Tartan Yogi

I am feeling pathetically sorry for myself today, I have had gastoenteritus for 2 weeks and have only managed to do 2 practices in that time. Rubbish. I had to miss a weekend of teacher training as well. Am aiming to go to a class tonight but will see how I go. It really does wipe you out this gastric flu and I am still not eating properly. On the up-side maybe some postures will be easier now I have lost a lot of weight!

I need to get back up to speed for next week as I have signed myself up for a Matthew Sweeney morning mysore worshop. I am hoping you can't lose your flexibility in 2 weeks of not practicing. It seems just as I start to improve something like this happens. I am destined to be stuck on primary series forever. Oh well.

I managed to do half an hour of yoga last night and I loved every second of it. My back was screaming out for a twist. Funny how your body gets used to these weirdy postures like the Maris and if you don't do them every day it gets grumpy. In fact Mari C was amazing last night as my thighs have lost some chub, I wonder if that will translate to Mari D too and my recent nemsis pose garbha pindasana....hope so.

So on the wave of my sucess am going to go to a meditation class tonight followed by a led class. Will get me back into the swing of things after being ill and more prepared for Matthew Sweeney next week. Am hopeful a full week of mysore won't kill me after being ill.

In other news I used my new neti pot for the first time yesterday. Having never tried this procedure before ever I fully expected it to go horribly wrong and half drown myself, but actually it was quite easy after I got over the unfamiliar feeling of water being poured through my nose. I think I will try to make it part of my daily routine along with tongue scraping and nauli (god yoga is weird). And it means when we have to do it at the Ana Forest workshop I won't humiliate myself by squirting water in her eye or something.

Edinburgh is really cold today, winter is definitely here. Apparently it will be minus 3 tonight. Probably a hint to get the heating fixed in the flat. The only problem is that the husband is always too warm even when it it bloody freezing. I think he might be part radiator. Apparently when he was little his mum used to hug him when she was cold to warm herself up!

I spent most of yesterday dreading the first morning of the workshop mainly because I managed to drink far too much wine on Saturday. I then danced for about 4 hours in a dodgy rock club and my head banging dancy styleee has done something to my neck. Cue having to miss out chakrasana for today's practice. Rock n' roll is just not good for a girl you know.

It was quite odd going out dancing actually, I haven't been out to a club for ages. And there were lots of sleazy men trying to fondle me and the other girls we were with while we were dancing. The husband was not impressed. I suppose you don't notice how much of a meat market clubs are until you go just wanting to dance rather than meet people.

Anyway, the today's class actually went OK considering my illness practice hiatus. Rather brilliantly the weight I have lost has meant a marvellous Mari D on both sides and even supta K is getting closer and closer. I never though I would be happy I got flu.

I didn't get many adjustments though, which was fine as I guess Matthew is trying to gague everyone's practice. Although I got told off for going too fast at the end and not doing the steps properly with the breath....bad yogini.

I have a sneaking suspicion I might ache quite a lot tomorrow though.

Weirdly woke up full of beans this morning. Most odd as I had real trouble getting to sleep last night - possible because I was listening to Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and forgot that Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands lasts for about an hour so the music went on longer than it was supposed to. That'll show me for listening to music when I go to bed.

When I got to the yoga centre I was the first person there so I sat outside on the step and watched everyone arrive. It was quite funny to see all these yawning yogis milling about in the dark in the middle of the night (well quarter to 6). No wonder the norms think we are all mad.

I was also looking with interest at people's 'getting to the yoga centre' outfits. I tend to just chuck on my yoga gear and put a jumper on top, but there were people with natty skirts on and all sorts of cool garb. I guess I am just not cool enough, and too lazy to be bothered about what I wear at that time of day. So long as I am not exposing myself or in danger of freezing to death I don't really care.

So practice was really good. My Maris are getting stronger daily and supta K is getting there too. The only pose I had a trauma with was garba pindasana. I got one arm through after I had sprayed myself with water, but the other arm just wasn't playing. And then I gave up and carried on. Stupid pose.

When I got to backbends I managed three dropbacks and coming up to standing and was about to sit down when Matthew came to help. He managed to help me with a really cool assist where he pushed on my hips while I was coming up. And I'm not sure how I actually managed coming up actually, but it really emphasised the action in the legs which was fab. After a few of those my poor wee legs were shaking!

In other news the husband has randomly gone to Holland for a couple of days as he got cheap flights. So I think it will be an early dinner of oven chips (most healthy - so much for all that talk about raw food!) and then to bed ready for tomorrow where I will conquer gharba pindasana...

I really didn't want to get up this morning and in fact toyed with the idea of not going. But then I just made myself get up using sheer will power, you have to control the monkey somehow. When I got to the centre someone said hello and asked how I was doing and I said I wasn't very inspired and maybe they should start selling coffee in reception to wake us all up. I must try to be more positive in the morning, I am sure other people don't want to hear me moaning when they might not be feeling so good either.

Anyway, practice was good and miracle of miracles I manged to get my arms through in gharba P on my own, hoorah for me (and good news I don't have to resort to weird oils)! OK, so it took me about 5 attempts, but I did it. The trick is to get the tighter side arm through first and then the easier one. It was weird though because I was faffing about and then the hard side arm just slipped through as if to say, ha! see I could do it all along. The rolling was fine and then kukutasana was way more easy with the hands through than at the side.

My dropbacks sucked today though. Getting back was fine but coming up just wasn't happening. I think it is a lack of strength in my arms to push up after being ill and not practicing and today after three intense practices they rebelled. I tried 3 times and called it a day. Then when I was sitting in my lotus finishing postures Matthew came over and asked if I had ever done intermediate and I said no, just Primary (which isn't strictly true as I have done some intermediate poses, just not in my normal practice) and he said tomorrow I should call him over after I have done urdhva muka pachimottonasana and he will take me through the first few intermediate poses.

I was so shocked I just sort of nodded.

I think for the rest of the day I will be in a bit of a daze. Although I might have a look at my David Swenson book and look at the first few second series postures and read his comments. Interestingly I was surreptiously watching a couple of the second series practitioners and noticed that their first series wasn't perfect. Obviously they are pretty good, but I guess I had it in my head that your first series had to be perfect before you start on second. Obviously not or I wouldn't be getting to it....anyway, I am probably over analysing it too much and should just be happy!

I think once I get back to my regular teachers I will mention it and see what they think as well to see if I can add in a couple of second series poses to my normal practice. If not, it is no big deal really as it will give me a chance to perfect my garba pindasana. Will be interesting to hear what they say actually as I have never asked for extra poses before.

Exciting times!

I really didn't want to get up this morning and in fact toyed with the idea of not going. But then I just made myself get up using sheer will power, you have to control the monkey somehow. When I got to the centre someone said hello and asked how I was doing and I said I wasn't very inspired and maybe they should start selling coffee in reception to wake us all up. I must try to be more positive in the morning, I am sure other people don't want to hear me moaning when they might not be feeling so good either.

Anyway, practice was good and miracle of miracles I manged to get my arms through in gharba P on my own, hoorah for me (and good news I don't have to resort to weird oils)! OK, so it took me about 5 attempts, but I did it. The trick is to get the tighter side arm through first and then the easier one. It was weird though because I was faffing about and then the hard side arm just slipped through as if to say, ha! see I could do it all along. The rolling was fine and then kukutasana was way more easy with the hands through than at the side.

My dropbacks sucked today though. Getting back was fine but coming up just wasn't happening. I think it is a lack of strength in my arms to push up after being ill and not practicing and today after three intense practices they rebelled. I tried 3 times and called it a day. Then when I was sitting in my lotus finishing postures Matthew came over and asked if I had ever done intermediate and I said no, just Primary (which isn't strictly true as I have done some intermediate poses, just not in my normal practice) and he said tomorrow I should call him over after I have done urdhva muka pachimottonasana and he will take me through the first few intermediate poses.

I was so shocked I just sort of nodded.

I think for the rest of the day I will be in a bit of a daze. Although I might have a look at my David Swenson book and look at the first few second series postures and read his comments. Interestingly I was surreptiously watching a couple of the second series practitioners and noticed that their first series wasn't perfect. Obviously they are pretty good, but I guess I had it in my head that your first series had to be perfect before you start on second. Obviously not or I wouldn't be getting to it....anyway, I am probably over analysing it too much and should just be happy!

I think once I get back to my regular teachers I will mention it and see what they think as well to see if I can add in a couple of second series poses to my normal practice. If not, it is no big deal really as it will give me a chance to perfect my garba pindasana. Will be interesting to hear what they say actually as I have never asked for extra poses before.

Exciting times!

I was in bed by 9 last night. Actually that is a lie. I was in bed at 8 - I was trying to make myself sound less sad. No wonder my husband thinks yoga has taken over my life, ahhh the trials of being a yogini. He is currently in Holland eating lots of eels though (why, I have no idea - I can't imagine anything worse, the eels part that is not being in Holland) so am indulging in really early nights.

Anyway, I got up at 5 and ran around getting everything ready for the day with butterflies in my stomach because of getting intermediate poses. I don't know why I get so nervous about these things. The first time I practiced during the teacher training course I was a mess. It is hard to ujjai breathe when your heart rate is really, really high.

Practice went well. I managed to do gharba pindasana much more easily today, which was good. I need to play with getting more of my arms through though as it was a bit uncomfortable with bones squishing together on the right side. I think I just need to squash the fleshy bits together when pushing the arms through. Gosh that sounds funny! Yoga is so weird.

When I had finished primary, I sat and waited for Matthew to be free so I could attract his attention. I ended sitting watching him help someone with pincha mayurasana and Dorian came over asking if I was just watching so I felt like a bit of a voyeur! I usually try really hard not to watch other people practicing because it freaks me out when people watch me. I told her why I was waiting so she mentioned it to Matthew and I felt like a bit less of a loser.

Anyway, Matthew went through the first 3 postures of intermediate with me and another student after he had shown me pasasana on my own first. I actually quite liked it. I got the bind on both sides, but the balance was the hard part. I think I was looking in the wrong place when I was getting into it and it was confusing me. Apparently you know when to jump back when your calves start burning! And I had to do it twice so major calf burn. Then we did krouchasana, man I love that pose. It is amazing. I could have stayed in it for ages. Such a brilliant hamstring stretch.

Then it was salabasana which I have done before so that was fine, we did A and B and then went into backbending. By that point I was so knackered my backbending was fairly rubbish, did three drop backs, but coming up wasn't happening again. Must just be all the excitement of the week, hopefully they will be back next week.

Matthew said that I should keep doing those poses after primary and then maybe start to add on poses once I have mastered the balance in pasasana so that is something I will need to talk to my usual teachers about. I really hope they let me carry on with these new poses, especially krouchasana, my practice has come on in leaps and bounds over the past few months so I am hopeful.

Then I went to have my shower and realised I had forgotten to put my work trousers in my bag, so I had to cycle all the way home and find them and then get the bus into work. Intermediate seems to have removed part of my brain!

I am off to a pub quiz tonight and am a bit nervous about getting to bed late on a practice night. Gosh ashtanga makes you sociable! I will get a nice lie in on Saturday though so all will be fine I am sure.

Rather excitingly am also going out on Sunday to see Hayseed Dixie (eek another practice night), they do amazing country versions of things like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin so it will be good.

And it is sunny outside. What a great day!

I am being nauseatingly cheerful so will go away now.

I survived the workshop, hoorah! Even though I was up until *gasp* 11pm last night. Sadly our team did not win the pub quiz, but we did work out an excellent happy dance for when we got a question right, the victory dance will just have to wait until next time. Actually I think our team should have won for enthusiasm alone.

So only managed to get about 5 hours sleep and my bed was so comfy this morning it was a real wrench to get up. I managed to lure myself out of bed with the promise of a caramel latte after practice and the thought of a lie-in tomorrow.

Interestingly the number of people at the workshop who did the whole five days was pretty small. There must have only been about a handful of us who did it. Well done to all of us I say. I was surrounded by second series practitioners today, I guess there must be about 5 out of the 20 or so people on the workshop doing intermediate. I don't count myself in that group yet. Maybe when I reach kapotasana or some of those other scary looking poses I will.

Anyway, practice was OK, I was a bit tired, but went through the primary OK. Interestingly Matthew picked up on my knee injury during ardha badha which no other teacher has done. My hip must be slightly at the wrong height as he noticed it straight away. The other side is fine, but on the bad side it is a little wonky. Something to work on. It is funny as although the knee is not perfect it still lets me do Mari D and garbha p comfortable (which totally rocked today, yahoo!) without too much trouble. I just have to be conscious of not pushing over the edge.

I made an executive decision not to do drop backs today and as penance Matthew came over and told me to do the three intermediate poses from yesterday. The man must be psychic. I suppose that is what all the yoga does to you. Pasasana was much better balanced than yesterday but the bind was a bit ropey. Krouchasana is still my favorite pose at the moment and salabasana was fine. By the time I got through the finishing postures, I was cream crackered but very happy to have done the whole workshop and to really feel like I am progressing.

Ashtanga is like a demanding mistress. It makes you get up in the morning for extreme physical exercise and makes you think about it all day long and if you neglect it, you get more pain than you can really deal with. But man it is all worth it!

So in celebration of a rest day tomorrow I am off to a party and I will drink some wine. Yay!

Had a most odd weekend. Went to a party on Friday and managed to drink waaaay too much wine and some friends from work stayed over. These same friends then went out drinking all of Saturday (their poor livers) and when I was in the middle of a nice relaxed dinner party after spending the whole day cleaning and cooking (with no wine!) on Saturday night the friends from work rocked up completely drunk and managed to burn my carpet, stand on a friend's toe and break it and have a fight with one of our neighbours.

Therefore the theme of this week is that drinking is bad. Well drinking in excess anyway. Especially as I can't hold my booze anymore - must be all the yoga and clean living (rather than booze and karaoke - oh dear I seem to remember screeching 'I love rock n' roll' at high volume on Friday, I have no shame). I was hungover for about 3 days after Friday, which is why I tend not to drink at all anymore. A sensible though if you ask me now (post hangover nightmare).

So anyway am now gearing up for the weekend of yoga teacher training and then (eek) an Ana Forrest workshop. I am looking forward to both, but I have heard that Ana is a bit scary! It will be nice to be around people all week who don't need alcohol to have a good time. It really does worry me how people at work embrace the drinking culture - I suppose that is why I don't go out so much anymore. And I am old (30 in March, eek) and married ;)

Anyway, for the Ana workshop we have to have neti pots and cats paws. I have been practicing my neti and I quite like it actually. The cats paws are cool too, you put them on your fingers and stretch them out and you get resistance, an opposite to what we usually do with our hands I suppose. Apparently they are good for people with carpal tunnel and that sort of thing. I wonder what we will do with them in class.

On the downside to being off work next week, am having to do two weeks of work in one which is a pain as it means I haven't managed to make it to early morning practice. I did meditation and a led class last night and am going to make the morning classes tomorrow and Friday though. Then I will be practicing 7 days in a row. Maybe I should just enjoy the rest rather than freaking out in case I lose poses!

Is now over and I passed. All I have to do now is some class observation and write an essay on the future of yoga in the west. Part of the last week of the training was 4 days with Ana Forrest. Wow! She is one strong lady. Really interesting posture work, totally different to Ashtanga, but in a good way. When I went back to normal practice I found my hips were nice and open and also my back. I am definitely going to try and incorporate some of the strengthening exercises into my practice. Probably at night though after morning mysore.

Good grief I am going to end up doing yoga all day!

Last week was pretty stressful though. Partly because it was 7 full on days of yoga practice and teaching practice in a row, and also partly because most of the people on the course were stressing about passing the course. It turned out that a few people did have their certificates witheld. The criteria was based on your practice, teaching skills, adjustments and homework. I need to work on my adjusting but really this is just getting more experience in it. I think some of the others on the course think that being flexible guaranteed a pass, but really I think it was the whole package. And those who didn't pass got things to work on and homework to do so they can eventually get their certificates to teach.

Personally even though I did pass, I don't feel ready to teach yet so I am going to do a further course next year. I must be a glutton for punishment! Maybe after that I will try and start a beginners class. I was thinking it would be good to teach a class at work so I might approach them about it next year.

I think I might look into Iyengar teaching too, although I know you have to be practicing Iyengar for a long time before you can train as a teacher and I am not sure how they would feel about me doing Ashtanga. Something to look into I guess...

One day I will get to Mysore too, that'll help the teaching aim...

I am suffering this week because of having to sit in a chair all day like some sort of prisoner. It is like I can feel my spine steadily compressing so I am contorting myself to try and make it feel better when what I really need is to not be at work and to be doing yoga all day.

Argh.

In other news I have been getting Christmas presents like a demon. It seems like everyone is getting either a pashmina or a robot this year! Am getting into the spirit of things now seeing as it will actually be December as of tomorrow and I get paid (hoorah) and I have taken Friday afternoon off so I can wander round the shops without being jostled by grumpy people trying to do their shopping in a rush.

I know Christmas really shouldn't be about the presents, but realistically it so is. And so long as I don't bankrupt myself I will be happy. And this year my family have decided we are each giving two presents to every person which really concentrates the mind on what to get.

I do love this time of year. It means I can unleash my rather excellent Christmas CD collection including Elvis' Christmas Collection, the Beach Boys at Christmas and various more traditional tunes. Oooh and I will get to watch It's a Wonderful Life soon too, hoorah!

The husband is off out tonight so I am going to go home from work, put on some loud Krishna Das and practice as I totally failed to get up this morning. Will get back to morning practice tomorrow as I don't have the 'recovering from Ana Forrest' excuse to use anymore which is a shame.

In a related thought, I wonder where Ana Forrest gets her marvellously loud and coloured yoga trousers from, I want some. Oh god, am such a materialist, maybe all this yoga really isn't doing me any good whatsoever....