Road To Mysore

I'm so glad that today and tomorrow are ashtanga rest days. After 6 straight days without skipping vinyasas, I just wanted a day off. The fact that I don't have to go to work after practice has given me a "let it all out mentality". Noah had given a lot of deep adjustments this week and I expect more next week. I think he knows I'm really serious about my practice. I can feel shuttle changes. There hasn't been any physical breakthroughs lately but I feel the changes are more internal and mental. This coming week will be my last week at the Silverlake shala before I leave and I hope to keep up my momentum. My biggest coming challenge will be to maintain my practice while I'm in the Philippines for one month. I won't have the luxury of the shala's energy or Noah's awesome adjustments. I know I'm going to have a lot of distraction while I'm home but I hope I can overcome them (8 more days to go:)

Yesterday, I got a massage from Geneva at her place. She lives on one of the apartment building off Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach. We traded a tax return for a massage. She decided that we should do the massage on the roof deck of the building because her boyfriend was home sick (twist my arm). It was really sweet to get a massage, a tan and the ocean breeze at the same time. It reminded me of a massage from the Esalen Institute without the hot tubs and the waves crashing. Geneva has a shiatsu background so she hit a lot of pressure points. I was so exhausted from practice that morning that I past out midway through the massage. It was much needed bodywork.

I was initially hoping to pick up massage shifts until Aug 20 but I've been feeling so burned out that I decided that today was my last massage shift. I need to focus on all the preparation before I leave. My to do list never seems to end. Tomorrow I move a substantial amount of my things into storage and I haven't even packed them yet. It will get done but the process can just be stressful. I hope by Wednesday, I can slow down and breath. Hopefully watch a movie.