Ashtanga Yoga Shala NYC...

So, AYS, my summer Ashtanga stomping grounds, has completely revamped their website, and I have to say, it is pretty damn impressive. Lots of interesting info about Ashtanga, the breath, the bandhas, the Yoga Sutras, yoga philosophy...lots of new course offerings, as well, and a new schedule, which has Mysore-style classes starting on the half-hour, which is much better for my schedule than the on-the-hour classes that they used to have: this way, I can drop my kids off at school at 8:30 and casually make my way down to AYS for the 9:30 session via the Second Avenue bus, rather than rushing down the FDR Drive in my SUV to struggle to make it to the 9 a.m. session. With gas prices currently up past three dollars a gallon, the thought of driving downtown six times a week seems frivolous.

This makes the "where to practice" choice so much harder for me because the convenience of a 9:30 session (getting done with practice by 11 a.m.) is so so so tempting. But the reality is, convenience has never proven to to me to be the best basis on which to make the decision of where to practice. In truth, I have been leaning toward the 11:00 a.m. sessions at AYNY - I love the space, I love Sarah. I love the fact that so many people there are practicing Second Series and beyond - it is incredibly inspiring. And I am not a morning person, so practicing at 11 a.m. is a bit of a relief to me - my muscles and joints are much, much happier.

But sometimes I wonder if I am going to be unhappy chopping up my days by practicing smack in the middle of them. On the other hand, by practicing at 11, I have some time to spend in Adam's First Grade classroom (which his teacher encourages) on a regular basis.

The thing is, the thing that I have to keep reminding myself, is that my intention always was to practice at Eddie's (AYNY). Somehow I got thrown off of that plan and ended up spending most of my summer practicing at AYS (it all started on a Sunday in late June when I went to practice at AYNY, and it was closed for a lecture with Dr. Robert Svaboda, and I hopped on over instead to AYS and ended up practicing with Mark, who was on his very first day as a visiting teacher there). But I think that what I loved about AYS was Mark. And he's off somewhere in Asia now (until next summmer, I think).

Thus, I am starting to acknowledge to myself that I am leaning toward AYNY. And I feel kind of wistful about that....there are some things I will miss about practicing regularly at AYNY - like the wonderful orangey-gingery smell of chai, and Jose's friendliness and the general community spirit there, but I am hoping to catch some of the workshops and special classes like "Inside Out Ashtanga" (which seems to be aimed at finessing various asanas, from an alignment and anatomical perspective...something that seems really useful as a teacher as well as a practitioner), so perhaps I won't feel like the umbilical cord is being completely cut...

Must think...must think...getting started with practice again is just around the corner for me. It is now FOUR WEEKS since my abdominoplasty!!! And I was told that I had to wait six weeks before engaging in strenuous exercise. But it might be reasonable to get back to a modified practice towards the end of the fifth week (I have to think about that as well), which corresponds quite nicely with my kids' first full week of school.

On other fronts, still working on the Husband regarding Lou the Beagle. Signs point to the possibility of him softening up about it...although I think there may be a quid pro quo. We shall see....

YC