Tartan Yogi

After a majestic practice week last week (Mari D full wrist bind on both sides, yay me - so much for non-attachment to practice!) I am at a standstill this week as I am waiting for my two new tattoos to heal. I am actually going to go to the gym instead (first time in a month) as I am getting fidgety without yoga and this is the next best thing.

I love my new tattoos, apart from the fact they will take a wee while to heal. As they are both on my back (and one is pretty huge) I have been having problems not rolling onto my back in bed so I keep waking up in the middle of the night which is annoying. I am thinking of them as my final fling as I will be 30 next year, how depressing ;)

In other news I am really excited as I have booked to go on a David Williams workshop, which should be great. Funny how you get to know these 'yoga celebs' through their writing and DVDs and so on. When I did the David Swenson intensive I remember being quite nervous meeting such a well-know yogi. Anyway, it will be workshops-a-go-go this year as it is part of the teacher training.

Maybe by then I will have conquered supta kurmasana *looks hopeful*. I have started to work on it in a different way now. I do extra breaths in kurmasana while lifting up the heels (apparently on exboard if you can do this it means you can do supta K easily - ha ha ha!), then I do 10 breaths of leg behind the head on each side, then I do supta K. The teacher has been helping with the leg behind the head so I have it quite far behind and really work on the hip mobility there. I just don't really understand why if I can do leg behind the head on both sides, and get both legs behind my head at the same time why my arms won't meet so I can bind, argh! The legs behind the head is helping though and at least my fingers touch, just not enough to bind. An ongoing project I think.

As my tattoo isn't quite ready to be subjected to yoga yet I took myself off to the gym last night and did a frantic 45 minute cardio routine while listening to my Headbanger's Ball compilation, I had forgotten how much I like Alice Cooper in the right frame of mind!

But today I am really craving my yoga practice, both in mind and body. I think this is the longest I have gone without procticing for a year. Maybe it will be good for me so I can practice non-attachment instead...

I went to my first class with my new tattoos last night and it was rocking! Initially I could really feel the new tattoo on my upper back feeling a bit sensitive, but as soon as we got past the standing poses I was warm enough for that to disappear. My jump throughs sucked though, but that is no different from normal. And I got the wrist bind (with help) in Mari D again and managed to hold it on my own, it was easier this time because I knew what to expect. I think also I am keeping the foot on the floor too wide which is why I sometimes have a hard time binding.

Tonight I am going to road test a Shiva Rea DVD which I just got, should be interesting! I think it is good sometimes to break out of the primary series and do something a bit different, as far as I am concerned it helps me come back to primary with fresh enthusiasm. Am all set for a mysore class tomorrow and a full led primary on Friday though so it isn't too much of a break.

I think the week off did me good actually, I was still quite active but in a different way to usual and it doesn't seem to have affected my practice at all, rather the opposite actually. I really shouldn't have worried so much. Although I felt so much better last night after practice, my back was singing rather than grumbling at me. This practice really is a powerful thing for your body and mind and I do try not to be attached to it, but I quite obviously am.

Went to a mysore class last night, which was going well until my yoga trousers decided to unravel themselves at the seams so I had a lovely bit of thigh showing to all the world. Luckily it wasn't anywhere more risque or I would have had to go home!

Had a good class, mari D is coming on well, but I don't understand how I have trouble getting into the pose, but that when I am in it I can get the wrist bind. Most odd indeed. Also almost bound on supta K, it is really coming along. And to top it off garbha pidasana is also coming along nicely. Am just loving to practice this week what with the tattoo induced week off.

So am planning a weekend of hibernation and trying some of the receipes from a book on raw food a friend got me for my birthday. It is by this chap called Juliano who is hilarious! In one picture he is sitting in half lotus in a pair of rubber trousers eating a salad. Not sure I could manage to do any sort of sitting in a pair of rubber trousers. A friend of mine once had a rubber dress, underneath which she didn't wear anything else (ruins the line or something) anyway she went out dancing and someone accidentally burnt the dress with a cigarette and the whole thing split. She had to borrow a jumper from someone and go home. Mind you I suppose it is a wipe clean material so good for eating things that may dribble a bit like salad.

Hooray for the weekend!