I’m in a bummed mood today. I just found out my grandmother is unwell. She’s in her 90′s and although I don’t know her very well, I respect her greatly. I feel like crying but don’t want a puffy face at work, have to remain strong and not think about it until after work and yoga. I might not even go to class today, I’m afraid I’d burst out sobbing in the middle of practice.

Ok, so I’m crying a bit already now. Great.

So anyway, quick update on the new poses I got yesterday. I was forewarned last week that I was getting a new pose this week. It ended up being 3 new poses actually, but it forms the complete shoulderstand sequence.

I had sarvangasana, halasana, karnapidasana and matsyasana previously and got to extend it with urdhva padmasana, pindasana and uttana padasana.

Urdhva padmasana was rather challenging because of the balance issue. I noticed my hips weren’t all that squared so that’s something to keep my eye on.

Pindasana was really quite nice to be in. The first time I ever do a new asana my mind is so focused on “getting it right” that I don’t notice too much how it feels. Pindasana was different, I could feel myself “feeling” in the pose, it was a secure and protected feeling. It might end up as my favourite asana, we’ll see how it goes.

Uttana padasana was a toughie. The strength needed in the abdominals was more than I could muster up yesterday. I was meant to hold it for 10 breaths, I think I made it to 4 or 5 and even then, with every breath, I could feel my legs sinking.

Overall, yesterday’s practice was weak but satisfying. I was sloppy everywhere, especially in vinyasas, because my muscles were still fatigued from C’s fun class. The best part of practice and the part that made it satisfying was a blissful shavasana.

What’s going on? I can’t believe I’m posting twice in one day.

I was thinking about’s C’s core strengthening asanas we did in her fun class. I found a picture of the one we did for the oblique abdominals.

I suppose it’s an easy version of vasishthasana, but you’re on your elbow instead of your hand, and you don’t grab the upper leg’s toe with your extended arm’s hand. I could barely hold this for 5 breaths due to lack of balance and lack of oblique abdominal strength.

The other asana we did I couldn’t find a name of it. It’s almost like a chaturanga dandasana, but on your forearms. Your arm position is like shirsasana (headstand) and your body position like chaturanga dandasana. I know chaturanga dandasana builds core strength by itself, but I find that I fatigue too quickly due to weak arms and back to get the full abdominal strengthening benefit. With the forearms on the ground, the asana turns out to be much more directed at the abdomen. I couldn’t hold this for more than 10 breaths.

Oh and we did navasana of course. It’s a must for core strength.

I’m not surprised about the muscle soreness after yesterday’s “fun” class. Most notably, the whole abdominal area, especially the obliques, are sore. Those core strengthening exercises really did the trick! Perhaps they’ll help me to straighten my legs navasana.

Note to self: “Must make time to do those core strengthening exercises”.

I’m losing weight. Not intentionally, but Ashtanga seems to do that to me. I’m not even sure how it’s possible for me to lose any more weight, I don’t have that much to begin with. All I know is that this has got to stop because I don’t want to disappear into fat air.

Yes, fat air. That was a Simpsons quote. One of the few quotes I remember. It was the 3D episode where Homer goes through a wall in the Simpsons’ house and ends up in 3D space and it was either Patty or Selma who said, “It’s like he disappeared into fat air.”

Note to self: “Must eat more. Must make time to eat more”.

Sharath is coming to Australia. He’ll be in Sydney at the end of November. I’m planning to go, but we’ll see how it goes with the time and money factor. It would be nice to go, not only would I get to attend a workshop but I get to see my sister in Sydney.

Note to self: “Start saving up to go to Sydney”.

Yes, that’s my feet in the picture. I thought I’d paint my toenails and now I’m not so sure I should’ve painted them the loudest pink colour I could find!

If you look closely at the left foot, there’s some dark discolouration on the outer foot below the pinkie toe. That’s a mat burn scar from the time I stupidly forgot my Mysore mat. I think it was a Saturday morning practice and I wasn’t sufficiently awake enough to be able to clear my feet off the mat.

So the learning is:

1. Wake up properly before practice
2. Engage the bandhas more
3. Remember the Mysore mat

So anyway, moving on.

My boyfriend has commited to trying Ashtanga yoga. Unfortunately, the next beginner’s class starts end of June, that’s quite a long wait but one I’m sure will be worthwile. I hope he likes it as much as I do! It would be nice to be able to talk to someone about yoga and have them understand what I’m saying. I’m so excited!

Oh, and I guess I should explain the title. C, my yoga teacher, had one of her “fun” classes today. It’s a led class loosely based on the Ashtanga sequence, but with added “fun” poses thrown in. I love C’s fun classes! She had one about six months ago and it was fantastic. It’s completely tiring, satisfying and exhilirating, not that normal classes are boring, but when you do something different, it just gives you an extra buzz. The class also reminded me not to be lazy in my normal practice and to cherish every asana, every breath.

She got us doing lots of different things, including an introduction to a third series asana. I think it was Koundinyasana A and boy was it something else! Just when you think you’re making progress in Primary series, you get a taste of something new, something you may get to do in the future and you just feel so humbled. You realise you’re just scratching the surface, that you have a long way to go, and to really appreciate all the people who have practiced yoga before you, for without their knowledge and wisdom being passed down, yoga would be lost and that would be sad.

Enough sappiness. What else did we do? We did some core strengthening exercises which made me realise I need to work on my core strength. We did a neat balancing pose which is pretty hard to explain, but I’m going to try anyway. The final state of the asana is standing upright on the left leg, with the right leg behind your right shoulder, your right arm binds over your right leg and behind your back. I have no idea if I’m making any sense, but this pose is neat anyway. I couldn’t do it at all, but I still liked it and can see it would help with my leg strength in ardha baddha padmottanasana, which I’m struggling with.

C also demonstrated a straight leg jump through, it was amazing to watch. So graceful, so controlled. She invited those of us who wanted to try it to go for it, but I chickened out. I’m still working on the strength to float through every vinyasa (with bent knees) so I didn’t think I would make it through and didn’t want to hurt myself.

Other notable bits and pieces: padmasana and shavasana were extra peaceful. One of those times where I could stay in the asana for much longer, if we weren’t already running overtime.

Times like these when you feel like floating on cloud 9 makes me glad I discovered yoga.