Taking a break

The job is hard these days, no time for writing.
Last week was very good concerning Yoga: I had a consistent 6-days-practice-week, managed to get up at 6 a.m. every day, had good, solid practices every day and the soreness from travelling started to disappear. This week: Bad! No practice on sunday because of a family visit that lasted all day long, mini-practice on monday because I got up much too late, good practice on tuesday but I noticed that the right hamstring is hurting somethings which is bad, no practice today because I got up much too late and tomorrow? I don't know.
As I noticed that the hamstring moaning again I had the idea of taking a total break from forward bends for some weeks. Practically that means taking a break from Ashtanga. Of course this is a frightening thought but what are some weeks in relation to a lifetime? And I really would be glad if this hamstring problem could be solved forever. If the price would be a break from Ashtanga for some weeks I would pay it immediatly. But even if I do it I don't have the guarantee that it is solved forever. But I could try it ... The other option is to continue the same way as until now and probably having a constant on and off regarding hamstring pain. I don't know ... I made friends with the thought that I will never gain a certain hamstring flexibility in fact it doesn't really matter.
Besides there is progress in Bujapidasana: it is possible to get the feet through the arms and lower down a little bit. The exit via Tittibhasana is far away.
Just got the book from Gregor Maehle about Ashtanga Yoga, it looks good from the first view. The only bad thing is that I also don't have the time for reading it.

I am back

It's been a long time since my last post. The main reason for this is: I just returned from a fascinating trip across Malaysia. My darling and I, we were backpacking for about 3,5 weeks in Malaysia and Singapore. This was such a great experience! It was our first time backpacking and now I really regret it that I haven't done this before. I love it. You have such a great feeling of freedom, everything you have you are carrying with you and every two or three days you just take your pack and move to the next place. This way we saw Kuala Lumpur, the jungle where we did some trekking, beautiful islands with white beaches, some other Malaysian cities and Singapore. I had such a wonderful time and I never had so many impressions, adventures and experiences in such a short time. Malaysia is a fascinating country with the most friendly people, I can recommend to everyone to pay a visit.
And of course the weather is the total contrary of Germany. It is tropical, that means it has always about 30° C with very humid air. This can also be challenging but as soon as you get used to it, it is really nice. But now I'm back in cold, rainy Germany and tomorrow my job is waiting for me :-( All good things come to an end *sigh*

Just a few words about Yoga: Maintaining a consistent practice while travelling is really hard. I carried my mat with me all the way through Malaysia but I could have used it far more often. But during the last days when we were staying on the beautiful island Tioman I managed to have some nice practices on the terrace of our chalet. Practicing surrounded by jungle in this hot humid weather is nice though the mosquitos are a little bit annoying. The body feels far more flexible and you don't need so much warming up since you are warm anyway.
But now I'm getting back on track, had a good sweaty practice today in the morning and tomorrow I'm going to have my usual morning practice.

Malaga

I spent three wonderful sunny days with my sister in Malaga, which is at the south coast of Spain. The coast is named 'Costa del Sol' and the name kept his promise: Friday and saturday we had sun and blue sky all day at temperatures about 20 ° C. What a relief after the frosty weather here. Malaga is a middle-seized city with a beautiful old town and many young people studying or working there - just like my sister. And above all: it is the home town of Antonio Banderas! But unfortunately I didn't meet him ;-)
We spent the days with sightseeing, shopping and mostly eating. They have some delicious food there, but it is all very rich because they fry everything.
Sadly there wasn't any chance for Yoga, the hotel room was too small and the floor too cold. *Sigh* I have to catch up something this week.
Here are some photos that give a good impression of the nice city Malaga:











Why can't the weather be like this in Germany? On such occasions I really think about moving to a warmer, sunnier country. Hm, perhaps one day ...

Six days a week?

During the last week I followed the traditional Ashtanga practice rules and practiced from sunday to friday six days in a row. In fact that was the first six-days-practice-week for some time. I don't accomplish it very often, most of the times I practice on five days. And since last week I sometimes had the thought, that perhaps it is not good and recommendable for everybody to practice so often. On wednesday I had that glorious practice I wrote about but the day after was just the opposite. It was not so much the body but my mind was only resistance. Barely I dragged myself through some Suryas and some more poses. Hard. My body almost never causes bad practices - ok, except something hurts - but what is really bad is if the mind is not willing. If there is some deep reluctance somewhere inside what makes you think 'I want to stop' all the time, then a good practice is almost impossible.
Friday was ok, a good solid practice. I thought that perhaps the extensive practice on wednesday and the practices on the days before were a little bit too much and I needed some rest on thursday. In such situations I don't know if it is only the laziness and my weaker self who doesn't want to practice or if it is really the need for some rest. Hmm ... perhaps one learns to differentiate over the time.
If you want to practice six days a week you have to balance your practice very carefully and take care that it is not too much. Hmm, I wonder how the students in Mysore manage this ... perhaps this is exactly what a good teacher can do for you, he adjusts your practice so that you can do a six-days-practice-week without getting too exhausted or reluctant.

The weekend was great, we were at a club saturday night, dancing all night, something I haven't done for a looooong time. It was nice. But of course the sunday was almost over when we finally got out of the bed. However I managed to do a short decent practice. Now it is easier for me to practice on free days, I simply get up and do it. If it isn't the first thing I do on a free day, the probability is high that I don't do it at all. Today moonday, tomorrow I want to go to a Mysore class.

And on thursday I'm flying to Malaga *Yippiee*. A nice long weekend in the sunny, warm (compared to here) south of Spain. I'm visiting my sister who is living there for some months. I'm happy. Hopefully I'll manage to post some photos.

Great home practice

Today I had a great home practice - in fact the greatest for quite a while. The funny thing about it is that it only became possible because I am ill. Yesterday I got a cystitis - most women out there will probably know how annoying and painful this can be - and therefore I'm staying at home today. It is already much better today, I drank about 7 liters of tea and water yesterday *bäh*, but I wanted to make sure that it is really over and therefore I decided to spend this day at home - with more drinking and warming.

At noon I started my practice and already during sun salutations I thought 'wow, for some reason it is great today!'. Today I had a very strong feeling of gracefulness, my practice felt graceful. I'm sure it is far from looking graceful but it felt this way today. Paravritti Parsvakonasana was great, absolutely solid and secure on the second side. Paschimottanasana felt fantastic, I remained for many more than 5 breaths. Because of my hamstring problem I focus extremly on this body area during practice. Today I often had a warm, tingly feeling running up and down the backside of the legs during forward bends and this simply feels right and healthy. I'm sure if I could manage to practice so that I always can have this feeling my hamstrings would not only remain in their current state, they would heal. The other side is that I took some steps back in many positions but concerning that my attitude has changed a little bit. I don't care so much about how the pose looks like, I don't matter if I'm grabbing my foot in Janu Sirsasana for example, this healthy feeling during practice is much more important to me now. I want the practice to have a therapeutic, healing effect, I want my hamstrings to heal and therefore I have to practice this way. It is as it is. There is no other way leading round the problem. I'm finally understanding more and more.
Marichyasana D has improved on the first side, Navasana was quite good and Bujapidasana was my last pose today - except for UD and finishing of course. Sirsasana also improved, I'm able to come up with straight legs now but only with help of a wall because I cannot stop when I am on top. I would always fall over. I'm not yet able to shift the weight of the hips back fast enough but this will come soon. And I almost managed to bind in Baddha Padmasana, a very new and intense feeling. Savasana also great!
There weren't great breakthroughs in this practice but everything was just right. Very nice. Afterwards I felt like I was newborn. Great practice week so far, I hope it will go on!

Holidays almost over

Puh, my last holiday practice is over and it was a good one. I went until Bhujapindasana, then Urdhva Dhanurasana and finishing positions. Recently I started working more on my hamstrings, what means that I do very gentle passive hamstring stretching twice a day. It seems that this has some influence, during the last two practices my hamstrings felt quite sore and also there was some pain in several poses. Hmm, obviously something is working down in my legs, if this is good or bad I cannot say ... but I keep going on for now.
I had some very nice practices in these holidays, it's so good to have enough time and to do everything that is coming up your mind during practice. Tomorrow again speedy pre-work-practice *sigh*.

Until next week I have to do some stand-in jobs in our local Yoga Shala. I'm rather insecure and afraid because of this. Like always I have been pushed into it without real desire to do it. It's a favour I'm doing the owner of the Shala who is travelling. I would have no problem with counting some people through fundamental Ashtanga positions, but there are also Shivananda lessons and I don't have any clue about Shivananda Yoga. *Sigh* But it is as it is, I have no choice now and since it is only a stand-in job I hope the people won't expect some professional perfect lessons. I'm going to attend a Shivananda lesson tomorrow just for being able to copy something at least.

Very short

Today I had only a short practice. My parents are visiting us and I was busy with baking muffins and cleaning our home. Of course now I have finished everything and still have time to for blogging and surfing ... could have practiced longer. But you only have the necessary calmness if the things are done.
During practice I focused once more on my hamstrings. I did some strengthening exercises for the back of the legs in the beginning and some gentle stretching in the end. In between there were only some Surya Namaskaras, Sirsasana and Padmasana. Better than nothing. Tomorrow there will hopefully happen more Yoga.

First new year practice

Today I had my first practice in the new year. Yesterday I took a break, though it would have been better if I had practiced because in the afternoon I didn't know what to do with myself and just hung around lazily. It was a good practice, for the first time after several days I sweated much though it is still very cold outside. Perhaps the heater worked better today. I just finished the book "The only way out is in" by Anthony Prem Carlisi which was some inspiration for my practice today. One of the main points during practice is to stay aware and concentrated. Carlisi says that only this indicates an advanced Yogi. I tried to focus on this in my practice and it is amazing how often the mind starts wandering away. Of course you cannot avoid this but to constantly come back to your breath and body is the main goal.

Since one of my objectives was to focus more on the second part of the series I added Bujapidasana after Navasana. Hmm, not easy. I can balance on my hands with the feet hooked in front of me but when it comes to bowing forward and pushing the feet back through the arms I'm soon at my limit. I don't know how to bring the feet back through the arms. Have to work on this.

It seems that there is a small breakthrough concerning coming in Sirsasana with straight legs. When I use a wall I can come up with straight legs but the problem is that I cannot stop when I am up. If there wouldn't be the wall I would fall over. I guess the problem is that I'm using too much momentum and too less strength. But this will come soon, I'm sure.

As I'm on holiday I have plenty of time for the practice and can add some extra poses, this is very nice. Soon there will be the usual hurry-through-practice before work. I have to enjoy the last long practices.