I was afraid. I still had back and shoulder blade pain and I didn't sleep enough. I was uploading photos on Vinted and packing like crazy last night. I've made about 150 euros over the weekend via Vinted. It's a great marketplace/app. Thumbs up to these Lithuanians!!
Anyways... so I was afraid that my practice would be bad. But when I started first surya namaskar, it felt okay. Nothing felt stiff but only my blocked nose was annoying. It usually gets cleared by surya namaskar B but today it continued till quite later. I took time in my surya namaskar today. I was breathing deeply and tried to feel my shoulder blade. It was okay. I felt quite strong even... I still got help from Anne in utthita hasta padangusthasana but I felt much more stable than usual. Weird. Breathing got easier at some point and the practice felt so smooth. I even felt I was flying in jump back and through.... I was quite surprised at myself. My problem with belly... made me stronger. Maybe bad blood has been shed... haha Supta kurmasana felt super deep. I was enjoying it so much and thought of yesterday's conversation with Minkyeong. It was really nice meeting a Korean Ashtangi. I think.. she is the only Korean ashtangi I've ever met in person. Wow..!! Rolling ups were quite stable today. My bandhas are getting stronger (I hope?!). Even setu bandhasana felt quite comfortable............!!! Though my favourite (it's a joke) pashasana was still hard. Anne helped me doing it. Bhekasana was a bit weird. My feet came closer to the hip (on top actually) and Anne told me Peter teaches this way too. I guess he is okay with this modification. Today's belly on the mat poses were done gently. Back bend felt super... I was enjoying urdhva dhanurasana. At the same time I was really happy that I could enjoy the moment without feeling pain. Lifting from the third one was really smooth. I was shocked at myself again! Drop back and come up was also very smooth........ I was really wondering what had happened to me.... Half roll and drop was okay. I tried my best to walk my fingers closer to the heels. I stopped at one point though I didn't feel any pain in the back. I just stopped because I felt I was blocked there. So after this in paschimattanasana, I didn't have any pain in the back. This was a very good back bend practice. Anne told me we will do catching when I come back from Mysore. I might be able to do it in Mysore but I really don't want to push myself. I have all the time (at least 40+ more years!!!!) to practice and go further in the sequence. I don't want to hurry and get frustrated. I practice 'letting go of' my ego and attachment to asanas! (And it's not about being lazy here!! haha). I did shoulder stand sequence in (again) not so conscious manner and stayed 30 and 20 in sirsasana and half bend. I loved the practice today. I felt so good and energised. I had to take a short rest as I had to go and teach. Every day I fall in love more with Ashtanga yoga practice.
At Ashtanga Yoga Brussels on 15/12/19(Sun) from 08:06 to 09:30
Teacher: Anne