Battle of the Vrittis

Another stiff morning. Another morning of waking up famished. Another Battle of the Vrittis...you know... the raging internal debate of whether or not to practice, which is basically a huge waste of mental energy, since we all know that there is only one acceptable resolution to that debate. Be that as it may, the vrittis did their best to thwart my practice today:

As I walked toward my garage after dropping the kids off at school, the grumpy little vrittis sitting on my left shoulder began to whisper insidiously: "You know, you don't have to practice this morning...you can always practice later…practice late afternoon….stay home and cocoon on the sofa with Lewis…or don‘t even practice at all…you will get plenty of exercise in Utah anyway…so take the day off….come on, you know you wanna….”

But a quieter voice, a single voice, an insistent voice spoke slowly and clearly: “Not practicing is not an option.”

Heeding that voice, off I went. No coffee. No Snapple. No food in my stomach. Unfortunately, lots of traffic on the FDR meant that I was going to be terribly late, however.

“It is getting really really late,” the vrittis taunted, “and you know that getting to the Shala late is embarrassing…you will look like an ass…do you want to look like an ass….nah….go have breakfast instead….…if you get there too late, just go have breakfast….Veselka beckons with kasha, hot coffee and scrambled eggs….mmmmmmm….”

The quiet voice reminded me that Tuesdays is an extended day at Shala X and that if I got there by 10:00, I could have a nice practice, a long practice even…finishing as late as 11:30 as long as I got a parking space on the correct side of the street (alternate side of the street parking…).

“Veselka…coffeee…kasha…a celebrity gossip rag….”

“Practice.”

And somehow I found a parking spot on the side of the street where alternate side of the street parking is not in effect today. And I was at Shala X by 9:55 a.m. But all was not quiet with the vrittis, which remained intent on getting me to stop practicing after only five Surya Namaskar A’s. Then we went through the whole rigamarole after only three Surya Namaskar B’s.

And then they finally shut up.

It was actually kind of fun at Shala X today. There was a new student, and it was just her and me and Madam. Madam is a very verbal teacher. She explains everything, and it was fascinating to listen. I ended up slowing my practice down so that I could get the benefit of what Madam was saying to the new student, who was practicing just the standing series today. For each pose, Madam very carefully broke down the vinyasas and explained how the pose related to the poses before and after. And I learned a nifty way to transition from Uttkatasana to the Virabadrasanas...a little crow action. Very cool.

When we finished the standing series, the new student did all of the standing poses again, and I went on to Primary. It was fine. Stiff. But fine. I am a bit disappointed that Mari D has become newly challenging again. But this too shall pass.

Then it was off to the Chiropracter, who cracked me good and noted (as one of you suggested) that my lumbar spine was partly immobilized. She fixed me up though, and I walked out of there feeling an inch taller and a bhanda lighter. Perhaps tomorrow, I will notice the difference in Mari D and my backbends. I can hope...

YC