What's a fudinah?

Last night, I got an amazing night's sleep, and that is a rare treat. Fell asleep just after midnight, woke up with a start at 8:30 a.m., shocked that no one had woken me up earlier. It took me a moment or two to grab my wits about me, and then I realized I had to get my butt down to Shala X or else miss my chance to practice. That new schedule is quite the discipline-maker.

I arrived at 9:15, fifteen minutes past the mantra, half an hour after the official "doors open" time, but a full, delicious, juicy, luxurious HOUR before the newly enforced "Finishing Time" was to begin. I walked in in long pants but immediately realized that this was going to be a hot one. The room was packed to the gills. I removed my pants and proceeded to get busy.

Wow. That didn't sound too good. At any rate, good thing I was wearing shorts underneath. Or else it wouldn't have looked too good either.

I can always tell when my Surya A's have worked their magic. It's when my chest begins to touch my thighs as I exhale into uttanasana ("dwe"). I hear many Ashtangis complaining of tight hamstrings. But this is never my complaint. My hamstrings are nice and rangy. The tightness is ALWAYS in my lower back. MUST stretch those vertebrae. MUST lengthen! It took me all five today, so I added a sixth, just because I was enjoying the luxury of time.

I also lengthened my stay in Parivritta Trikonasana and Parivritta Parsvakonasana, especially the latter. My palm is still not flat on the floor in PP, but right now with a combination of doing the old "press the palms together and the elbows apart" against the outside of the bent knee, lowering my armpit as far down toward my knee as possible AND gazing UP at the sky - the same driste I would have if I were doing the full, unmodified version of the posture - I am making progress. When I feel my back lengthening, and maybe hear the joyful snap, crackle, pop of synovial fluid in my spine, PP has done its work.

With a nice, long, delicious standing series, my seated poses felt even better than usual. I am still in the honeymoon phase with Mari C, LOVING the fact that I can do it myself (look ma! I can do it myself!). And to the extent that ego begins to kick in at that point, Mari D takes me right back down a notch or two.

But the nicest part of practice was knowing that I could take a loooooong time in finishing poses and then not have to go anywhere anytime soon since I got the Husband to take the kids to Hebrew School so that I could take Sir's Philosophy and Pranayama class!

We began with a little chanting, then samavritti (same action breathing: equal parts inhale and exhale, no pausing in between) and then talked about the Sutras, particularly the first four. Then we practiced Uddiyana Kriya, which is a personal favorite of mine. So far, I'm not learning anything that I didn't learn in my teacher training, but the thing is, I am learning it from someone who is such an infinitely better teacher, one who is interested in hearing his students' thoughts on what he is teaching, and one who isn't just spitting out bits of regurgitated factoids but appears to be teaching from the heart. It was heavenly. I can't wait to see what comes next. Unfortunately, I might not be there next week as right now it appears that I will be going skiing over the long weekend. Unless it stays warm this entire week, in which case there won't be any snow to ski on. Eastern skiing is like that.

Oh, I almost forgot: Lewis the Bagle ran away today!!! It was awful. We were visiting family in the burbs, and someone left the basement door open. Thank goodness my nephew saw the whole thing and ran to tell me. The husband and I had to look all over the neighborhood before we found Lewis. And even when we found him, he gave quite the good chase. I suppose, having tasted freedom, he had no intention of coming back with us. I was so relieved. SO relieved.

And now it is time to watch the Grey's Anatomy recap show. I can't believe it's been on long enough to merit a recap. But before I go, I give to you this snippet of dialogue from my dinner with family in the burbs:

Sister-in-law: Lauren, you have a fudinah on your shirt.
Lauren: What's a fudinah?

Say it out loud a couple of times if you don't "get it".

I don't know....it had us in stitches.

YC