I am a bad yoga practitioner…. I have to admit. I occasionally drink and enjoy it so much. I really appreciate a glass of good wine with food or champagne when I celebrate something. Yesterday was one of those days. And it was Monday. And I had to practice this morning. But my husband and I drank the whole bottle of champagne that I got as a Christmas gift from Yoga Room (love, love). My husband is being posted to London and I will stay here in Brussels. We were celebrating that he got the job he wanted and finally going to London. Brexit is a misery but a good opportunity for both of us. So…… because of this celebration on a late Monday night, I was a bit afraid my practice would be (badly) affected. And I had a full stomach too... Ha.. Gayoung… Okay. This was an exception but let’s not make this a habit.
When I got to the shala, the room felt quite warm. Surya namaskar felt quite good. I really paid a good attention on this beginning part. I felt good. I was sweating already. Even in padangusthasana and padahastasana I bended deeper. Wow. I thought a lot on my alignment in trikonasana and it was hard. It’s hard when you can’t really see how you are doing. In parsvakonasana B, Anne corrected my hips and made my torso lengthen more. It was good but hard. Prasaritta padonttanasana felt heaven. Utthita hasta padangusthasana was done with Anne’s help and it was okay. These days I feel I am wobblier in ardha baddha padmottanasana than before… hmmmmmm. Seated was good. At some point jumping back felt hard so I walked a few times. I tried to bind from really below (near the mat) in marichyasana and the pose felt a lot more different. Interesting. Navasana felt weak but I did it with mat folded. Bujapidasana was okay and supta kurmasana was another heaven. Garbha pindasana was okay.. These days I tried to have my hands very close to my head when rolling. But it’s very difficult than it looks. All the rolling ups were fine today. I didn’t feel much of my heavy stomach and alcohol last night. And I was thinking… is it all the food I ate last night that gives me energy? Yes.. my practice was not ‘super’ but I felt I was full of energy. Setu bandhasana was about 3.5 breaths I think… I think I am getting better in ‘pose’ wise but the neck is not good. So I don’t want to stay too long there. Pashasana was done alone and Anne helped me to place heels down both sides. Bhekasana felt weak. Back bend was good. I felt at peace in urdhva dhanurasana. When you are just there, without thinking of lifting, it feels another heaven. Your heart is open to the sky and you can really feel the deep breathing here… I lifted from the third one at the second attempt. This time I didn’t fall onto my head.. haha. I think I am getting better in back bend….. I mean becoming more stable. Drop back come up without any pause was done. I think only once my feet were not grounded. Catching was not done but I walked my hands closer to the heel. Actually I don’t know how I am progressing here as I can’t see. This time I felt pinching pain on my lower back and I stopped. Anne gave me a good push in paschimattanasana and I did both sarvangasana and sirsasana in ‘unconscious’ manner. I didn’t really count my breaths today………… I just stayed there till I wanted to move to the next one. But in utplitih I counted till 12. My practice time is getting shorter. But I think this is mostly because of the pressure of going to work on time. I thanked Anne and left the shala with, again, nourished mind and body. I am so happy and grateful that I can practice.
At Ashtanga Yoga Brussels on 17/12/19(Tue) from 06:56 to 08:25
Teacher: Anne