Thursday 11 May 2017

Workshop with David Swenson and Mysore Practice with Laruga Glaser

I have reached Sweden last Saturday and the temperature hit me pretty bad.... it was snowing..... from Ubud 35° to Stockholm 2°..... but I  survived !!!

I was a bit disappointed when David told us that there will be no led or Mysore class with him during the week of training. I thought that we will be practicing with him but no. Then I registered myself for the Mysore practice and was happily surprised to see that it was Laruga taking the Mysore Class. 

Yesterday to my big surprise I was able to bind on my own Supta Kurmasana.... and this morning was able to reproduce it, easily, with a little effort but no pain at all. Supta Kurmasana done :-)

Backbends are also improving a lot, I can walk closer to my feet now and it feels great.

The week of training with David Swenson is good, he is an amazing Teacher of course with such history behind me. He is teaching us how to teach the Primary series.... but without any vinyasa count, for this you have to come back ;-)

On the Yoga studio website it was mentioned that this course was not for learning the Primary Series, underlining that people should be practitioners.... However they are not, some of them did not even know what was the Mysore style.... so yes I was a little bit disappointed about it but in the end I am learning new adjustments which is good. However I am a bit frustrated as I thought it will be more about the practice. 

However (I like this word) my practice is getting really good, everything has changed, I twist more, grabbing my wrist in most of the posture when required, jumping back easily and doing Supta Kurmasana on my own was really my accomplishment of the week!

I do a Mysore practice in the morning at 6.00 AM then at 9.00 AM starts the course with David Swenson. My body can handle it without any problem and on the contrary I do believe that practicing again in the afternoon by adjusting and teaching really help me for the morning. 

So it's all good!

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Becoming a slave of Tapas.....

We are always saying that we should listen to our  body and Yoga is the tool for it in order to understand how it works and how our mind is influencing our body part.

So when your body does not wake up on time and feel tired the all morning, is it laziness or is it a sign that your body is tired?

This morning I did not wake up. I slept until 7.10 AM. Outside it was raining and the sound of the rain hitting the window had a soporific effect.

Because I did not practice I am in a situation in which 1) I feel guilty.... and 2) I feel tired.

Why should I feel guilty when I have listened my body? Because there is the shade of the laziness..... I feel tired because I did not have the morning practice that used to wake me up. Really?

Yesterday morning practice was really stiff. Hamstrings really tight, pain in the shoulder, pain in the knee...

Am I finding any excuses for not being able to wake up?

This is where we should be careful. Not to transform the dedication and the tapas into a nightmare of psychiatric issues.  

Of course it is really good to have a healthy habit which consists of morning daily practice. BUT we should not become a slave of it. Tapas is good, fanaticism is bad.

Because right now if I sit down and start chanting the mantra "why I did not go to my morning practice, I am missing a practice" then it will be ruining my day and tomorrow my practice will be done with the weight of guiltiness on my shoulders.

Instead of that, listening my body and my mind. I did not wake up, okay, maybe it is laziness, my bed was very comfortable and I had an amazing dream.

Will it impact my practice of tomorrow? Yes surely or maybe not, who cares?

Will the Ashtanga Police come to my room and force me to do as many chaturanga I can bare until my arms give up?

Of course no! After all we are humans and not machines.

Tomorrow will be another day :-)