Today was a very good practice. I woke up earlier than my alarm, feeling very energised and awake. Though I took a bus a bit later so that I would arrive after 6:45am. When I arrived there were already 2 people and Lynne. I placed my mat and started my practice around 6:50am. I tried to speed up my practice as I didn’t want to be late at my work. All standing was good. Lynne gave me a very good tip in virabhadrasana B. My utthita hasta padangusthasana is definitely coming back. I felt much more stable than last week. Lynne also told me it’s more stable. Seated was good. Lynne again gave me some tips in triang mukha ikapada pashimattanasana. I think this pose really needs a lot of bandha control to have both hips square and to the mat. It’s definitely got much better since I started Ashtanga practice but there is still a long way to go! I focused a lot on jump through as well. Jump back is still very very tricky but jump through started to feel fun! I had hard time twisting and binding in marichyasana D… and I was thinking, I should’ve not had that glass of wine last night. Oh well…! Navasana felt strong. My tailbone area was still annoying but I have a feeling it’s getting better. I will rotate my thighs inwards more from now on… Bujapidasana was okay. Kurmasana was fun and supta kurmasana was super fun. Today Lynne crossed my ankles behind my neck. I was so grateful…..!!! I think my hip flexors are a tiny bit more mobile now… Or Lynne had very strong hands-on today :-) Lifting and titibasana was fun. Transition still needs more strength but at least I can jump in almost every practice. Garbha pindasana was good. My left hand is definitely always touching my ear. Now.. it’s time for the right one. If I lose some upper arm fat… it might become easier. Who knows. Rolling is okay but I still need to round my back more. Rest was similar as my usual practice. But my rolling up from ubhaya padangusthasana has left home… I had to do it twice to balance on my sitting bones. With urdhva mukha paschimattanasana, I rolled up at one go with straight legs but had to walk my hands to catch the heels/side of feet. I guess.. this was is okay for now. I really need to ‘remind’ myself more of my bandhas and activate them!! Setu bandhasana was short and I did twice urdhva dhanurasana!!! I did once on my own but Lynne pointed out that my feet were not in good position. My toes were pointing way too out….. So she told me to do it again!!! I did another round with great focus on feet. It was actually difficult to have heels slightly out and toes in. Lynne gave me instructions and I did it. For the drop back, Lynne told me to try on my own and see how I want to do. Wow… So.. it was my first drop back practice after 1 month of break. (To be specific, 1 month and 4 days). Surprisingly I was not scared and dropping back felt actually quite good! And more surprisingly I came up and stood up relatively in a stable way!!! Wowwwww! But I felt a bit of pain in my lower back so I told Lynne that I would stop here and do half rolls with her. It was so nice…Half rolls feels so so so good… I think I need this.. this practice of opening chest/heart and surrendering. Lynne told me from next week, we can see whether I start practicing intermediate. I felt so energised after the drop back practice (which is unusual) and did the finishing sequence. I felt good in sirsasana but got little bit tired in half bend. Though I kept my usual 30 and 15 breaths there. Utplitih was 12 breaths as I felt more strength building up towards the end. Today’s practice was just ‘wow’. After a short savasna (I think about 6 min) I thanked Lynne and told her I learned a lot today. I am not sick of saying this all the time but I feel really lucky and thankful that I have great teachers who can guide and motivate me.
At Ashtanga Yoga Brussels on 7/10/19(Sun) from 06:50 to 08:20
Teacher: Lynne