This morning was my 3rd practice in a row. I’m going strong, well sort of. I didn’t get a chance to write about yesterday’s practice, not that there’s anything interesting to report. I did sun sals, all of standing and finishing and it took me an hour to get through it. I had to take many “breathers” and I deliberately went at a slower pace with longer breaths.

Noticable ouchie areas are hamstrings (when are they not?) and the left inner thigh. The rest of me is in it’s “usual” constant achey soreness, nothing too bad.

Since I felt quite good this morning, I repeated the same as day 2′s practice and added in paschimottanasana. The forward bend in sitting isn’t so pleasant on the hip wounds, but it doesn’t hurt, just some pressure.

Which reminds me, my favourite pose, ardha baddha padmottanasana is a killer again. Not only do I lack the strength in my legs to do it, but the foot in the hip crease plus bending forward really puts bad pressure on the wounds. Again, it doesn’t hurt, but it’s the most uncomfortable pose.

I’m doing pretty good this time around. 3 practices in 3 days, all in the mornings. I have an early 8:30 am start tomorrow, so it’s either wake up at 6:30 am to practice or sleep in til 7:45 am and practice in the evening. I’d like to keep up with the am practice, so we’ll see whether I can convince my lazy butt to get out of bed at that time.

Had my first practice since the accident. Nothing spectacular, nothing long, just sun salutations then the 3 closing lotus poses.

I had lost a lot of flexibility. Chest to thigh is far out of reach again and even sitting in lotus is a little tight around the hips. No biggie though, it’s to be expected after 1+ month of no yoga and besides, it’ll all come back in no time.

Mindfulness and respect for my body will be my focus of practice for the next few weeks. I have to keep in mind not to push my body too hard in order to achieve the level of flexibility, strength and stamina pre-accident.

It was nice to feel the moving meditation after such a long break. Depending on how the body responded to today’s quickie, I may add in standing poses tomorrow morning.

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Wishing you prosperity) for the year of the pig.

Still no yoga, but the wounds are healing nicely. I’m hoping one more week then I’ll be able to start again.

What a different a week away can do for a person’s psyche. I spent 7 days on the other side of the country in Sydney with my sister and her beautiful baby. It’s a Chinese tradition to celebrate the newborn’s first month’s/full moon birthday. This is when the baby is introduced to friends and family and the mother’s one month’s confinement at home with the baby ends. Interesting tradition, I don’t know if I could be couped up all day at home without going utterly nuts.

Still no yoga for me. The wounds around the hips makes practice quite impossible. I can feel the loss of flexibility as the days pass by without practice. Some would say I should continue to practice come rain or sunshine (or scooter accident), but my body doesn’t feel ready for that, it’s still healing from the trauma and I’d rather save the energy for healing than spend it on yoga. I still sit and meditate and do stretches where and when I can, but I miss the moving meditation (and the profuse sweating) Ashtanga provides.

Not much else to write about today I’m afraid. I should go do some filing anyway, instead of spending time blogging about the yoga I’m NOT doing.

I tried my very first sun salutation yesterday and found out I’m not quite ready for practice yet. The injuries to the hips were too painful on every bend forward or backward (as in upward facing dog). I’ve had to resort to just “stretching” for now, as usual, mostly the hamstrings since they’re always tight.

I’ve been dreaming about drop backs lately, I don’t even know why. I haven’t even been “given” drop backs. I use to be able to do drop back as a child, up until I was about 15 years old, but I haven’t attempted one since.

I watched some TV movie thingy called “The Secret” which is about the law of attraction where you pretty much get what you wish for. Interesting concepts. I watched it on Saturday and put some of the techniques in practice on Sunday and it worked. I went out for lunch to a notoriously busy spot where parking is usually next to impossible. As I was driving, I was visualising getting a parking spot exactly where I wanted it. Lo-and-behold, I got what I wanted, I didn’t have to wait long for it either and to top it all off, the previous driver gave us his parking ticket which still had a good 2 hours left on it. Now I realise that this might just be coincidence, so when I went to another area for coffee later that afternoon, again, parking in this area is not so freely available, I visualised again getting a parking spot on the street that I wanted. As I turned the corner onto that street, a car pulled out. BAM! The parking spot was mine!

So yeah. I guess I’m pretty converted on the idea of getting what I wish for. I also put in practice of waking up every morning and consciously think about the things in my life for which I am grateful and to feel grateful for having those things. Life’s been looking up even more since then.

Oh my gosh I can’t feel half of my face. I had my first of 4 dental appointments to fix the tooth I broke from the accident. Had to get a local anaesthetic which is numbing the left half my face.

It’s rather funny, when I try to lift my upper lip to show the dental work, only the right side of my lip lifts up so I look a little like Elvis. And I can do a unilateral nose flare as well. Never knew that local can numb your nose! Oh well, at least I have my tooth back and it looks like no other teeth were damaged.

I think I’m about ready to go back to practice. I’m still covered in dressings and don’t have full movement back, but it’s enough to do some sloppy sun sals. I’m starting to feel stagnant so a bit of yoga would be nice to get the blood moving.