Tartan Yogi

Murphy's Law states that what can go wrong, will go wrong. So this week I have had a cold virusy type thing so have been off work and also I have managed to injure my right knee. I have been practicing, but not at my usual intensity. Plus the fact that the David Williams workshop I booked in March has now been cancelled :(

Interestingly I had forgotten about the ankle injury (also on the right side) that I had about a year ago. I guess it is all coming from one of two things, a lack of rotation in my hip or the car accidents (I had 2!) when I was younger as I sprained my right ankle both times. I wonder if now that my ankle seems to be stronger, the knee is taking on any strain. It was Mari D that did it, I really am too overzealous in that pose.

On the up side I have had time to really work on my headstand this week which is now coming along really well. I can hold it for about 10 breaths now without using the wall. I had a revelation when my teacher pointed out my set up was all wrong because I was clasping my palms together rather than letting my head rest in my cupped hands! Mad really, if I had just done my headstand years ago and let someone look at it I could be some sort of headstand genius by now. Lesson learned!

Am off to T in the Park tomorrow night to sit in a field and listen to lots of bands. Excitingly the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing and my old favorites The Levellers. Should be good, although no practice for three whole days. I guess it is probably best anyhow to let my knee heal a bit and get over this cold. Am not sure my yoga centre colleagues would thanks me for this cold, it is a stinker.

The weekend that is!

The weirdest thing happened this morning that has given me the warm and fuzzies. I was walking into work with the husband and we spotted a T in the Park ticket on the pavement. These things are like gold dust at the moment - it sold out in about 10 minutes and they have been going on e-bay for huge amounts. Anyway, we were going to ring up the T in the Park people and see if we could get the ticket to its owner before the weekend started. Although that would have been fairly unlikely. We walked on a bit further and saw this young guy who looked really upset and had camping stuff with him so the husband said I bet it's his ticket so we went up and asked and it was. He was almost in tears with relief when we gave it to him. I hope he has a really good weekend now after feeling so awful. I can just imagine how dreadful I would feel if I had lost my ticket.

In other news I went for a much needed massage yesterday, it was fabulous, although the masseuse reckons my hip muscles are tight causing some strain in my lower back, which echos a comment I had on my last entry and is possibly why I have strained my knee. It is a funny one though because I don't seem to have too much of a problem with it in poses like baddha konasana, but maybe it just presents itself in certain rotations.

I am going to do a quck practice tonight before we set off for T in the Park and then no practice until Monday. Am missing it like crazy so am looking forward to getting back to normal practice next week. Shall practice non-attatchment till then (with great difficulty, possibly defying the point!) and possibly enjoy some wine at the festival ;)

The weekend that is!

The weirdest thing happened this morning that has given me the warm and fuzzies. I was walking into work with the husband and we spotted a T in the Park ticket on the pavement. These things are like gold dust at the moment - it sold out in about 10 minutes and they have been going on e-bay for huge amounts. Anyway, we were going to ring up the T in the Park people and see if we could get the ticket to its owner before the weekend started. Although that would have been fairly unlikely. We walked on a bit further and saw this young guy who looked really upset and had camping stuff with him so the husband said I bet it's his ticket so we went up and asked and it was. He was almost in tears with relief when we gave it to him. I hope he has a really good weekend now after feeling so awful. I can just imagine how dreadful I would feel if I had lost my ticket.

In other news I went for a much needed massage yesterday, it was fabulous, although the masseuse reckons my hip muscles are tight causing some strain in my lower back, which echos a comment I had on my last entry and is possibly why I have strained my knee. It is a funny one though because I don't seem to have too much of a problem with it in poses like baddha konasana, but maybe it just presents itself in certain rotations.

I am going to do a quck practice tonight before we set off for T in the Park and then no practice until Monday. Am missing it like crazy so am looking forward to getting back to normal practice next week. Shall practice non-attatchment till then (with great difficulty, possibly defying the point!) and possibly enjoy some wine at the festival ;)

I had the oddest dream last night that I was in Mysore and that I was only allowed to practice sun salutations because I was so dreadful at doing the other poses! Talk about anxiety dreams...must be in anticipation of the teacher training starting (eek!) next weekend.

Although I am obviously starting to worry about the course, at least I have good motivation to practice my headstands and supta k. The headstands are coming along quite well just need practice, practice, practice to get more confident in them. As for supta k I spent yesterday afternoon rolling around in the living room making unattractive grunting noises while trying to get my hands to clasp in a sort of flipped over version. I just don't understand why I have no trouble getting my legs behind my head, but just can't grasp my hands together. Have visions of my bottom expanding hugely every time I try to do this pose thus meaning my hands won't grasp. Possibly a bit paranoid...I am so close to it though - I can feel the air between my fingers every time I try!

Also my knee injury is healing, even managed to get into Mari D - although I didn't even try to bind on the bad side just in case I injured myself again. Hopefully by next week I will be back up to normal.

In other news T in the Park was amazing. My band of the festival was The Editors, very Joy Division, but more cheerful. There also seemed to be less drunk people around this year which was nice. Although I did have a bit of a mad old lady moment when I shouted at some idiot who just walked straight into me when we were watching Franz Ferdinand. I suddenly turned into my mother and asked him what he hoped to achieve by trying to walk through me. Made everyone I was with laugh though! Honestly though people are just so rude, it makes me sooo cross.

The weather in Edinburgh is amazing at the moment, really hot. Hopefully this will mean success in tonight's mysore class and I will touch those hands in supta k. Otherwise I predict more weird dreams where I am doing a handstand and my hands turn into lobster claws or something...

It is so hot here that I haven't been able to sleep properly for the past two nights. I am quite grumpy this morning as a result, in fact I almost cried when they told me they didn't have any soy milk in Starbucks (the big brother of caffinated beverages) this morning. Not rational at all! Although to be honest I dunno why I even go in there as it is so expensive and I only drink decaff.

Mysore class was just ok last night. Spent lots of time babying the knee injury so the series seemed to take an age. It is getting back to normal though, but I would rather take it slowly than injure it just before teacher training starts. I was really having second throughts about the whole thing last night actually. Maybe I need another 10 years practice before I should be even considering it. Bit late now though seeing as I have paid for it and got a reference and everything. Argh. Should stop worrying and just do it the best I can and enjoy the experience. And anyway I am not going to be a teacher after 6 months seeing as I plan to do another course following this one.

Mental note, must start doing more meditation to calm nerves before teacher training - hey, isn't yoga supposed to calm you down...

In other news, I nearly got the transition from titbhasana to chatarunga last night, I managed to swing my legs back into bakrasana and then was so surprised I fell out of it. The only thing is that my legs were outside my arms, rather than squarely on the inside of them (if that makes any sense) so I will need to practice the jump back with this configuration. I like jumping back from bakrasana actually, it is a bit like flying. I might practice this tonight for a while actually as I can do it even though my knee is injured. Usually I need to reserve energy at this stage but with a modified practice I have it to spare.

Am looking forward to the weekend this week as I am off to another festival - Wickerman. Definitely the best festival in the world. It is really cool as people bring their children and it has a great hippy vibe to it, the word on the street is that there might even be yoga there. I shall take my mat just in case. Failing that I could even do a few sun sals on my own in the morning, providing I haven't been too bad with the wine...difficult at a festival ;) I am also making sure I take lots of healthy food as at T in the Park the only vegetarian food was chips and curry sauce. Not a recipe for good health.

How exciting, this is my 100th entry. I suppose it is quite timely really what with the upcoming teacher training (eek eek and eek again). Practice wise I have moved on since I started the blog - it is funny looking back on where your practice used to be. Gives perspective on the fact that I have moved on rather than stagnating which is how I feel most of the time. Then I wasn't anywhere near doing supta K or headstand whereas now I am almost there. I am also practicing more which is good. And I can do bujipindasana (even if I can't spell it properly) now too and mari D with a wrist bind (apart from the bad knee side and that won't be for much longer hopefully). Actually that is quite a lot...

I do think I am taking a liberty doing teacher training while not being able to do some poses that are crucial to the primary series though. Hence misgivings about the course. But I had a moment when I was in relaxation in class on Tuesday where it didn't seem to matter if I can't do all the poses perfectly. Part of my problem is that I am a perfectionist so don't consider I can 'do' a pose unless it is perfect. And the thing is I am enthusiastic about practicing and advancing from where I am now, I just hope I learn a lot from the course and after all it is a fabulous excuse for spending loads of time over 6 months doing yoga.

In other news I was really grumpy yesterday because I was tired and work is a trial at the moment and spent a couple of hours stomping around doing housework (which I feel is spiritually cleansing in a deep way ;) until the husband came home. He then decided that rather than going to the Wickerman festival tonight, we would go on Friday morning which threw out all the plans I had made with the friends we were giving a lift too who I had to ring and tell and they weren't happy as they had to make other arrangements. It was all just a big headache.

The problem is that the husband is so inconsiderate about other people sometimes. Anyway that put me in an even worse mood so I did 45 minutes of self practice and went to bed in a huff. I think the reason it put me in such a mood was because I am the one who ends up reorganising everything because he just doesn't bother. I told him to call our friends to let them know and instead he went to faff about with the car. I just knew he wouldn't bother. Honestly sometimes I just think life would be easier if we lived in seperate flats and led totally seperate lives and met up at weekends to do stuff. We just have such different ways of dealing with things. Maybe it is a man thing. I just have to make sure I don't hold on to the resentment for the rest of the weekend and make myself miserable.

Anyway, mysore class tonight which I am looking forward to as I thought I wouldn't be able to make it. I have my knee support with me too which hopefully will help. I actually managed ardha badda padmottonasana on the bad side on Tuesday - although it didn't feel that great so I backed off lotus for the rest of the class. It is definitely healing quickly though, much better than if I wasn't practicing at all. Had some great chakrasanas in that class too which was funny because I was the only one in the class doing them.

Man, what a long post. And weird because I don't usually put too much personal stuff in the blog. I have surprised myself!

Had a fantastic time at the Wickerman. Arthur Brown is quite, quite mad. He sang this great song called Space Captains holding two ray guns that lit up in the dark. He even sang Fire with the hat with flames coming out of it. Marvellous stuff.

The great thing about Wickerman is that everyone is so civilised, unlike T in the Park. Wickerman has more families, hippies and polite punks and everyone is just nice. For example, one guy who had overdone it on the beer front had decided to have a wee sleep outside our tents. I put some suncream on him just in case (it was so hot, unheard of in Scotland) and then two guys in the tents nearby lifted him up and put him in a shady spot. At T in the Park he would probably just have had his wallet stolen.

I even got a massage, which was nice although the girl said she could have worked on my shoulders for another 4 hours because I was so tense! I guess it isn't something I notice anymore until someone puts their hands on my shoulders. I am sure this is the reason I am challenged in poses sometimes. I wonder if my teachers notice it but are too polite to say anything.

When we got back on Sunday I was really knackered and Monday was no better. Practice yesterday was pretty stiff too, but I feel back to normal today. Am still really anxious over the teacher training weekend though. Althogh we got our reading list and I have all of the books on it already which is a good sign. Although the knee isn't really that much better after a break of a few days in practice for Wickerman. I suppose I just have to say I am injured at the moment. And at least the course lasts for 6 months so it should be better during that time. Wahhh, I want my Mari D back :(

I really dragged myself to practice last night. It was too hot, I was tired and grumpy and just before I got to the yoga centre I was on the verge of walking straight past, going home to lie in bed with a good book and an ice lolly or three. But I went in and had a great practice. Funny how ashtanga gives you energy sometimes, a wee present to keep you going through the series I suppose!

I had a great adjustment in supta k, once I was in the pose, the teacher pulled me upright and really pulled my legs back so my ankes were really well wedged behind my neck as I had the leverage to get further forward. It is exactly work like this I need to do to get those infernal hands bound. And actually I felt like I could have done it after that adjustment. It gave me the extra couple of inches I needed. Maybe tonight will be the night...

Also the knee is starting to get back to normal, I even managed lotus. But I am not pushing it in case it goes again and I couldn't cope with that before teacher training starts. I am waiting for 2 books to be delivered for the course, one on muscles and another on moola bandha. I love yoga books. I have quite a collection of 70s yoga books. My favorite is one with cartoon pictures of people doing asanas in hippy garb - it is quite cosmic (well, it was the 70s!).

Also I did loads of assisted headstands yesterday. I rather enjoyed them which is a first.

Am now starting to look forward to teacher training. Although I did have an odd dream last night that the singer from Queens of the Stone Age was on the course. That is probably wishful thinking though ;)

I wonder if it is possible to make ice lollies out of gin and tonic? You know this heat really is starting to make me go insane! Gin is the only way forward...