Expansion Joint

Day 7 93 to go

Colliding Galaxies Make Love not War - Hubble

Yoga Health Center San Carlos.  A silent class needed after the "melt down". Received a few warm (knowing?) smiles today. I attend San Carlos maybe 3 or 4 times a month.This studio is friendly and chatty but I know no one here.  Maybe they were being nice or maybe they recognized the "China Syndrome Gal" from Saturday. Adore a silent class. It allows me to gauge where I am in my practice. Only think about the best approach to pose and the best use of breath. How well have I  been paying attention? Who's words are running in my head for each pose? I like to hear the names of the postures and that is what we received in silent class today. I am still being too effected by what is going on on other people's mats. If they fall, I fall.  If they stop trying to go back in, I stop trying. I put myself close to the door today in case another melt down emerged. It did not. A great class, must do that more often.  I need it to keep the meltdowns at bay, apparently. 


Bikram Yoga Tip of the Day:Balancing Stick Tulandasana. When you raise your arms and interlock your fingers, engage every muscle from the floor to the ceiling. Start with your hands and feet always. When you step out make sure both your elbows and both your knees are locked. Before you tilt, check in the mirror that your hips are in alignment. Inhale and stretch everything. Exhale and pull, pull, pull. Pull your palms together, pull  your arms behind your ears, your  finger index fingers towards  the mirror, pull your back apart, pull your leg up, pull your toes to touch the back of the room. Check to make sure your extended leg is straight and not rotated, sometimes you need to rotate your foot, your ankle,  or your hip joint to maintain the correct hip alignment.  Exhale and pull you arms forward and your toes back.  Feel your vertebrae expand like the universe. 

China Syndrome




How to cook Chicken Kiev.
 First you heat the city to 2000 degrees

 Day 6  94 to go

Hanging out at  the ZPokemon Spa for the weekend. Out of town feels so good. The bees are busy in the Wisteria. The old dogs, sleeping on their sides, drawing up the coolness of the tile, waiting for the heat of the day to pass. It is quiet here, musical instrucments strewn about in every room, abandoned.  There are plenty of quail running around the front yard. The bees love the purple flowering bushes in the front, the grafted  fruit trees are flowering. Meant to get to the  7 am silent class but did not sleep well.   Went to the 9 am class in San Carlos. Feeling good about this challenge. And my intention of psychic support for MM in Teacher Training. (TT)  Bill was teaching.  I always come away with a new understanding of some aspect of a pose when I take one of Bills classes.  Super crowded.   The class has good synergy.  I have been struggling all week with my practice, literally  feeling like the best of my practice was melting away, not being able to hold a pose, needing breaks, thinking I might be at risk for a cardiac event.  My physical proof  of a dedicated practice evident only in the fact that I now possess  a firmer  handshake. Sadly, I can not remember the last time I shook any ones hand, though. If you cant do it on the Internet it is no longer meaningful. Handshakes were developed as sign of trust,  You exposed your vulnerable heart to a potential enemy in possession of  a sword or dagger. Thank god for dogs, they don't wield daggers. I want a tee shirt that says, "I have been doing Bikram Yoga for years and all I got was this firm handshake."  

 35 minutes into the class I started to have a full blown anxiety attack. By the time Jamushirasana with Paschimottanasa rolled round,  I had gone from crying silenting  to sobbing, complete with shaking and gasping for air. Trying, unsuccessfully, to keep it to myself. I  wanted to run out of the studio and scream at the top of my lungs:::::: AAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE ::::::::::

 Very embarrassing on a full studio class day. Must be my solidarity with TT.

Diaphram is key

Bikram Yoga Tip of the Day: Lie about who you are.  That way any story about the crazy old lady who sobbed in class won't be about you. Dandayama Dhanurasa Standing Bow Pulling Pose  Your weight should be distributed all over you foot. Today in class we were guided to hold our edge for two breaths, talked through the  inhalation and exhalation,  this helped deepen the pose without "muscling through."  As King George the VI said in the "The Kings Speech, " Let the microphone do the work."

Same principal applies. 

Oh Miss Crabtree ...

Day 5  l 95 to go

June Marlow as Miss Crabtree

 Anyone who wants to talk to me for 5 minutes takes up 45 minutes, and when I hang up I have another hours worth of notes and actions  to do.  Why this is I do not know.. It has something to do with the expansion of time in  a vacuum. It is the anti-spanx law of the universe. Spanx law:  An intractable object is impossibly contracted with unnatural force. A billion dollar company. Torture yourself for 90 minutes every day instead in one of Bikram's Torture Chambers.

I was all ready for the 9:30 am class. Sped through one very orange light, to get to the 11:30 am class. I  do not know the name of the teacher I will call her Miss Crabtree. She gave a great tip rotate your  thighs inward. Great tip, great instruction except for my button pushing item  she was a countdown counter. I want to get out of my head and into my body  counting puts me in competition mode which is 100% inside my head.  I hung in there but was cursing under my breath.  I hate countdowns in Yoga  in way that is not logical or healthy..I cursed under my breath, darted out nasty glances, and said "f***"  under my breath. I generally bolt from a class when someone starts counting down.  I need a silent class to shake it off. Someone out there is teaching these teachers to do countdowns.. it must be stopped! Or I need to get over it.  Today I had trouble with all the high blood pressure poses -backward bend in half moon, standing bow, balancing stick,  locust and camel... Hummmmm...Maybe I should pull out the blood pressure cuff machine and check things. I noticed today that people around me sat a  lot,  and the other side of the class they did not. Would I have stuck it out more  if  I was on the other side of the class room?   Will need to move my matt over there next time to investigate.  Were they sitting because  I was sitting? All belching during the floor poses. not charming. Where is all this air coming from?  I definitely have not eaten.  After class I sat for 15 minutes, drank a water, and never felt revived. I wanted to run across the street to the gas station and get a big gulp Coke. Not good for me, sugar is is forbidden. I did not do it, but I considered the hippie drinks Kombucha, sounds awful don't know what it is but is sounds like something you catch.. oh man I was out of work all last week with some raving Kombucha. There is also the coconut water drink option. I tried that once,  oh yuck sickly sweet..   I am ready for nap.   Still paying too much attention to what people  are doing around me in class.

Bikram Yoga Tip of the Day: Standing Head to Knee Pose Dandayamana-Janushirasana  Like all the postures in this series, there are many layers or parts to each pose. My approach is to try and master one part, then build on it. I have the beginnings of many postures. I cannot get webbed grip of my fingers under my feet with posture.Yet, I Lock My Knee. I pull up on my quadriceps and I  balance on one leg, I round  my spine over, interlace all ten fingers and with my lifted leg, try to lasso the ball of my fee.  this year sometimes manage to weave the bent knee in between two taut arms. Some times I hold onto my shin or my ankles. If I hold onto my shin, I do not round my back down and just keep my gaze forward into the front mirror.  This year, I have had fingers under the ball of my feet several times but the knee of the upraised foot was not always in the right place. Thrilling though, it really feels like progress.    I feel it in my back. Maybe I will be five six again one day.

Some Like it Hot

Days 3  4  96 Days to go 

110 degrees has pukability

Missed a day. Did doubles with Ana teaching both classes. New place in the studio and it was HOT. I melted and flopped and had to sit down.  Where did my Yoga mojo go? I felt okay about being in the first row and then I could not do every single pose each time, dizziness, the upchucking not upping...barely..  Still having camel problems,   I never had the traditional camel problems before and now triangle too, which used to be my go to pose for bragging rights, that and Tulandasana which I crazy love that pose... After class I was told it was a 110 Degrees in the class.

Birkam Yoga Tip of the day: Garuasana Eagle Pose. The pose and this part class of the class is all about sex and drinking- it's party time! Twist like Ropes the dialogue says, yet I have never ever seen a rope do anything on it own. A major compression of the main joints of the body, it is also cuts and releases blood flow to your sex organs. Feet and hands always I say, because they are the only parts of my

body that are getting strong so far. Keeping your foot firmly planted on your matt, with your weight evenly distributed over your entire foot will stop you from swaying back and forth like a Tokyo high rise mid- earthquake. This pose brings us 25 minutes into the class and the first offical water break. you just spent 25 minutes warming up you body? Are you thirsty, or are you bored, or are you just not willing to stay still and face yourself? Mountain pose it between every pose. Remain still without falling into a fidget habit, the quieter you remain in class between poses, the swifter

your practice will improve. This, for me, is  the real work of my pratice.

The Errant Onion

one tiny sliver

Day 2. Class 2.  98 to go I popped one tiny piece of a chopped onion in my mouth 2 hours before class. I was choking in pranayama breathing.  I  fell out of triangle, liquids wanted to flow up  in floor bow. I could  not go back in camel. Dizzy,  reguratating, not really an empty stomach. Not enough hydration. Every little piece matters.  I keep thinking I am strong, but missing 15 days, is like starting over.  Meet someone at the BYSC studio who did 150 days in a row since last July. I am inspired. I want to do doubles again.
Tonight was the 6:30 Class with Jay - a dynamite ( am I showing my age with this adjective?)  instructor. Clear instructions, good corrections .He made us hold things longer....I took a different spot up front and it was a H-O-T hot spot. We talked about TT. Jay also knew a spring yogi at TT -- from the Mission studio. Jay then taught the class likewe were at  TT. It was HOT!

For MM -I plan to show my solidarity and send good intentions  for you by going to class every day between now and graduation in June.

Awkward Pose

I will  attend the graduation ceremony mid June.

I Rise

Bikram Yoga Tip of the  Day: Utkatasana Awkward Pose. Let's talk about the easy part. I find I can't lower my so my thighs are parallel to the floor, but I brother  can I rise!  Like Maya Angelou . I rise rise  rise right up on my toes max-i-mum like a ballerina. I feel the front of my ankles opening up and my feet are getting so strong.   After years of yoga I have strong toes and strong fingers. Now, if only the rest of my body would fall in line.

Interfon Interference

Breathing tools

Two weeks of phlegm  & fever.
Two weeks  of rest and no practice. no blog.   Managed to get to an 11:30 am Saturday class. Not crowded, not amplified, lots of newbies on a sunny day.  Oddly dizzy class. Something set off my immune system and would not be stopped. Not breathing fully, only one nostril functioning.  I made it through the class with  minor  rest/breaks - my best effort today. A dear friend is taking off tomorrow for Bikram Teacher Training. A big adventure~!
 
Class was great.  I noticed today that I want to recognize people and I will think unknown people are known to me because they look like or remind me of someone I know.  Must be in our DNA to yearn to connect with others, or as the young people say -  be part of a social network.



Rhino virus as pretty as a panda

Bikram Yoga Tip of the Day: Half Moon Pose with Hands to Feet Pose- Ardha Chandrasana with Pada-Hatasana.  This is like riding on spring toy, you take your spine left and right then forwards and backwards with no break in between. See your throat when you look in the mirror. When you bring your arms up also open up your chest by keeping your tight arms by or behind your ears. LIFT LIFT LIFT, your whole body up - creating space between every vertebrae. Keep your whole body taut, facing front. You may feel like you are wobbling on a playground spring toy. Focus on keeping your body in one plane by  facing the mirror.  Take the stretch as far your breath will allow you. Breathe again and let your breath take your a centimeter farther. Every movement is a choice.  Let your body follow your breath.  Stretch your breath to stretch your body.