Today was the last practice with Sharathji in Copenhagen. Time indeed flies. Today, I woke up around 4:30am and slept again. I woke up with alarm and felt more tired than usual. I got ready and left home around 5:47am - a bit earlier than usual. When I arrived at the stadium Mia who always was in front me, was again there :-) We chatted a bit. When the door opened I placed my mat on the second row next to Maria and Pinelopi. It was just like the first day. When I sat on my mat with my eyes closed… I felt dangerous because I was sleepy!! I could’ve fallen asleep like that… I was like.. ‘what is happening to me???’.. And I thought it’s because I didn’t take a nap yesterday. I walked again about 20km and didn’t take any time to sleep in the afternoon like other days. Oh well… Sharathji came and we stood up with his ‘samasthitih’. My body felt tired and I blamed myself not taking the nap. But the practice is different every day. So… let’s just take it easy and focus on breathing. Today I sweated way more than other days. I could feel I was not at my best but I did my best with ‘breathing with sound’. Haha. Sharathji said this many times during the 6-day workshop. All the standing was good. I did utthita hasta padangusthasana without any mistakes and my legs were less shaky in ardha Buddha padmottamasana. Hmm… now I write these and feel like my practice was better! But my energy felt a bit tired in general. Seated asanas were all good. I held my wrist in all marichyasanas but the first side in D. On the second side I could hold part of my wrist :-) Navasana was a nightmare….. Sharathji again….. was in front me where he could see my bent legs… haha. I tried my best but from the 4th one I lost strength. I just had to do it with more bent legs as my tailbone/sacrum area was hurting to the maximum… Bujapidasana was good. Kurmasana was okay. Supta kurmasana was same as before. In garbha pindasana, I rolled outside of the mat so my tailbone was really hurting… I stopped rolling and moved myself onto the mat for kukutasana. Today Sharathji walked near me many times and as he did it I was a bit nervous. All the rolling up was fine except ubhaya padangusthasana. When we were in the ready posture, he came next to my mat. I rolled up but with my legs bent!! Grrr all along I did it with straight legs but why this time I had to make a mistake? I think my nervousness just showed up. So I tried to roll up again and Sharathji said ‘why do you hurry?’. Agggggg. And he had his hands on my heels for balance and told me to point my toes more. So I got his hands-on and verbal adjustment on the first day and the last day on my toes! Hahahahah This reminded me of Lynne telling me not to make monkey toes… :-) I will put lots of focus on those two poses - ubbhaya padangusthasana and urdhva mukha paschimottanasana. Only the first chakarasana was crappy and the others were fine. Setu bandhasana felt easy today. I loved urdhva padmasana today. I feel so light and lifted here. In uttana padasana, my tailbone was hurting really to the maximum so I had to tilt my body towards right… Ah….. :-( During sirsasana Sharathji came just behind me on his back and stayed there till the end of 15 counts. So I could see him slightly further from my gaze. Jose, the photographer, was taking photos of him and I was thinking ‘oh.. if these photos are released I might be in them too… and my face will look so horrible!’ Hahaha :-) So there was no meditation for me in this asana!!! Though by the time we did half bend I put my whole attention to the asana and breath. I just love half bend. After brief balasana, we came to the last three closing. After padmasana, we did Nadi shodana. I felt my breath was shorter than usual. And…. the last utplitih. I was afraid today because my energy level felt low. It was another long long gap between the first and second count. When we came to count 7, I wanted to put my body down. My hips were brushing the mat a couple of times. But I was telling myself to have a strong will power and I stayed till the end of count 10. I was happy I made it. After a very short savasana, some people sat and watched Sharathji leaving. I held my hands together in my heart centre and watched him leaving. It’s been a really magical week and I have a feeling I will continue to seize the opportunities to study with him. But first, I will have a more serious daily practice with my teachers in Brussels. Also by following Sharathji’s advice, I will take a Bhagavad Gita as my holiday reading to Korea ;-)
At Ashtanga Yoga Copenhagen (DGI-byen) on 22/7/19(Mon) from 07:00 to 08:30
Teacher: Sharathji
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