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August 27, 2008
What's happened to John Scott's DVDs????
Tried to find a copy of John Scott's DVD recently? Had any luck? I've tried half a dozen different places and I'm getting the same reply... "This item is currently out of stock". Hmmnnn. In my line of work that usually means there's a refresh about to happen. Maybe's he's about to produce a new version! Wow, now that would be a fantastic thing. My friend in Seattle's off to see John in 10 day's time up in Vancouver (or however you spell it, I think that' right!), and she's sooooo excited as she'll be the last of our little group of friends to actually practice under his guidance. Way to go...
Och well, there's 10 minutes to hunt the net some more for the elusive DVD. If you happen to know where I can lay my hands on half a dozen PAL copies...
Posted by graeme at 7:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2008
Changes
I've started tightening up my practice in the sense that I've cut out almost all the extra bits and pieces I've been doing in practice. H, the other day, suggested I try ardha baddha without going to the floor and prepping my hips. The knee felt stiffer than it has been but it survived in place. I guess I've been feeling that I've no real idea how I would fair physically in a led class, pace wise, as I've been spending as much time as I've needed to get 'ready' before each posture. There's no led classes here at this shala so I've kinda lost all sense of how to pace myself through the practice rather than 'space' myself through the practice and take as much time as I want.
So I'm getting through practice 20-25 minutes quicker than before which thankfully means I'm not sweating as much as I was before. The downside is that I'm finishing before the second assistant comes in, and she's been super-helpful in supta kurmasana of late. Still, hopefully switching about my practice, changing up on what I'm eating and it won't be long before I wonder how I ever managed to stretch out my practice to the length it was.
Typical Gemini, can't stick anything for long without wanting to mess with it.
Oh almost forgot. Had a bit of a break through with the personal project this evening and managed to get the offsite backup to work first time. Yippee!
Posted by graeme at 6:57 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2008
Is that trikonasana?
H. was really helpful today. Shala was kinda quiet first thing only 2 other people in when I arrived, so I asked him about eating before practice. "No, nothing". I told him I was feeling really hungry at the end of practice, added I usually ate around 6.30 and in bed by 9pm but kinda grazed most of the day. Brazil nuts he said. Eat lots of nuts, then added he hoped to get one of the students who'd just graduated as a Nutritionalist to do a workshop at the shala. Excellent, just what I need.
I had some fun in class this morning. The assistant came over to help me in Parsvakonasana B but backed off after I'd got pretty well in to the posture. I could see she was looking at my front hand placement. 'This is trikonasana, right?' she asked. 'No, its Parsvakonasana', I said. 'Oh, good, just checking'.
Hey, hold on a minute. 'It looks that bad?'.
Then, mid-way through warrior sequence, when she was standing waiting for the guy next to me to transition to the next side, I completely lost track of where I was and put my hand to the floor and went back into Parsvakonasana. Err, something isn't right here, and when I came up she was looking at me as if to ask 'what the heck's going on there?'. And she was right. Completely lost track of where I was. "Now I'm completely lost".
And on the way out of the door what did H drop into my hand? A handful of Brazil nuts!
Posted by graeme at 7:45 PM | Comments (1)
August 17, 2008
Down in the Square
Here's some snaps from yesterday's bash in the square.....
Some pre-race entertainment
Jive!
Waiting for the start
Champion in waiting.
Posted by graeme at 4:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2008
What a week
Got some excellent news at the end of the week. The block in the road that was holding the personal projects up got moved out of the road and within 48 hours the task I had to do, which was looking as if it would take weeks, was done. The internet is a wonderful thing when it can bring people together that are going through the same trials and tribulations. All it takes is for one person somewhere to get that useful piece of information that everyone needs, and, if they're generous to share, everyone can benefit from it. I have to say that phrase 'Information is power' is certainly true.
So I'm a happy bunny. I watched the 100m final down at the square seeing as how I'm not a T.V. owner, but the local council were nice enough to put on a bit of a party where everyone could go along watch. I'll post up some pics tomorrow.
Oh, and on Friday I got head hunted. It's always nice to be wanted.
AND I finally got to within 5 pages of the end of the FSpec from Hell at work. 5 weeks and 327 pages later I think the first pass may be done.
On the yoga front I managed to drop myself on my head in backbends. I'd stepped off the end of my cotton rug and my hands slipped out from underneath me and I came bang down right on the top. I felt a bit of a twit but there you go.
Posted by graeme at 9:57 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2008
Quiet times
The two guys I work beside are off on holiday which means I've the run of the lab that we all work in. Other than the tunes from the radio there's nothing much been going on. In fact I'm lucky if I've said more than 20 sentences at work in the last 3 days.
Practice this morning was a bit mad. It was really quiet when I started, maybe 5 or 6 people when it's normally just about full, then by the time I got to finishing students were almost queueing out the door! There must be a moon day looming.....
Posted by graeme at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2008
Hard part over
I'm glad this week's coming to an end. Having just gotten back into a regular practice my body's taken a lot this week and after 5 practices my legs finally stopped shaking and my back opened up enough for me to actually enjoy the back bends at the end of practice. I even managed a whole week taking my fingers in supta kurmasana, something I'm very happy about indeed.
After practice I went over the road to the health cafe where some of the guys gather after class. When we got talking it turns out a few of them will be in Mysore the same time as I'm due to be there. I'm glad as it's always nice to see a few friendly faces around the place. I've got my flights booked. Having gone the round-the-houses-routes either via Bahrain (4-5 hour layover) or Dubai (2 hours in a hotel room) I booked myself direct flights this time to hopefully save on time and some hassles. Yippee. Can't wait.
Closer to home the personal project took a bit of a step back today when I found out that the distribution channels not as open as I thought it was. Oh well. Still, will need to soldier on seeing as how I've come this far.
On a funny note this morning I was admiring the paint work on the canteen girl's finger nails. "You and your nails, what are you like?" I said. "Well, it helps us get through the day" came the reply. When I went back through reception I said to the security guard, "Where would we be without women? They're just fascinating!", to which he replied,
"Richer".
Made me laugh.
Posted by graeme at 9:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2008
What's your name?
I came to the end of practice this morning and was finishing beside one of the girls who I've seen practically every time I've been there. I've also been in one of her classes when she subbed for the regular teacher at the other studio one time. Just I was getting to padmasana she turns to me and says, "Hi, what's your name? I see you practically every morning". I told her my name and she gave me hers, though I knew who she was anyway. It was such a lovely thing for her to do, to ask after who I was. I was really pleasantly surprised by it all though it made me realise I could've said the same thing to countless people in the shala since I've started.
I knew wednesday was going to be tough. I had a long standing 1-2-1 arranged with one of the other assistants from the teacher training course we help out on so along with being stiff enough before I started yesterday I must've cleared about 4 hours of yoga yesterday and my legs are feeling it now.
Ahhh, I hear the bath calling me to pay a visit.....
Posted by graeme at 7:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 4, 2008
Oh, I think I'm gonna puke..
Going back to practice after taking 2 weeks off was never gonna be a pleasant thing, though in actual fact it turned out better than I thought it would. The half-assed practice I had in the park on thursday had kinda prepared me for the fact that I was gonna be really hot and really shaky, both of which turned out to be the case. Backbends were all over the place, I hardly had enough strength to get off the floor, and when I got to shoulder stand I couldn't stop my legs from shaking. I guess what goes around comes around.
The really funny thing though was in supta kurmasana, all those times I've hardly managed to get my fingers to touch, well, today H managed to not only help me to take my fingers but to get me in far enough he could leave me there. I did think I was going to throw up so intense was the feeling in my stomach, and I could really feel it in my hips. Huh, I guess there's an upside to not being 100% and being off my food after all.
So it's a long road back up to practice level, but that's half the fun. Sometimes it's good to get a break away from it all and I think this is one of them. I even managed to get up out of bed without any complaints from my body, but I think that may be down to the fact that it's quite dark now by the time I turn in at night so my bodies getting more rest and not fighting the desire to stay awake as it's no longer light outside.
For sure I'm going to be a bit stiffer tomorrow, but it's wednesday morning I'm not looking forward to.....
Posted by graeme at 5:59 PM | Comments (1)
August 1, 2008
Numb nuts
Guess which idiot took 2 weeks off then decided to go back to class on a moon day?
Yup, no prizes for guessing who.
Posted by graeme at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)