http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/ en Copyright 2008 Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:05:58 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss ... the workshop weekend is all coming together.... Peter Sanson is coming across to my little island to give a 4 day Mysore Style workshop.... I am just so excited. It is spring and I am looking forward to 4 days of class in a row (I have done about 4 classes in the past 6 months so I am ready for my teachcer to be there). But it is a little daunting to have a big list of names in front of me, some I know some who I do not know, people flying in from other parts of NZ to attend..... the island will cater to all I know that...it is a wee paradise.... I just hope I am able to keep on top of the lttle things I need to without stressing too much.... I tend to do that. I also just got booking for two privates in less than 20 minutes.... what is going on? And they were unrelated as well... so that will be fun. Plus my own yoga for the past 2 days has been well, really great. It is all just a little bit wierd. Of course if I was to suddenly be able to lift up from karandavasana...well I would pinch myself... not in this life.... well I guess I should not say that.... and I am not drinking coffee... and no headache ... okay it has only been a day but still. http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006794.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006794.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:05:58 +0000 Spring is finally here. Maybe that is why I have felt like posting after what 6 months.... Life has been a serious roller coaster, but life none the less.... and as one dear friend said (paraphrased of course).... at least you are "living"... so many people just let the days go by. SO here I am. The Yoga recap.... well things are more or less the same. I practice at home most of the time, sometimes with a friend..... always during school hours, so no more of those early starts... quite frankly I do not miss it. I like having the boys jump in bed with me and having the morning cuddles and conversation. Then get them off to school, coffee...and think about practice. It is, well, quite a luxury. The down side is it is cold...really cold. Even with heaters cranking, solo practice day after day.... I have made it across to the city for a class about once a month.... how funny for me to find the room too hot.... like call me the heater girl.... and now I find it very distracting when the heat seems to be "false".... I guess I have adjusted a bit. The one thing I can definitely say abut taking on home practice is that I have had the opportunity to go much further inward (it ain't so pretty actually but that is another story) and am much less obsessive about my practice. And I think as a result I have become much stronger.... so that is a slight surprise... and is a good thing. http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006749.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006749.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:09:31 +0000 The wind is so full on, the rain like the almighty tap on full bore...what gives...it's only March...last week I was at the beach... Maybe it is just the tempermental island weather, hell the weather across the whole country is nutty, but here on this wee island it comes in all shapes and sizes, seriously. I was thinking about this long and hard on the man because I did not break a sweat until I pushed thru that little bit of third that I do....and even then it was more like a "glow" or glisten not a sweat, so what is with that? Maybe I am just a super slacker, I don't know.... Practice is great, though. It has been now 4 months (okay 3 1/2) since I left my old studio. So since then I have mostly been practicing at home alone. I have done a few workshops of course and had some of that yoga vibe my way. I have been to 3 or 4 classes off the island. On the island I have 2 classes that I am teaching a week which is going really well. ANd then I go along for a self-practice session that turns into a talk-thru, and generally there are a handful of people about for that. I hoping to get another class going in another month or so as well...it is a process, it is all a process, it all just is, and will be this way....gradually changing perhaps. I suppose one of the reason I am not as interested in writing about this is because of the general well "acceptance" that I feel about where I am at. The one thing that is nagging at me is of course the job. The job is only going for another 2 1/2 months and I know that is not long, but at the same time, why not now, my heart is just not in it at all. I should not complain. It is not so much that I am complaining about the job as it is complaining about my poor attitude....if that makes any sense. I do miss classes though I have to admit. And I miss the energy of practicing with other people. I miss the warmth, cuz it is cold right now, I miss the hardwood floors. But I do not miss the crazy city life one bit, so not too bad a trade off when I think about it. http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006363.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006363.html Wed, 14 Mar 2007 02:53:13 +0000 Waiheke Island Ashtanga Yoga So if you are traveling to New Zealand be sure to hop on a boat in Auckland and come see us! ]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006359.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006359.html Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:19:47 +0000 Uniforms Day 1 Conrad said he had a great day. Huxley was somewhat less enthusiastic, but still smiled when he gave me a cuddle at the end of the day. I cannot believe that both my boys are now at school. The past what 2 months or so have been incredibly full. We shifted back to the island, had Christmas and NY here and then went on a 10 day road trip, camping down in Gisborne where I was able to practice yoga each morning with my main teacher now. I left the yoga school where I trained in Auckland just before we moved because it was going to be too difficult to continue on as a teaher there while living on the island. I am practicing at home now, and one day a week I meet up for a group practice with other islanders. The solo thing has been good for me. I really love my practice, it seems free and less rigid, more my own I guess. I am going to be seeing my main teacher again this weekend and the week following as he is doing workshops nearby, so that will be good. Plus I also did the week of led classes with Sharath back in Dec. All in all, yoga has been pretty rich of late. I start teaching a led class and a Mysore class in another coupla weeks. There has already been a led class once a week for the past 6 months or so (which I have even subbed), so it should be good. I am planning to do a little workshop to kick things off next Saturday....hmmm, never done a workshop before so I have my work cut out for me deciding how to plan it. I am panning to commute to the city 3 days a week until I wrap up at the end of May....and then it looks like (xfingers) we are going to be heading home for awhile, over the Northern Hemisphere summer....yeah. I do need to go home, have been really homesick, despite all the activity here I still miss my friends and family heaps. So we have Maine, Mass, VT, and NY, Missouri I think and hope, and if it is possible, well maybe a bit of holiday in S. Cali...maybe maybe...I am working on that anyway. ]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006276.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/006276.html Wed, 07 Feb 2007 02:50:20 +0000 So I have been oh so absent from the discourse of late, actually more than just of late…for some time really. But there are several reasons why, most of which are rather dull and boring, mundane. But I do have some exciting….okay EXCITING things to share…. I finished my teacher training!!!! As of the first of October I am an official “big” teacher at the yoga school. The training started in May of 2004, so that adds up to 2 ½ years. I will be able to apply for YA500 certification as this course is registered with those dudes. It is a relief to have this all behind me. It was a terrific training program. The program has changed abit for the next batch of trainees, so anyone who might be interested could drop me a comment I will be happy to direct you to the information. We are planning to shift back to Waiheke Island before Christmas….this is awesome. I cannot wait. We are going to move back into our house and spend much of the summer sprucing it up. This also means I get to quit my uni job……well about 6 months before the funding would dry up anyway. I am nearly finished with the damn review I have been working on…so that will go off soon. And then I guess I will probably just be wrapping things up… Our house was broken into during the school holidays…..the punks made off with my lap top and 2 digie camers….so I have now lost so many photos of the kids it is not funny, in fact I can hardly think about it. Just two days before I had been organizing the hard drive so that I could download everything to the network and then revamp my OS….needless to say I did not get so far as backing everything up… I have convinced C and the boys to go to Tauranga in November so that I can do a workshop with Peter Sanson and also make a trip to Gisborne for his workshop there following xmas. Sharath is also coming to my school in December for a week long workshop….so there are a few yoga perks happening soon. Just this morning I managed to stay bound in supta urdhva pada vajrasana on the second side, something that I have not been able to figure out for many months. I told myself that today was the day I was going to really work it until I could just do it…and it only took 2 goes….hmmm. I guess I must have been ready for it because I have certainly said that before and have not had such luck. This was the last thing I was hoping to be able to do before I started to consider moving on from intermediate….now do not get me wrong…. I have plenty of things to work on in primary and intermediate, but what I am thinking is that I now have some sort of green light within myself to begin working forward again. The one huge challenge in intermediate that I am still far from unravelling is the lift from karandavasana. The thing is I am sort of on my own now, although I do of course have the workshops coming up to help address all this. I have noticed that my breath has been a bit funny lately, so I am in no great rush….and on top of that I had a week off from asana because we were away and travelling heaps over the second week of the school holidays. I feel quite weak, needless to say…. It is amazing how quickly things go…. The boys are great. Conrad starts school next month…yikes! He will only go for about 3 weeks before the summer break, but just enough to give him a boost in confidence for next year. He is very excited. And I think Hux is as well…he will be able to look after him a bit. and so it goes... http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005796.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005796.html Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:02:03 +0000 Well done on all fronts, J...... Was thinking I might dicsuss doing some yoga with the kids at Conrad's creche....would maybe be 6 or 7 kids.....not sure how on earth you coped with 19! xo]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005698.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005698.html Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:50:52 +0000 View image do not look at my right knee btw.....bad, but hey I got two kids hanging off me....]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005647.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005647.html Wed, 13 Sep 2006 22:55:43 +0000 Arthur's pass area, he and a friend went up the Waimakariri.....the first people in 4 months according to DOC (dept. of conservation). SO there was heaps of snow. The pair stayed in huts for 3 nights. No avalanches, thankfully. Anyway, it was nice to be on the mat, at the right time of day for me, with the usal crowd around, felt like home again. The past several months have been so busy, that my practice has been fit in whenever possible....sometimes in the am, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes at home, sometimes at the shala....but the problem is more with the idea that I have to hurry up and get it over so that I can move on to the next thing on the agenda....so rushed. Things are going to be slowing down quite a bit though soon. Second series today, been a while, felt great, not too much, not too little. It does not stress me. I still feel the wave of panic or apprenhension with a few poses...but the feeling passes, unfolds, and is not nearly the sort of obstacle that I used to perceive. SOmetimes I find the seriousness of the yoga practice to be enough already.... it helps to lift me to think of it that way..... so it was quite nice to crack up a bit on the mat this morning.... you know things are going well when you can laugh. Did a bit of work on supta udrva pada vajrasana.....can hold the bind on the first side, not on the second....not sure why. It feels completely different on the two sides....so it is no wonder one side "works" and the other does not....but am not sure how to change the pose to facilitate the bind on the way up....time I guess. I also tried to push kapotasana this am, just a tad...as a suggestion from JMS....and it is okay, hanging out and then moving in to grab hold above the ankles versus the heels....it does change the pose for me, at least the way I did it....I dropped the elbows down along the outside of the feet versus inside. Will see what the other feels like tomorrow. I was quite shakey for awhile after that....lightening strike to the nervous system..... The knee is healing...been a long process though, as any injury....through the process there is more appreciation for what I have and more compassion for others and the issues that they struggle with....so it is all good. Am going to head off for an afternoon of work at home....enjoy the sunshine and the tease of spring. ]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005542.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005542.html Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:04:03 +0000 Needless to say I am tired...it has been a hectic few weeks. Yoga this morning was good, it has been awhile since I been in to practice in the am during the week. I was relieved when i hit the mat and felt okay.....slow slow, new moon...primary series. Knee is okay, left shoulder feels munted, very unstable. Work. Busy, still not enjoying the paper.... Kids are great.....I visited Huxley at school and met his reading teacher. SHe was terrific. Huxley is doing well, getting the hang of it and she said he is so so keen. My little boy....what a delight....he really really is! COnrad and Hux are going to "gym" after school....they really dig it...it is the first thing they have both been into...so much they have been talking about it all week! Signing off for now.....with H's smile.... ]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005508.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005508.html Wed, 23 Aug 2006 23:48:52 +0000 "DNA Sequence Recognition in the minor groove by hairpin pyrrole polyamide-Hoechst 33258 analogue conjugate" "Molecular dynamics study of the interaction of a mithramycin dimer with a decanucleotide duplex" "Triple helix stabilization by covalently linked DNA-bisbenzimidazole conjugate synthesized by maleimide-thiol coupling chemistry" Now try to say each title 10 times as fast as you can.....coma? or just your dose of "tongue" yoga for the day.... see why I hate writing..... http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005451.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005451.html Thu, 17 Aug 2006 01:28:17 +0000 I really HATE writing....meaning work related writing...it actually makes me feel physically ill. I can hardly move my neck, my lower back is in spasm, my hands and fingers hurt..... I also feel sick to my stomach, coffee is having no effect what-so-ever....I screamed at the boys in the car this morning....even I was scared... it is too early to be pms.... I did not go to yoga I just can no longer function with stress. I think perhaps I maxed out on stress when I was younger and now I am hypersensitive....like ALLERGIC to it.... I am going home to bed http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005431.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005431.html Mon, 14 Aug 2006 04:16:19 +0000 I just about never talk about my practice anymore... probably short term memory loss more than anything else, maybe I am just too busy so when I leave the mat....well, I leave it. I have had 2 reasonable practices, full second series....it has been awhile, trouble knee and general malaise I guess.....so as I sit here I can feel the tenderness around my knee, but lotus is feeling better....even moving in and out of lotus, carefully is okay...and have been able to get in and out of lotus in Karandavasana, slowly, without pain....but the problem then becomes that I have to hold the forearm balance for a lot longer....and I am so fucused on my knee that the pose just sucks.... so I guess you could say I am having trouble......but oh well, one day at a time....it was better yesterday, pretty shit this am....what can you do. Other poses like Mayurasana and nakrasana are much much better.....stronger. I think I am pretty much holding mayurasana correctly and for 5 (rather quick I must say) breaths. Vatayanasana is okay on both side, just move slowly and work the hip a lot, careful with each transition in the vinyasa..... I think the tightness of my IT bands is really the problem in this pose..... Supta U, P, Vajrasana on the first side is so much fun....and I can stay bound...on the second side, combo of bad knee and bad shoulder....well, totally different, very un-co, no grace, generally land in giant heap with arms and legs strewn out all over the joint....oh yes and with a big thud to boot. But I do know how to do it, meaning I figured it out on one side....guess I just have to wait til the second sit falls into place....I am just so patient (sounding anyway, anyone who knows me will know that is a load of crap). Headstands are good too....now yesterday b4 headstands....welll I did the first 3 poses of Third....I know I know.....bad girl....okay BAD GIRL is probably more like it, but it was a what the hell sort of day and I had the time which I rarely ever do.... I live those first three poses too! They get things going.....maybe one day i will be doing them for real....like when someone other than myself says..."yeah yeah give it a go...." I do not know if that will ever happen.... Back bending sort of stunk, no surprise there....but I did grab my ankles solo in CB after drop backs.....so that had more or less become part of the norm these days...I have to figure out how to move my hands up my calves though....I grab the ankles and just hang out there....but if I want to push my shoulders then I suppose I should be pushing that a bit....I like doing this by myself because I have to "stay strong" throughout since no one is there to support me....in fact I just about like doing everything on my own nowadays, except when I absolutley need it....so it is a funny place really...to not want adjustments..... Second series does not really amp me up anymore, then again I am not doing it at light speed, Guruji style either.....just going at a reasonable pace, keeping the breath calm....Pasasana thru the 7 headstands in 1 hr roughly....does that sound reasonable? With Salutes, standing, backbends and finishing....coming in at about 2 hrs 15 minutes.....I like to keep it at 2 though, otherwsie I get to hear about it when I arrive back at home.....a bit late....kids still half naked eating breakfast.....oh well...cannot have it all. My teachers are back tomorrow, teaching next week....will be wonderful to see them, hear about the stories in Mysore....hopefully see photos as well. And that also means less teaching...which I am quite looking forward to....6 classes a week has been too much. http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005327.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005327.html Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:57:00 +0000 Nikaus Waitaia Bay - wanna live here....? Looking South]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005320.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005320.html Mon, 31 Jul 2006 01:20:46 +0000 Craig and Connie Rare moment when Conrad was being cute New Fern (Coru) Hux at the top with specs Oh the Sound of Music.... ]]> http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005319.html http://blogs.ashtangi.net/ashtangatraveler/archives/005319.html Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:32:33 +0000