Waking up in the morning has gotten easier all of a sudden. Maybe it’s all the weird time zones I’ve been flying in and out of. Whatever it is, I’m glad that mornings are almost… dare I say it?… enjoyable.

I woke up at 7 and prepared for practice. This usually involves changing into some yoga gear, brushing and tying my hair up, brushing my teeth, washing my face and laying out the mat (oh my lovely purple, cotton mat, how I’ve missed you!). I don’t shower since I’m going to get all sweaty anyway, but if I were to attend a class, I’d shower (I’m self conscious about body odour). All this takes me about 15 minutes.

I had a time limit today, I had to finish by 8 am the latest. I got to do pretty much the exact same practice as a couple days ago, shortened standing, a couple of primary then I had to finish as I was running out of time. I wouldn’t usually mind only a 30 minute practice, but I was feeling so good today. So much better than the previous practice (which was good to begin with!). I just wanted to keep going.

I needed a bit of a warm up stretch of the hamstrings as they were screaming at me the moment I got out of bed. I just did a bit of a paschimattanasana then I could get started and once I finished sun sals A, the hamstrings were feeling great. My upper body was also sore, but more from strength training than “over-stretching”, it’s a different soreness feeling.

I don’t know what the plans are for tomorrow morning. I may go for a bike ride, I may do some yoga, I may do both.

It’s been a long, long, long while since I’ve written anything here. It feels like it’s been even longer that I’ve had any sort of practice resembling yoga.

I can’t believe it’s already over a year since the accident and I still haven’t managed to get back into any sort of regular practice.

I’m hoping all this will change in 2008. Yesterday, I did my first decent practice (and it was a morning practice too!) since, who knows when, and I’m sore as I’ve never been before and strangely, it feels good.

I only managed sun sals., shortened standing sequence and a couple of poses in primary series before I was out of any oomph and went to the closing sequence. It took about half an hour, a far cry from my previous 90 minute sessions, but it’ll come again. I don’t want to push it too hard.

I had no strength, no stamina, no flexibility, and I’m about 5 kg (about 11 pounds) heavier than my usual weight but I’m saying, “Who gives a flying firefly”, I feel good.

I didn’t practice today, I went for a bike ride instead to work on some aerobic fitness. I did warm up prior to the bike ride with sun salutations, but I don’t consider that yoga, I consider it a warm up.

I’m looking forward to practicing tomorrow again. Something I haven’t said in a long time.

Namaste.

Since I’ve been struck down with a pretty bad case of a cold, I haven’t gotten any practice in. So instead, here’s another yoga lolcat:

Lolz.

My neck and shoulders have been bugging me lately. It’s the desk job thing, bending over a pile of paperwork and staring into a computer screen all day.

I’ve been taking it easy with getting back into yoga but perhaps it’s time to do more. I’m hoping the blood flow would help ease the knots in my muscles.

Speaking of which, practice has been nice and relaxing. I’ve been doing evening practices simply because I can’t get myself out of bed in the freezing cold of the dead of morning. I’m thinking once the weather warms up again, I can move my practice to the morning again.

Could it be? That I’ve ‘grown’ out of yoga? It’s been so long since I’ve done any sort of practice that I’m not sure if I even remember what to do! Ok… so that’s just a melodramatic statement on my part.

I don’t really have any excuses as to why I haven’t practiced. Truth is that it just doesn’t matter what the reasons are, fact is, I haven’t practiced in months. And with no practice, comes no yoga blogging.

I could say it was the accident, the lack of motivation, not going to class, pre-occupation with work or other interests such as gardening taking up my spare time. Thing is, I’ve always been a believer that if it’s something you want to do, you find the time to do it. So it leaves me wondering whether I’ve lost interest in, or grown out of yoga, but if I’ve lost interest in the past few months, then why am I constantly thinking about it again?

Or am I just over-thinking this and should just shut my brain up and get on with starting over again?

This year has been a strange year so far, filled with good and bad events.

It’s a bad year for yoga, so far. I’ve been back from America for nearly 2 weeks and my practice is still erratic.

It’s a good year in terms of business prospects for our online art project.

It’s been a bad year because of the accident in January.

It’s been a good year in that I’ve learned a lot about myself and the people around me because of the accident.

It’s a good year because I have a baby nephew who’s cute as a button.

It’s a bad year because my grandmother passed away yesterday.

I’m about off to breakfast and I’m starving today. I fell into a coma last night at 7pm Seattle time and slept for a good 12 hours. This means I missed any sort of class this morning. Oh well, I can’t say I actually feel like practice anyway, I’m still adjusting to everything.

The weather again is gorgeous! Clear blue skies outside and it looks like it’s going to be quite pleasant weather for the rest of the week. As I’ve been joking around, I think I brought Perth weather with me!

Ok, so no practice this morning, but I might get a quick session in this evening. Too bad I didn’t bring my mat (weight restrictions), but I have a spare towel I’ll use as a makeshift mat.

In the meantime, this is a photo of me (in my new hairstyle) with Seattle in the background.

and tired.

I think I look like a train hit me, I certainly feel that way. Haven’t had any proper sleep for about 24 hours now. The most I slept was 2 hours in a row. Kept waking up with knee pain and swollen feet etc etc.

We’re waiting in the lobby for our room to be prepared, my request for an early check in didn’t seem to have made it through the system, so we wait for a couple of hours before we can go up for a hot shower and a lie down.

Umm… obviously no yoga news. I did stretch a little in the toilets, but that’s not really yoga is it?

10 hours to go before we board a plane for a 10 hour flight to Tokyo, then a 9 hour flight to Seattle. Best bit of all this… I’m not even packed yet. Joy.

I’ve had to ease up/stop practice for a few days again, I re-activated that nuisance back issue of mine. The right erector spinae is completely tensed up and I have no time for a remedial massage before I go. I’ve been surviving on my massage ball, but I don’t know what I’m going to do on the plane.

My hamstrings are somewhat screaming at me too. I have to take so much care in warming them up properly. Maybe it’s good that I’m taking a break for a few days.

Well, Seattle here I come…