I woke up with such stiffness all over my body. It was weird. I rarely have this kind of stiffness during weekdays and it was little bit worrying. I got to the shala around 6:50am but had a chat with Lynne and Tibo so I started the practice a bit late. It was a short fun talk about India. Yes. It’s just a month away!! Today… indeed my body felt stiff and heavy. It was also somehow difficult to breathe properly. Lynne gave me a good tip in trikonasana B. Maybe my hips are too mobile..;; Standing was stiff but good. Seated.. somehow felt way better than standing. The stiffness has gone and my body felt quite light as yesterday. I liked the jumping through today. In chaturanga position, I tried to gaze a bit forward today. In chaturanga, I always look straight down on the mat but I thought maybe my back of the neck is not even when I do that. So I gazed a bit forward and it felt smoother when I moved to urdhva mukha svanasana. So I will try this way from now on. Today I did all 5 navasana without folding the mat. I still felt my tailbone area but just did it. I just kept the counting shorter and leaned little bit back. It was okay. It was doable. Bujapidasana was okay though I want to wrap my arms a bit higher.. and in transition hips higher. This will need more bandhas and years of practice I guess. Supta kurmasana with Anne’s help was again heaven. I don’t know why I feel so at ease at this pose. When I have a self practice (one day), I should stay here longer. Transition was done with Anne’s encouragement. It was so nice! Garbha pindasana, baddha konasana, upa vista konasana were all same. Rolling up from supta konasana was smooth. My rolling ups are getting better. I just need to hold my heels when come up in urdhva mukha paschimattanasana. Anne gave me a good push here. Setu bandhasana felt similar as yesterday. It’s good to feel that there is more contact area in my feet. Though I still hate the feeling around my neck and shoulders. Pashasana was done with Anne’s help. With Anne.. this actually feels quite good. You twist and widen. It’s a good asana. But it’s just bloody damn difficult for me to put heels down and find balance. Krounchasana was a bit confused but okay. Shalabhasana was okay. Bhekasana was done with Anne’s help. Grrrrrrrrrr how can you bring those feet down?!!! Anne told me to lengthen my tailbone down in this pose… Yes.. I know what to do in my head but my body doesn’t listen! Hehehe My pubic bones were little bit hurting so maybe next time I take a small towel and put it underneath. Okay let’s not forget that. Back bend was okay. I lifted on the third urdhva dhanurasana. I always succeed at 2nd attempt… Drop back and come up was done without too much pause. I think only once I sprung forward. Two other times I was more or less stable when came up. And… Anne came to help me with ‘catching’. Okay. I dropped and walked my hands closer to the heels. I didn’t stop fiddling my fingers to the heels. And suddenly Anne grab my right hand to catch my heels. OMG. I was a bit shocked. Anne moved my left hand towards the left ankle. I couldn’t take it. It was too much. It was not much on the lower back but more around the shoulder blades. I made some painful sounds and fell down to supta virasana -_-;;; I am sure it must’ve been little bit funny of me… just lying there in supta virasana and laughing a bit. Anne talked something about Mysore and catching……… and asked me whether my back was okay. I told her I was okay but a bit overwhelmed. I felt little bit bad and sorry for Anne and myself because I just gave up. But I am sure next time I will be better prepared. And soon in paschimattanasana I got calmer and felt grateful that I can practice in this respectful environment. Sarvangasana sequence was done in a very careful manner and I counted a bit longer than the normal ones. Sirsasana was 30 and half bend 20. I felt light in inversion. I breathed deeply in the last three pauses. Utplitih was 12 (in my shortish counts). I took a mere 2 min savasana today as I didn’t have much time to get to work. I thanked Anne and left the shala. It was quite an experience for me. I am little bit afraid that in Mysore… this will be a ‘thing’… I just hope I won’t get frustrated or obsessed with this practice. Even without catching, I enjoy my practice. But yes, if this is coming for me, I will enjoy it with open heart (but together with sore body. Hahaha).
At Ashtanga Yoga Brussels on 28/11/19(Thu) from 06:55 to 08:27
Teacher: Anne, Lynne