Best Day Ever!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But I did have fun.

Started off with my late-morning practice at Shala X. LOVE those third-session Tuesdays and Thursdays. And today I really took advantage of it, having a nice hot bath and stretching out before heading down the FDR Drive. Unfortunately, I did take just a little too long at home, which meant that Petri left the room before I got to Supta K. Nevertheless, practice was juicy, good stuff. And that is pretty amazing considering that I spent the first 10 minutes or so breaking into fits of giggles, first when the Jazz Musician did a complete 360 on one foot after coming up from Ardha Baddha Padmotannasana, and then when I made eye contact with Petri while getting into a pretty damn awesome (for me) Parivritta Parsvakonasana (I am down to 75% of a flat palm, full twist, top arm diagonally overhead with my eyes gazing at the fingertips! It's only about eight months after I predicted I would get my full palm down....Ah well...expectations schmexpectations).

So, yeah, me giggling, Petri observing...about that: At various times throughout practice, I catch Petri observing my practice, as a teacher should. But it usually throws me off my focus just a little bit because I always think that there's something he wants to say to me, and in my head, I'm like, "WHAT?!" Only today, the word didn't stay in my head. It escaped out my lips, throwing me into an embarassed tizzy of giggling. Needless to say, I could no longer hold the pose. And then I caught Linda's eye. Linda was finishing up her ridiculously ridiculously prodigious practice and telling me what I already knew: "Everything's making you laugh today," or some such.

Petri got me into possibly the deepest Mari C I have ever been in - armpit flush against shin. It was awesome. I bound on my own in Mari D for the first time this week (tummy troubles, psychosomatic or otherwise), but Petri got me deeper. I felt like my old self, pretty much, in a good way, except for my press-ups between Navasanas and my vinyasasa are still a bit week. Okay, whatever. It's only been a week since I've been back.

Oh yeah, and Supta K...still working on that one. Groundhog Day.

I had only gotten to backbends when it hit 11 o'clock, which meant that if I didn't get my ass-ana out of there, I was in real danger of getting a parking ticket. Alternate side of the street parking hell. Do other cities have this? It's quite annoying. Anyway, I picked up and left, promising myself that I would finish later.

Meantime, I felt myself drawn towards Soho, toward Devachan, in particular. I really, really, really needed a haircut. My last one was in June, and since then I've taken a scissors to it and hacked away more times than I care to admit.

On the way, I made a quick stop at American "Cheap Rec Room Porn Pics" Apparel and bought a few new pairs of yoga pants and tank tops. It's my only source of yoga clothing - the only stuff that works for me in my Ashtanga practice - so I have to ignore the fact that the owner of the franchise is a first class sleeze ball whose advertising campaign for as long as I can remember has been lewd shots of his young and nubile employees, wearing things like skivvies and thigh-high socks. There's a billboard right now over East Houston Street with a teenaged girl wearing a leotard and thigh-highs, reclining on her side, with one leg flung nearly over her head. Think - Lord Vishnu's Casting Couch:

I think, actually, she was my salesgirl.

Next, I made my way to Devachan, where I did not have an appointment. This kind of left me at their mercy. At first, they told me that they couldn't fit me in until 12:30, and that would be with a stylist who charges $125 (I usually pay $75). I was like, hmmm....well, I coooould go across the street to Eddie's shala and finish my practice. I mean, I was still sweating at that point. As I turned to gave across Broome Street at L'Orangerie and its upstairs neighbor, AYNY, the girls at the desk found a stylist who was ready right then and there, and who only charges $75.

Off I went to the changing room, where I changed into a fresh pair of yoga pants and tank top, and threw on the salon robe and was off on my two hour haircut/curly hair tutorial. It's pampering, it's informative, it's always fun at Devachan.

Two hours later, two inches lopped off the bottom, two new bottles of DevaCurl AnGel, and one revived head of curls, I made my way to Balthazar for a late lunch. What I found when I got there was that the place was completely packed. I settled for a seat at the bar, ordered my favorite bistro dish (vegans, please look away), Frisee aux Lardons , and sipped a cup of coffee. Just as my salad arrived, my phone rang. It was my friend, E, who had just had her hair cut at the other Devachan (the one that is not across the street from AYNY, but is in Soho somewhere). Now this was not entirely a random coincidence. Yesterday, I had run into her uptown, and she had told me she was going to Devachan today. I was all, "I need to go there too! I'm going to try to get an appointment for tomorrow." So then it was a totally random occurence that she happened to call me after her own appointment to see if I had gotten my own appointment.

Within minutes, she materialized at the bar, and from there, we made our way to the Botkier sample sale, where we bought....nothing...and then to the Sigerson Morrison sample sale, where we bought...nothing...but not before E convinced me NOT to purchase the gold leather slouch boots that seemed to need to be bought just because they were on sale. Moral of the story: Never go to a sample sale alone.

At around 4 p.m., we drove uptown, I dropped E off, went home, unrolled my mat, warmed up a bit and did a backbending practice, followed by the finishing sequence. Just like I promised myself, only moreso.

Now, someone commented on an earlier entry regarding Backbending, suggesting that my upper back could use a bit more bend, and that perhaps Kapotasana or even Supta Vajrasana might help. I scoffed at that, thinking that this commentator was just kidding. But the advice was sincere, it turned out. Today, I put it to the test. Sort of. I mean, I don't have a hope in hell of grabbing heels in Kapotasana or of holding my feet with my arms crossed behind my back in Sutpa Vajrasana, BUT, I did an approximation of both poses today at home, and and all I can say is WOW.

Okay, that's not all I can say. There were actually no surprises with Kapotasana - I've played at it before. But the Supta Vajrasana suggestion was absolutely brilliant! I lotused up, stuck my knees under the sofa, held onto my feet from in front, a la Matsyasana, and arched back as deeply as I could to touch the top of my head to the floor.

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate to use that word - it sounds so "Cyndi Lee"- ish. But seriously. It was amazing. It really worked for me, and by "worked", I mean that it felt amazing, it felt like I was moving and bending things that don't usually move and bend, and it put me into this fabulously enthusiastic mood that I am in right now.

Oh! And I just realized that tomorrow is Primary Only Day!!! Hahahahaha. Every day is Primary Only Day for me.

YC