616/325: Sore.

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Post title says it all.

615/324: Sentience.

Left off counting at 608/323 with Ashtanga; 614 for Iyengar 5ish months ago.

Sure I've taken classes since then - primarily Iyengar based (when I actually managed to make it there), some Bikram of late (when weekends permitted), some (semblance of passing thought of) practice on my own. In these 5ish months time there was a move and other bits and pieces of life and health stuff in there as well as some manifest time exploring options of existence.


Everything you do effects everything.

The initial idea in my mind was that I was done with Ashtanga.
My friends who practice Iyengar were shocked.


Then...
I started thinking...

...and decided that I would reevaluate my decision at the end of a year.

Well, it's been 5ish months.

I sunk into a yogasana-funk.
The funk was completely cured by Friday night pizza with my good friend from middle/high school - Tattoo'd Daisy and her friend Tea Blossom.

They got me on the subject of yoga and I couldn't stop talking or thinking about it.


I walked back into AYC this morning, with a little bit of trepidation and given the 5ish months of sporadic to non-existent practice:

1. I was surprised by the fact that I remembered the sequence, I admit, it's a little rusty - but not bad since I had banished Ashtanga from my existence and this morning somehow I made it through some semblance of a decent complete primary;
   
2. It was wonderful to see the familiar faces and some new ones;
   
3. D easily (almost too easily) slid me into supta kurmasana - I'm waiting for the honeymoon to be over on this one; and
   
4. Have been given yet one more sirsasana and strengthening technique, this one direct from runway (shala) of Paris.

More than anything, I have a new found respect for what is done in shalas and in homes on a morning basis.

Awareness.

Awareness is the point at which the mind reaches out beyond itself into reality.  In awareness you seek not what pleases, but what it true.

~ Sri Nisaragadatta Maharaj


*Dikshit, Sudhakar S. ed. I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Acorn Press: Durham, 2008. 346.

Stew

So it's been about 6 months since I practiced with any semblance of consistency. Walking to the metro in the morning, there's a crispness that is starting to linger ever so gently in the air.

What did I learn in these 6 months?
First and foremost, that a consistent yoga practice is a wonderful thing.

Also, learned and accept that I miss Ashtanga - I miss the comfort of it, the discipline, the regimented nature of it. However, I'm not ready to go back. Padmasana is just starting to feel comfortable on my right hip again. My asthma is settling and have not been waking with breathing difficulty though the night.

Instead of throwing myself deep into it - it's going to be a methodical return. If I went back now I think it would only be frustrating and aggravating and I would probably do myself more harm than good. What good is it to only go two days and then take two weeks off?

On average it takes a good 2-3 hours to make hunter's stew or beef bourguignon.

An hour and a half for a ratatouille.

For some things, there are no shortcuts and/or no substitutions.

So I'll continue to methodically blend some aspects of Iyengar and Ashtanga, throw in a little Vinyasa Krama here and there. Maybe a smattering of something else, just to change it up.

Let it all simmer for a while.

Release through Constructs

The comments of Carl and Yogiconomist, really got me thinking.
Maybe it's a combination of the two.

A duality.
A release and a binding.

Maybe the strict discipline and regimented lifestyle of an Ashtanga practitioner is no longer needed within the context of my daily existence. But there is still a need and desire for a daily practice, for that discipline and mindfulness, release within a construct.

Nothing light of a quandary to be sure.

Ashtanga allowed me to lose myself in something that wasn't work, that wasn't family, that was completely outside of where I came from in order to forget some, to remember some, but ultimately to really begin another stage of healing.

To form an intense bond with something which joins physical expression with that mind-shift coveted by most artists - is nothing short of a remarkable experience.

It stays the same, I changed.

At a workshop with M. Manos in RI at the end of June, he said something that really stuck with me. Paraphrasing: These practices can allow the world to open up. For some that path is solely asana, for some it allows many new experiences to open up. Just go with it and enjoy the ride.

Nothing that wasn't understood at least intuitively, but the validation from an outside force is always welcome.

Right now, what I think I need to learn is self-discipline within my current context, constructed by me to allow all the plates to spin to their optimal degree.

Yes, there are a plethora of great teachers and classes here in DC - but then practice is structured around and reliant on an another's existing time construct.



How am I going to really get going in this new art thing,
if I cannot even find/schedule 90 minutes on my own, let alone 30?

Renegade Flooding.

Wish I had my surfboard.
Might have made getting to work a bit easier.

Like Spinning Plates

Only 1 plate missing.
Asana.