Driste

Yin

This a.m. was not an ashtanga a.m. Not one bit. I got through my sun salutations, then went into supta virasana for a good long meditative stretch. Then bound supta baddha konasana for another 5 minutes. Gentle paschimottanasana, sarvangasana, gentle matsyasana, sirsasana, and savasana.

I love my ashtanga practice. I love the strength of it, the vinyasa, the all encompassing breath, the bandhas, and every one of the poses (except parsvottanasana. I don't know why, but I just don't like that one). I consider myself an "ashtangini" more so than a "yogini". When I don't practice, I wish I had. But sometimes I feel it's too much fire for a pitta person. This morning I felt burnt out by all that fire. Yet I feel a twinge of rebellion followed by guilt when practicing anything else.....

I left the house this morning after my practice with this peace and tranquility radiating throughout. I had a small smile on my face and in my heart most of the morning. Very similar to all other mornings after practice, but didn't feel that weight in my shoulders or that nagging in my wrists or that opening in my hamstrings from a physically taxing practice. But now it's later in the afternoon, and I'm wishing I had my ashtanga practice as my foundation this morning. And why is that?

Is it because I've been binding fingers in Supta Kurmasana the past few mornings? And I wonder if this time I could have gotten my feet crossed over my head without pulling out all my hair? Is it because I've finally got perfectly straight legs in all navasanas and my torso is lifted and my boat isn't sinking? Is it because Dropbacks are such an adrenaline rush and now I'm ready for a nap with a capital N? Do I need that extra fire after all?  Is it Sunday's class that I'm scheduled to lead? Am I afraid I'll forget a pose or two or a sanskrit name or a verbal cue? Or is it just morning ritual and habit now?

Knackered

No ashtanga this a.m.

Call me crazy, but I'm headed to an all-levels class at my friend's yoga studio. I feel drained and beaten down from the weekend, my shoulders ache, my feet hurt, I'm tired. So hatha this morning, ashtanga this evening once I've had a chance to recover a bit.

The weekend was fabulous! Poor Yellow was stretched quite a bit since they still had some planning to do when they arrived in Mill Valley. But all the events were so fun, and the wedding was so beautiful. We had Friday afternoon mani's and pedi's for the bridesmaids and bride, then rehearsal, then rehearsal/out of towners dinner (mayhem and fun), then out for drinks.....

(Beer cozy shown is one of our favors)

Saturday, kayaking through the Saucelito bay, then a bar-b-q at Paradise Beach Park.

Sunday, 8 a.m. yoga with yours truly, hair, make-up, stress, champagne, and THE WEDDING!

Monday, brunch, check-out, drive to Santa Cruz, drop off Mom, drive to San Luis Obispo, collapse.

I just dropped Tay off at the airport (at 4:15 a.m. OUCH) where he's whisking away to Montana with his dad for a 3 day fishing trip to celebrate Pop's 60th. Poor Tay will be shell-shocked from travel by the end of the week, and he leaves again on Saturday for some other far-flung destination.

Elbow Room

Home from Yellow's send-off weekend. It was a great time, and after all my feet-dragging and bitching last week, I have to say I'm so glad I went. Really my only complaints from the get-go were about the drive, and it actually wasn't all that bad! The Good gave me a whole bunch of This American Life episodes which she had downloaded and burned to CD. For those of you not familiar with NPR or this show, y'all are missing out. Absolute Brilliance, IMHO. I laughed and cried myself all the way to Tahoe and all the way back. And I didn't fall asleep at the wheel once. Amazing.

We were packed into a tiny studio-with-loft condo like sardines. Ten very headstrong, open, verbally unsuppressed women, four walls, one bathroom with a dysfunctional toilet.... all very comical. Now that I'm home, I'm thrilled to have some elbow room.

Friday night I rolled in at about 11 p.m. Yellow and the rest of her college friends hadn't yet arrived (they thought they'd be there at 6 p.m.) and they had the ONE KEY to the condo. Two of my high school comrades were waiting in the parking lot (they had been there since 6 p.m.) and seemed a little miffed, bored out of their minds, and not all that impressed with the night life in Truckee. Have no fear ladies..... I have screw-top wine.* We passed a couple of bottles back and forth between the three of us (with comments such as "come on man, you're f-in' up the rotation! puff puff give!") and reflected upon that moment's similarities to high school. Sitting in the car outside school dances or Disco Night at the Coconut Grove, swigging something, talking, laughing, shushing each other so as not to gain the attention of the security guard.... good times. By the time Yellow and the other girls showed up at 12, we were just a little sloppy.

The rest of the weekend was great, and it was so nice to get to know some of these girls a little better and catch up with those who I once knew so well. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and possibly still a wee bit drunk on Saturday morning at 6, so tiptoed out the door, downstairs to the lobby for primary underneath the surveillance camera. Balancing poses were a challenge. Sunday morning, I led a one hour yoga session. I followed most of the standing series, dandasana, paschimottanasana A, purvottanasana, janu sirsasana A, marichyasana A and C, bakasana, bhujapidasana (just some fun arm balances to lighten the mood a bit), 3 navasanas, shoulder stand, halasana, matsyasana, and savasana. Some stuff I will take out, some stuff I'll need to add..... I do have to say..... tough to keep from panting out your directions at high altitude through sun salutations. I'll change a few things before the wedding yoga in 2 weeks, but it was good to get some feedback from the girls and get a little taste of what it's like. I had a few goof ups: "Put your right foot on your right shin" in trikonasana, that sort of thing. But we all just got a good laugh out of it.

So now I'm struggling to rediscover my routine. I miss my practice. The 5 a.m. alarm was completely ignored this morning, so hopefully I can get in a short practice before my pilates class this evening. Tomorrow I WILL get up.

It's 11 a.m. and I'm completely obsessing over what I'll make for dinner tonight. Think I'm hungry?