to your beginning yoga class to come practice ashtanga and just follow along..... I don't know. Without the guidance of an instructor, I think it's a little dangerous for a beginning yoga practitioner to just follow my lead through primary. So, we decided it's best to offer personal invitations to those who have a practice, who have knowledge of the asanas, and who show interest in developing or continuing a personal, at home practice, as opposed to a blanket invitation to a class. Interesting comments given by Cameron on yesterday's post. Thank you for your wisdom.

Easter

Easter weekend. Not quite as exciting as it once was, I'm afraid, since I found out that there really is no Easter Bunny. Booo.

I'm at my folks' home for the weekend, as tomorrow is my brother's birthday as well. I don't go home to Santa Cruz very often, but I do love it here. I miss the trees. As soon as I drive into Aptos, I feel like I breathe easier. The air has a different quality. Then I hit the traffic (Traffic in Santa Cruz? Unheard of until just several years ago....), and I remember how much I love San Luis Obispo. But tonight we're going to Mobo, my favorite sushi place. My parents are so cool. They don't even like sushi, but they're humoring me.

So, asana.... just a few practices to catch up on.
Wednesday I woke up feeling great. Ready to practice after Tuesday's goof off day. I get to the gym.... And there's someone in MY room! Okay, so it's not really my room, it's open to the public, so must practice unattachment. Well, I was surprised to see him, but thought perhaps he was just stretching before going to a spin class or something. No biggie. So I set out my mat and waited for the Dental Assistant (who is chronically late, but who I can forgive because I'm always so happy to see her. Plus it gives me a few minutes to myself to prepare myself for my practice). The man says, "So, (the Dental Assistant) told us you two do yoga in the mornings. She invited us to join you guys." HUH? I tried not to look absolutely stupefied. "Us?" I asked.... Apparently, the night before, she gave her yoga class an open invitation to join us. News to me. I didn't know what to say. I asked him how long he's practiced yoga. "Oh, I've gone to just a few classes." Crap. So I took some time explaining what it was I practiced, how it's fairly advanced for a beginner, etc. To his credit, he was quiet, tried to follow along, and did a fairly good job backing off the poses he wasn't ready for. When we started prepping for headstand, he went into savasana, then thanked us and left. I spent the whole practice worrying about him and wondering if I was being unreasonable for being a little miffed at the Dental Assistant. By backbends, I had decided that my anger was not unfounded. After all, I was practicing in the mornings by myself, invited the Dental Assistant to join me, and practiced there, not so I could practice with other people, but so that I would not be distracted like I tend to be at home.

Shoot, time for sushi. I'll finish my story in a bit.

Big Decision

I'm going to see Guruji in SF for a whole week!!!

Hooray!!!

Just wish my knee was better so I didn't have to modify everything. Well, I have a month, so maybe if I take really good care of it and ice, and do castor oil wraps, and work on hip openers, I'll be fine. Any of you ashtangis going to be there?

I'm so excited to share the experience with hundreds of others.

I know, I know.... I've been a bad blogger lately. But I'll catch up to speed tonight when I have more time. Right now, I just wanted to spill over some of my excitement!!

Yoga Fun Day

I woke up feeling nauseous this morning. 2005 has been dubbed "The Year of Nausea" for Jenna by my coworkers. I've gone to 2 clinics about this, both drew blood for pregnancy tests. Something else is going on. I have a feeling the culprit of this morning's bout of nausea was arnica. I've been rubbing arnica cream on my nagging knee, but last night before bed I took an oral supplement. In any case, after three namaskara a's, I realized.... no ashtanga practice today. Boo.

After our 108 yesterday, the dental assistant wasn't up to full primary, either. So.... Yoga fun day! Our favorite seated postures, mayurasana, followed by Ustrasana and Laghu Vajrasana finished with Pincha Mayurasana, and handstands. So fun. But still didn't help with the nausea.

I've been thinking a lot about Guruji and Sharath visiting SF in April. Really want to go, have a friend I can stay with, but don't want to go with nagging knee and no padmasana. I want to be in tip top shape. Is this silly and immature? Please tell me.

Pouring down rain aaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll day today. These are the kind of days we belong in bed, cuddled up with a good book, or great movie. Not the days when we're at work, just waiting for the power to go out. Please go out. Apparently, it should rain through Friday. Blech. I do appreciate rain, but I just hate how it affects my overall mood. I'm so cranky and irritable. And down. I just need a big giant sun shining over me to put a smile on my face.

I think tomorrow will be a better day. No nausea, and back to my regular practice. That will bring the sunshine back in my life.

108???

Okay, so I know yesterday was the Spring Equinox. But I wanted to practice Ashtanga yesterday. So I celebrated today with the traditional 108 Sun Salutations. We've been talking about this since Friday, three other people committed to monday morning spring celebration. Monday morning: It was me and the Dental Assistant. This is the one thing about my yoga friends that irks me a little: the flakiness. I'm not saying that all yogis are flakey, but geez. Seems like lots of folks use that as an excuse for flakiness. "Yeah, well, I'm a free spirit. I'm a yogi." I hope to never become more flakey than I already am. So all of you friends out there who are reading this.... Hold me to it.

So anyways, back to the 108.... Last time was in December for the Winter Solstice. I don't remember it being as hard back then as it was this morning. Good lord, I felt old when I was done. Oh, My back. Oh, My legs. Oh, My shoulders. Ouch. Beyond the physical pain, it was a great experience. There is something so beautiful and simple in Surya Namaskara. You gain a certain rhythm in your breath and movement. And once you reach that, it's so easy to get out of your body and your mind, and really get into your breath. I was really meditating on Spring, focusing on all the new life, Spring's cycle of rebirth.

Hubby's dad brought over his initial plans for our house. (!!!!!) Very exciting.

What about Kurmasana?

Practice today at The Yoga Way: Pat was teaching for Jennifer. I was frustrated at first, because I feel like Pat gives adjustments to everyone but me! Maybe this was all in my head, maybe he hasn't felt comfortable doing so in the past, but today he helped me. Something worried me. He was getting a little confused, getting a little lost in the series. He's been practicing for years, and has never goofed up like this in the past. He put garbha pidasana and bhaddha konasana before navasana, he completely skipped bhujapidasana, kurmasana, and supta kurmasana. I was a few breaths ahead, as I usually am, so I practiced the series in the correct order. I think I confused the girl next to me, who was new to Ashtanga, but the Dental Assistant and Yogasushi followed my lead. Besides that, it was a great practice. I've been out of town the past couple of weeks on Sundays, so I've missed practicing in a class setting. I love the energy.... You can just feel everyone's breath. The room is so warm and humid.

My practice was good, but I had a little extra challenge. I jammed my left big toe Friday night jumping back from bakasana. Just a toe. What a difference it made in my practice! My standing series was slightly off balance since I was trying to stay off that durn toe. Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana was interesting, to say the least. I had to grab the inside of my foot, which required a little extra extension. My lesson: every part of your body is necessary for Asana. Just a toe. Huh!

Happy Spring!!

It's the first day of Spring!! Last night, it poured. It rained so hard, my poor Kula spent the night under the bed. :( I thought I adopted a dog, not a chicken!! This morning I woke up feeling a little sluggish. We had a great dinner last night, bracchiole with pappardelle marinara, oven roasted broccoli with prosciutto and parmesan, and lots of great wine. Hence the headache. This morning, the rain continued through my led primary class, and just as we were leaving, the sun peeked out. Happy Spring!

Practice?

I miss my ashtanga practice. I haven't practiced since Wednesday morning. Thursday I slept in, and Friday was a Vinyasa class taught by my friend, whom I will call Yogasushi. I love her classes. Which is strange, because I've turned into an Ashtanga Snob. All I think about is Ashtanga. All I want to practice is Ashtanga. I get cranky in classes from other schools of Yoga. Except hers, maybe because she was the first instructor to really "reach" me.

After class, we talked for a little bit. She pointed out a few things she hadn't noticed before with my Chatarunga and my Urdhva Mukha Svanasana . "Ashtangi's tend to do this. Ashtangis tend to do that." Great. Fine. Then, she suggested I add more yin yoga and less Ashtanga. "Too much fire," she said. "You'll burn yourself out and injure yourself more often." Hmmmmm..... I listened respectfully, and maybe she has a point, but this doesn't change the way I feel about my Ashtanga practice. There are days that I don't feel "up to" practicing full primary. These days are the most important, in my view. These days require the most focus, the most meditation. I choose one thing to focus on at the beginning of each practice. I set an intention. On these days, I choose drishti. Or breath. Or bandhas. Or tapas.

A little extra time to meditate on this: led primary in an hour!

Will continue these thoughts after class.