TheBroth.com, yes that site I keep talking about because I’m involved in it’s development… anyway… there’s an online art competition running there at the moment, so if there are any artistic people out there and you want to give it a try click here for details.

You can see the entries in the contest gallery.

This one is mine (not that I can win, but hey..):

Just when I needed it most.

I was weak in parts of practice, mostly around the bhuja to garba pindasana area. I guess that’s expected with my less frequent practice and that’s ok, I didn’t stress myself out too much with the transitions or jump-backs. So my feet touched the ground, sue me.

Bruising is definitely getting less with garba pindasana too, and rolling around is getting better. Rolling up to kukkutasana is also getting more secure. I’m not fearing a face plant as much anymore which makes rolling up easier.

I can kinda cross my own feet in supta k but I feel more comfortable having the soles of the feet touch. The legs are quite firmly and securely behind the shoulders so I’m working on pulling the shoulders back stretch the legs some more. I can’t for the life of me get my own leg up behind my head and I’m ok with that, it puzzles me how to do it more than frustrates.

One thing that’s starting to worry me is the feeling of unevenness/unbalance in my back. The right side of my back from around the middle of the back doesn’t feel right. I want to see someone about it but I’m not sure who will be the best option. I always have the option of seeing my physio and sports doctor again. They know my history and the stuff I get myself into, but at the same time, I want to try other options just to see what they’re like. So far I’m thinking about going to a chiropractor, an osteopath or an Occupational Therapist a friend is recommending. I vaguely know what each of them do, so I guess my first action is to do some research.

So far it feels like a muscular problem, but it could also be associated with the disk herniation since the discomfort in the lower right back is not completely gone. Up-dog still feels a little pinchy.

Well, at least I don’t feel totally crap anymore.

Damn I just remembered I did inversions with my moon… sugar… oh well, too late now.

Man I’m in a bad bad mood. It’s getting to a point where I’m not sure when I was last in a constant state of good mood.

Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, the mild yet highly irritating headache, impending time of the month and lack of practice that’s getting to me. I haven’t felt “right” in a long time.

At least I’ll get to practice tonight. Home practice albeit, but practice nonetheless. I know I always feel good after practice and the only thing that varies is the amount of goodness I feel depending on how good/bad practice was. That’s one thing I love about yoga, no matter how “bad” practice is, I feel good afterwards. Never had that with any other physical activity, not that I was that physically active prior to falling in love with Ashtanga.

Must remember: Things will get better, crappy moods don’t last forever.

And just coz I can… a couple of older artworks from my private collection made at TheBroth.

Practice rocked… the end.

The last few practices haven’t been “good”. Granted I’ve been practicing in the evenings and I haven’t been too strict with myself in many ways.

I still feel good after I wake from shavasana and I still look forward to practicing, but throughout the actual practice, the monkey mind keeps wandering and wondering when it will be over. I rarely ever felt this way about practice before and all of a sudden, that’s all I’ve felt.

I’ve skipped vinyasas, like LOTS of them. I haven’t skipped any asanas yet. Maybe I’m skipping vinyasas because I expect too much from myself. Since I’ve started the odd touchless vinyasas, I think I’ve been pushing myself both mentally and physically to nail them… for whatever reason. I have no one to impress since I practice by myself.

And after all, I’m down to a 2-3 day practice per week. My bandhas aren’t what they use to be when I was doing 5-6 day practices. Neither is my stamina. Strength and flexibility haven’t diminished much though.

My sucky practices could also be because I’m practicing in the evenings. Maybe my body wants morning practices again. This would be mighty weird, because I so dislike waking up early. It could also be the crappy foods I’m eating like the large blocks of chocolate… yes… plural… blockS.

Maybe it’s time I forced myself to do morning practices at home.

Very little yoga, very little blogging, losing the weight battle (how is that even bloody possible?!), long hours at work, holiday season (which I actually don’t like) and crappy sleep.

Ok it’s not as bad as the title. Yoga is down to 2-3 times a week, still no classes, just home practices when I can. I’m able to cross my own feet in supta k but not behind my head/neck. I’ve started researching leg behind head/neck stuff to open up whatever that needs opening up. Garba pindasana bruises are getting less and less, but are still there.

I can’t wait til I can get back to classes, I’ll have help with supta k and my practice would be more… reliable and frequent. Sadly, I may not be going back until the New Year Maybe I can sneak in a casual evening class… I don’t know yet.

Lack of practice always leads me to a lack of blogging.

The weight battle is not the usual kind. I’m still under 53 kg (117 lb) and for someone who’s 175 cm (5′7″) that’s very underweight, bordering on dangerous. I’ve been able to let myself eat some rather crappy foods lately, but I can only tolerate so much in one go. I just need to eat more often, and keep a stash of snacks at work.

Long hours at work, holiday season, crappy sleep… I’m not even going to go there today.

Now I’m annoyed because I had just written 3/4 of my blog when the browser decided to reload the page by itself. Silly thing. I’m telling myself not to be peeved at the computer, but I can’t help feeling annoyed.

Anyway, so I had written about a mini achievement. Hands down, by myself in prasarita C. Not sure if I’ve blogged about it before and not sure if it’s happened before and I just forgot. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting it, I was happy to not make any progress and just enjoy the practice I have but it’s always nice to be surprised.

I only did standing last night as I started practice rather late. It was a pity, because I felt like doing my full practice, but then I would’ve finished at 9 pm and that’s just too late to finish practicing.

I set the alarm for 7 am. Woke up before the alarm. Switched it off thinking I was getting up, then rolled over and fell back asleep. Crud. Nevermind, there’s always tomorrow morning.

On a different note, a little more yoga art:

Eka pada rajakapotasana variation this time. There’s a new feature on this artwork this time. If you go to the full sized artwork’s page at TheBroth.com, you can watch a little movie replay of how parts of the artwork was made. Only thing is, the replay starts where the artwork was nearly finished and I was just putting final finishing touches on it, so there’s not so much to see in terms of its formation.


And below is my attempt at eka pada rajakapotasana. I wasn’t in my usual yoga gear, just in some “at-home” lounging gear. I needed a reference for the hands, but it didn’t matter, the hands still turned out kinda crappy.

It is when you keep giving yourself bruises, thanks to garba pindasana. I have two bruises, one on each arm above the elbows on the tricep side of the arm. Owwie.

It took me at least 2 weeks to figure out it was garba pindasana causing these bruises. I thought it was because I was jumping onto the back of my arms, but no, it’s definitely garba pindasana.

I need a spray bottle for garba pindasana. I’ve so far been just force-wiggling my arms through my legs because I don’t have an available spray bottle at home, but I think I’m going to go invest in one this weekend.

Looks like I have a new least favourite pose. Who would’ve thunk? Me finally moving on from the ardha baddha padmottanasana, not that I’m suddenly in love with it, but it’s no longer such a struggle. That title now belongs to garba pindasana.

Rolling is getting better, I got around in a full 360 in 8 rolls and left the 9th roll for kukkutasana. Only I couldn’t get up into kukkutasana today in one roll, took me 3 tries and I nearly over-rolled.

Oh yeah, got legs crossed in front of head on the floor in supta kurmasana. All by myself too, and bound hands. Yay! But my back was rather rounded, not as flat as if I was assisted. Wish I could get the legs behind my head by myself, but that will come. I’m absorbing as much info on this aspect of supta k.

So… yes… practice is cruising along pretty much.

My latest obsession: traditionally made masala chai. I’m onto my second cup this evening and I’m not meant to have caffeine after 4 pm in case it keeps me up, but it’s just sooooo good.

So morning practices have gone out the window and have not reappeared since stopping class, but at least I’m practicing on my own. My upper body feels like jello these days because of the jumping into bhujapidasana and kurmasana.

I miss the leg behind the head thing in supta k, but hey, at least garba pindasana is coming along. I can now roll around while keeping my hands on my head, but I have to do 10 rolls to get around 360 degrees so I’m working on twisting the butt around more with every roll.

Left hip always feels odd after garba pindasana, but it never stays feeling odd. I’m just paranoid that I’ll hurt it again.

I’m now semi-consistently getting one touchless (but very floppy) vinyasa right after paschimot. Keeping the head up and eyes up definitely helps.

Oh yeah, bhujapidasana is now with chin-hovering-above-ground instead of forehead-to-ground. It takes a heck of a lot of strength in the upper body (and bandhas!) to hold this, but hey, I’m ending up with the best lookin’ arms and shoulders I’ve ever had! Too bad it just zaps all strength out of me so titt-baka transitions out of bhuj and supta k aren’t possible unless it’s a super-good day.

Body part pain for the day… left bicep, probably from lugging groceries.

Last practice… Friday night, started very late, past 7:30 pm so only did standing then onto finishing. Ended up in a 30 minute shavasana, more like a nap really.

No practice Saturday or Sunday since it was moon day on Sunday. Did some stretching to help with the hamstring soreness.

Will practicing tonight.

The end.