Realisation
I have come to the realisation that my stress levels are probably hampering my progress in yoga somewhat. After all it makes sense that if your shoulders are up to your ears that some poses are going to be difficult. I'm not really sure if it is the shoulders so much as just a general overall tenseness of the muscles. In practice the other day for example I was in lotus and my legs went more deeply into the pose than normal and I freaked out a bit and reigned it in. Not because it felt bad, just because it was weird and I tensed up immediately!
And I suppose if you are anxious about a pose it gives you a mental disadvantage to be able to do it. I was reading in my Gregor Miehle (totally wrong spelling I think, but you know who I mean!) book, which is amazing by the way, that headstand is less full of fear if you think about the fact that you manage to balance on your feet quite easily and in headstand you have a much bigger base, it makes so much sense. Actually the book if full of little nuggets of wisdom like that plus the anatomical drawings. It will be a good resource for the teacher training.
On the practice side of things I am just practicing. No huge breakthroughs just practice, practice, practice like the man reccommends. Although am slowly getting supta k, hell my fingers even touched the other day. All that leg behind the head practice must be starting to pay off. Also weirdly I seem to have really progressed with baddha konasana getting my head to the floor. I suppose the two are related in that hip flexibility is vital. Am also starting to love bhujipidasana now that I can get my feet quite high up when my head is on the floor. It is funny how you concentrate on the big things like binding in supta k and the little things start to progress and then before you know it you can levitate. OK that last bit might not be quite true, but you know what I mean ;)
It has been an odd week this week. I got told that the David Williams workshop I booked ages ago might be cancelled and was quite upset, but thankfully it is going ahead. I can't wait actually. Although it is in between two festivals I am going to - T in the Park and the Wickerman festival. And then the festival hits Edinburgh in August. Busy times. But in a good way. Now if I could just get my perfect job life would be, well, perfect...