I couldn't get my mind to stop. You'd think that with very little sleep, an early wake up, the meditative time of the morning, etc., I'd be easily jettisoned to yogi yogi land, but alas, this was not the case. I was going through the movements while the ticker read off every ridiculously insignificant bit of information it could gather and throw into my peaceful lake of a yoga mind. Yet at the same time, I was really focusing intensely on my practice. I guess this is what my first yoga teacher (if you don't count the Crunch yoga and Jane Fonda VHS tapes) patiently explained to us while my mind was who knows where. She'd say to picture your mind like the sky and in this sky (like any sky) are clouds. These clouds are your thoughts. You can't just make them disappear. Instead, you let them happen and actively allow your self to watch them float by rather than involve yourself with them.
It is surprising how much the body can learn and so quickly. Even just from yesterday, even though I felt tired and sore, I could really notice a difference in each pose. Or maybe it was just a full day of lounging poolside with Grace at the Lalita Mahal... Even therapy has its drawbacks. My whole body is a little too sun-kissed. Twisting hurt the skin on my stomach. Chaturanga hurt the skin around my armpits. My thigh skin--ooh.
With all the leg-behind-the-head postures I was knotting myself into today, I also got to thinking about my "LBH" history. I was never able to put both legs behind my head as a kid or anything. I could sometime touch one foot behind my ear, but that was pretty much it. In college I took a yoga class with Mary Flinn and I remember one day she just put me in supta kurmasana:
And then lifted me by my feet into dwi pada sirsasana:
It was the craziest feeling ever! I felt like someone dumped water over my head or if I was a bathtub filled with water, someone pulled the plug. It was intense and amazing and I didn't know how to get out! And now I'm tossing my legs over my shoulders every day like a bag of potatoes.
It is surprising how much the body can learn and so quickly. Even just from yesterday, even though I felt tired and sore, I could really notice a difference in each pose. Or maybe it was just a full day of lounging poolside with Grace at the Lalita Mahal... Even therapy has its drawbacks. My whole body is a little too sun-kissed. Twisting hurt the skin on my stomach. Chaturanga hurt the skin around my armpits. My thigh skin--ooh.
With all the leg-behind-the-head postures I was knotting myself into today, I also got to thinking about my "LBH" history. I was never able to put both legs behind my head as a kid or anything. I could sometime touch one foot behind my ear, but that was pretty much it. In college I took a yoga class with Mary Flinn and I remember one day she just put me in supta kurmasana:
And then lifted me by my feet into dwi pada sirsasana:
It was the craziest feeling ever! I felt like someone dumped water over my head or if I was a bathtub filled with water, someone pulled the plug. It was intense and amazing and I didn't know how to get out! And now I'm tossing my legs over my shoulders every day like a bag of potatoes. 
I'm out of the loop on LBH...what is that?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm lovin' your blog, as always...keep writing...keep exploring...& thanks for sharing.
Peace, Shelli
Shelli,
ReplyDeleteI hate it when people write LBH in blogs. It means leg-behind-the-head. Turns out it is what all the cool ashtanga bloggers say. Thought that maybe I could be one of them :)
:)
I find this very inspiring... those moments in which one suddenly realizes how long a road has been traveled... :)
ReplyDeleteRight? It is so crazy! When I first started yoga, I had to practice near a door or window because the room would get too hot for me. And this was probably a basic hatha class. I remember that it too around a year before I could even do a crappy chaturanga...
ReplyDelete