The best Christmas present ever.......
OK so I exaggerate a little, there was that whirlybird I got when I was ten.
Decided to slip a couple of extra poses into my Primary . Eka Pada Sirasana to Yoganidrasana after Supta Kurmasana and Shalabhasana to Kapotasana at the end of Primary just before Urdhva Dhanurasana. Think it must have been something to do with doing Eka pada in the middle of primary but I felt much more flexible and was able to lift up into ,what Swenson refers to as Eka pada Sirasana C, without my leg popping out from behind my neck and on to my shoulder. Was just about able to swing it up and back and through too though that was a bit untidy.
That extra hip opening before moving into Eka pada seemed to make the difference, was able to get my leg more behind my shoulder which allowed me to push down without dislodging it. Need to work on my breath and the count a little but was excited about it, another of those asana I never thought I'd be able to do.
"Practice and all is coming".
A shala of my very own.
Got really irritated the other day with not having a separate place to practice or being keep able to keep the heat up in this very open house. Shifted some bookcases to make a room divider and threw up a make shift curtain rail.
Not as much space to practice as I'm used to but it gets pretty hot in there. Gets me used to practicing in a more confined space too in case I decide to visit a Shala again.
Curious about the different places everyone finds to practice at home. Kitchens, bedrooms, a corner here a few free feet there and didn't I come across someone, somewhere, who has a Yurt in their garden.
9 comments:
Your yoga place is very nice.
We only must be able to unroll our mats. It should be warm, that's it.
I always love homes with books.
Good practices.
Ursula
NICE SWORD!
The sword is a Dotanuki. My Iaido Sensei in Japan found it for me. Bigger and heavier than the usual Katana and ideal for big Gaijin. Supposedly it was the only sword capable of cutting a Samurai in half in full armour (charming)and was carried by the Emperors guard. Do you know Iaido? It's the art of drawing sword slicing and dicing the opponent and then sheathing it again in smooth, controlled movements that flow into each other Focus on the breath and your Ki is most important(sound familiar). And all with ENZEN NO METSUKE "far away mountain gaze". Very Zen. This youtube gives you a nice idea of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byAgl-b2xFs&feature=related
Iaido is often described as a battle with the self, a cutting away of all redundancies.
OMG awesome. Iaido.
So much samurai stuff everywhere! Inc. Junpo Denis Kelly, the ashtangi zen master who is starting a weird but awesome baby boomer samurai cult in American midwest.
Found the Junpo Denis Kelly Hollowbones site but nothing about the "weird but awesome baby boomer samurai cult in American midwest." do you have a link?
Noticed that several Ashtanga bloggers mention Aikido (me too) in their backgrounds and that's just the couple who have mentioned it. Do you think this is common, a martial arts background and Aikido in particular? Perhaps it makes us guys more open to Ashtanga instead of thinking "yoga is for girls" like most of the guys I know.
I don't know about the martial arts thing. Here in Southern California, yoga is pretty masculinized thanks to the power yoga movement and (alas) the realization that it is a good place to meet women. I only know one Aikido guy who now in to ashtanga. One of the most focused, peaceful people. Amazing.
"Weird but awesome baby boomer samurai cult in American midwest" was my interpretation of the "Who We Are" section of hollowbones.org and some of Junpo's podcast interviews at buddhistgeeks.com.
hey there! just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration with eka pada....it's what i'm working on right now, and was lovely to hear someone get to be able to do it ;) yay! i saw your blog a while ago when you were working on jump throughs, that has come along wonderfully. nice one.
Thanks エスタ good luck with eka pada S Love your blog, beautiful. i lived in Kyoto and osaka for six years so great to see pictures of home. Hanabi, Obon and best of all gekko's ! Your up North yes? Will have to cruise through your blog and find out what your doing there.
thanks for checking out my blog! kyoto is gorgeous. i'm teaching english and a bit of yoga up here, we have a very very small ashtanga group. It's lovely to be living in the mountains, but i have to travel far to find a teacher, so i study a lot by myself, like you. I am really appreciating your blog. Nice to have an online community too! Thank you again.
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