Where do you feel it after practice: your thighs or your back?
Both.
Hmm.
I had a chance to talk shop with my favorite local Iyengar teacher, Cory Washburn. Before everyone starts to panic, rest assured, I'm not drinking the kool-aide, just gleaning another perspective on practice. And when I say another perspective, I don't mean Iyengar versus Ashtanga, I mean another yoga practitioner who happens to care a lot about precise alignment. I really feel that a little insight here and there can go along way. When there is too much info, I start to short circuit with all the many things to think about. However, once in awhile, I'm ready to take something new in.
My homework this week: Think about lengthening my hamstrings away from my calves, opening the backs of the knees. So actually, I should have sore hamstrings. I'll need some time to figure out what this feels like. Will certainly report back.
Took yesterday off and practiced primary today. Felt so tired and heavy. Maybe I'm eating too much? I just feel off. I think part of it is PMS. Where does it talk about this in Yoga Mala?
Just begun reading "Enlightenment for Idiots". Three things that bother me about this "genre".
1. Why are only women writing? (Holy Cow; Eat, Pray, Love, Fear; and Yoga in New Jersey)
2. Why all this emphasis on relationships? (Fear and Yoga in New Jersey; Eat, Pray, Love)
3. Why is it that main characters as yoga teachers have to be flakes that can't get anything together? (Fear and Yoga in New Jersey; Eat, Pray, Love)
Why does this bother me?
1. Am I a cliche?
2. Does my life revolve around men?
3. Am I a flake that can't get anything together?
Funny list- as usual. I know what you mean about the books listed, but I think that's just the "light" stuff to get people interested. You've been practicing something that has brought on a deeper awareness so the light stuff just seems... well, light. Check out Will Yoga and Meditation Really Change My Life? edited by Stephen Cope. It's a collection of personal stories from 25 of North America's leading teachers. Men and women! It's not all great and eye opening, but it's interesting and shows a wider range on the topic.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on making those hamstrings sore! ha!
Liz
I think those books are just a reflection of the current literary market than of how most yoginis actually are. "Chick lit" sells well, so it's not surprising that authors are taking their interests in yoga and weaving them into light-hearted, fun stories.
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