Ashtanga NY - 23

The third day of practice in New York and my typical hump day lack of focus strikes. I got a little something in my throat last night and though I managed to sleep through most of the night it was still with me this morning. Of course once the Suryas start I don’t notice such things. Sometimes they go away during practice and don’t return, unfortunately this one stayed around after practice.

Practice itself was rough. I was next to a coupe of people who were rude to thoise around then and who seemed to be heckling Guruji at some points. Either way they were talking during practice and it was quite distracting. Practice did seem to fly by today. The first hiccup was in Bhujapidasana. Sharath was right next to me when I fell over. (I have a feeling that Bhujapidasana will be my stopping point when I return from NY.) Kurmasana gives me trouble but I can’t tell if its me or if it is the proximity of my neighbors. I have a hard time straightening my legs. The next blip was Setu Bandhasana. I went up on the first and third Urdhva Dhanurasana.

Of course, my biggest accomplishment was my biggest problem. I went up into Sirsasana A for 10 counts, brought my legs down for Sirsasana B for 5 counts and then I brought the legs back up for the first time! THEN I began to topple over! The good news is I didn’t go backwards but rather controlled myself to go straight down. I avoided hitting anyone and had a little ego negation. So, it wasn’t all bad, but I was feeling a bit rough around the edges by the end of practice.

I had Guruji sign my copy of Yoga Mala. I spoke with him briefly about the changes that Ashtanga had assisted me with and thanked him for his work.

Today, I'm going to hit the Russian Turkish Bathhouse and take it easy. I’m going to limit my sugar intake and just have straight kitchari.

Oh, I must write of the rat that followed me to practice today. Well, it was a large brown rat with a black and white striped tail and it followed me for about a block. We actually walked together. I would it quite fortuitous due to the fact that I had just finished my Ganesh puja and, of course, Mooshika the rat is a familiar of Ganesh. Good Omens!