When inspiration fails, go back to blog's original purpose: Practice Log

Sunday: full Primary in the self-practice room designated at the Estes Park Conference. I was the only one there, although I did see David Life and Seane Corn walk by, not together. I will caveat my "full Primary" designation with the fact that I threw in all of my juicy R&D stuff for the hips, chest and shoulders, including a new one thanks to Ana "The Dark and Scary" Forrest. She calls it "Ostrich", and it may have a Sanskrit name, but maybe not. Basically, you start in Warrior II, then you reach back and interlock your fingers behind your back a la Prasarita Pado C and fold down along the inside of your front leg. Awesome stretch. From there, I came back up to Warrior II and took bound Parsvakona. From there, I put my hand flat down on the mat, walked it around to the outside of my foot and took the actual Ashtanga version of Uttitha Parsvakonasana. In general, I went very slowly, spent a lot of time focusing on keeping my palms glued to the floor in in Surya A and B during the jump backs into Catvari and the jump forward into Sapta. Nice binds in every posture and even Supta K was kinda good, no complaints. No major breakthroughs, but no complaints. I think my dropbacks are getting to be more about the back and the stretching of the front than about bending the knees, which I am pleased with. I am reliably able to lotus my legs in headstand. And I also practiced floating up softly into handstand, as taught by Baron the day before.

Monday, I had to take off because it was Yom Kippur, a day of fasting, or in my case, a day of staying as food and water-free as possible and nibbling and sipping only when I was on the verge of screaming at my kids (I was already screaming at the Husband) or falling down and passing out such that I couldn't put together the "Break-Fast-Brunch as Dinner" for 11 that I was hosting starting at 4:30 p.m.

(No, mom, no family was involved - just Abby, her kids, Chris and Robert and their kids and me, the Husband and our kids; this was arranged unbeknownst to me while I was doing the Yoga Channel thing in the Colorado Rockies over the weekend.)

Tuesday, I had a very hard time motivating. I had a difficult time sleeping Monday night, and when I returned home to drop off the dog after dropping the kids off at school, I passed out on the sofa for "just five minutes" before heading down to Shala X. Well, no surprise, I woke up at 11:30 a.m. Since I'm temporarily off the "red-brown horse", as Samasthiti Susan puts it, I didn't wake up feeling refreshed; rather, I woke up with a stiff lower back as I had fallen asleep flat on my stomach. Not a good thing. I popped some Tylenol, a sorry substitute for the real monkey on my back, and I waited for it to kick in. In the meantime, I took a hot bath. And then suddenly, it was already 1:00. That left only enough time for Standing Series through Marichyasana C before I had to pick the kids up from school and begin an afternoon of playdates and Hebrew School and homework. No backbends, no finishing poses. All day, I kept my yoga mat out, half believing that I would actually return to it at some point, if only to sit in lotus and meditate. Never happened.

Wednesday, today. Same inauspicious beginning. Right up until the point where I woke up, and it was nearly noon. Somehow, I managed to get my act together, however, and fit in my entire practice, including all of Primary, including all of my prep poses. Supta K was kind of weak. But Kurmasana rocked. So, it all comes out in the wash, I suppose.

What will tomorrow bring. Most likely a repeat performance of today. But miracles do happen, and perhaps I will get my but down to Shala X.

Only five practice days left until six weeks off. And it kind of makes me realize...none of this really matters as long as I am doing it.

YC