Smelly Dog Syndrome (SDS)

Monday morning 6:00 am class. New week begins.

Mentioned the no alcohol intention for the rest of the challenge.

It is now real. There are witnesses. This will be super super duper simple. Frontopolor forces of the brain tend to lead us around by nose.

A Psychological need of the American consumer: # 7 To see living things thrive

Why they Buy: American Consumers Inside and Out. (1989) Robert B. Settle and Pamela L. Alreck

That is why I love my dog even when she smells.

Today's intention. Breathe easy.

Rattling thought that made me fall out of a pose. "Bullets, Booze & Blonds" Fatal ingredients in the Making of The Great 20th Century American Writer

Yoga pose tip of the day: Padangustasana Toe Stand Pose. Concentrate on one spot on the floor in front of you as you move down from tree. Use your hands and fingers to support you as you sink to your heels.

Sunday afternoon 4:30 pm class. 52 down, 48 to go. Not too crowded may 18 people in the class. The right size class. I am in the corner. My intention for this class is to take it easy, feel the floor supporting me. I've been bitten by mosquito's and have spotty legs. I have received a gift of corporate schwagg (sp?) from a client - A canvas Levi's tote bag, made in USA. (!) Made in San Rafael -local!

I accept happily and re purpose it as a yoga bag.

Silent class, Everyone here is a regular. The whole class is in sync. more noises from the lower spine proceed gently, ever so gently - visions of the UC Orthopedic Ward pop into the brain. My dad told me today he really cannot walk any longer.

I think the answer is enriched packed blood platelet stem cell therapy for ligament and joint treatments. Something I read in the times? Knees still don't work well.

Wonder If I caught displaysia from the dogs. Forehead and knee yet to meet.

Yoga pose/tip of the day: Ustrasana Camel Pose: support your lower back as you slowly drop your head to drop as far back as your eyes will take you. Push your heart high towards the ceiling, eyes traveling past the back wall to the bottom of your mat.

Parking ala Steve McQueen

Bumper car parking. Saw a spot. Pulled into a driveway. Backed out, pulled parallel to the car in front of the spot, started backing up and bang! Where did that BMW come from? Walked out looked at driver, also out of his car and asked " Are you alright?" Looked at both cars and noted, "Your car seems fine. I guess you didn't notice we were parking."

A young, just post baby, with blue eyes, blond hair and puca shell necklace (surfer boy.... do you want to be a soldier boy... ) around his neck glared at me. He looked as if he wished he had one more round in his M-16 . Back to the car waited for him to move. And waited. And waited. When he finally started his car and drove away I called out, "We are fine, thanks."

Mat to mat, crowded 8:30 am class that makes it humid. The bumper car incident kept floating in my head. Oh the humanity.....Tip of the day. If it does not bring you joy, let it go.

Yoga Pose hint: Pavanamuktasana Wind removing pose Third part:see your hip joints releasing, your abdominal muscles pulling on your lower spine to flatten your entire spine to the floor.

I've fallen into flesh and I can't get up

Friday morning is a "before work" class. A 5:07am alarm is bit early. However, enjoying coffee at
8:10 am and being at work at 9:30 am is great for productivity.

Afriend's grandmother noted she has fallen into flesh. You betterr take care of that right away, dear.

The days in row shows rolls along, with spare tire intact. I have given up on the kool aid of what this practice can do for you, yet I keep showing up. My balance is better. I could substitute an anti-depressant and some walking and get the same effect, for less time and less laundry. Yet onward, ho.

Tip of the day: Do not talk on your cell phone when you are a passenger in someone else's car. Unless you are a git.

Yoga Pose: Tadasana Tree Pose. Guide your foot as high onto your thigh. Use your eye gaze to aid the balance. Release your knee down with your toes pointing upwards. This will help you align your shoulders and hips in a straight line.

Is rolling around nearly naked good for business?

Thursday's first class is day killer class.
The dreaded 9:30am.

An appointment to meet with a new client at 8:30 am.

Showed up nearly naked in yoga clothes so I could roll to class right after the meeting.

We drank coffee. Yum! Lots of busy, fun work ahead. TMI in my head - in class - falling out the result. Don't try so hard. Try so easy.

The Days in Row shows rolls onward with no rhyme or reason.

Yoga pose plus tip day: (Do not drink coffee before class.)

Bhujangasana Cobra pose. Center yourself on the floor with a firm idea of your hip alignment. Stretch in every direction. Up with your spine, back with the tops of your feet, up to the ceiling with your chin, back with your neck and you our eyes, as you lift up from the small of your back, push down on the floor with your hips. Use your hands like training wheels. Do not push on them, allow your eyes to guide the posture.

Snap Crackle Pop

Sometimes energy is released as heat, sometimes as light and sometimes as sound.

The sound of joints cracking is the change in state of gases in your synovial fluid.

The energy created by this rapid state change is released as sound.

Class today was 6:00 am.

Perfect way to start the day. Crowded class but not too.

Happy not too push to hard.

Yoga pose tip of the day: Dandayamana Janushirasanav standing head to knee pose. This is a pulling pose. Keep your standing leg locked straight, hips square, and keep energy in your arms as you pull, pull at your knee if if you cannot reach the ball of your foot.

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

Was asked if a friend was my offspring. No, I did not have a child when I was six years old.

She's my sister. (slaps) She's my daughter. (More slaps). She's my sister and my daughter.

I guess I can't go around slapping silly people , (why not, please?) But I can say, Forget Jake, It's Chinatown. Need to work on my facial fascia. Send in Tracy Martin, Stat!

Today was the day killer (9:30 am) class. post espresso.

Almost half way through this challenge. The bag of bones is rattling noisily Work, Joke Work, where I am? where are we? what are we doing? Is this popping and noisiness a good thing or a bad thing? . As long as it is a gentle thing, I am good to go.

Yoga pose tip of the day: Dhanurasana Bow Pose. In the Julie and Julia movie there is a dreaded duck dish. You are being trussed like a stuffed duck. Pull your Bones together towards your spine before you lift up. Align the hips and shoulders, then squeeze your shoulder blades. Push the floor against your hips bones to lift up. You will feel your portal vein working overtime.

The Iceman Cometh

When Dad turned 55, he morphed into a walking refrigerator. Strong healthy. Upper body a solid cement square. Trapped inside musculature. No flexibility.

We all turn into our parents, mine with perhaps a genetic disposition towards midget back and spine muscles? (Little people back and spine muscles?)

Today was a 6 am silent class. Someone entered the studio late during Half Moon Pose with Hands to Feet Pose. (Arda-Chandrasana with Pada-Hastasana,) An Arctic blast hit the back as fingers grabbed ankles. Not the exact moment one wants foot traffic behind them.

Got to play ball with a favorite dog for the last time Sunday.

We will maim her and lame her on Tuesday to take out cancer tumors.

Bend over. Grab your ankles. Kiss your ass good bye.

Yoga pose of the day hint: Janushirasana Paschimotthanasana. Paschimottana Flex the soles of your feet back so they are parallel to the front. This will gently stretch the hamstrings and flatten your legs onto the floor.

the madness of crowds

Sunday's class starts late and is crowded. Sunday afternoon is a normal work day. Breathe in breathe in breathe in. Breathe out breathe out breathe out.

Time work class schedule conflicts creates stress. Add two cups of tea and work email pre-class and mental jitter jabber is on overdrive. Found parking thanks to yoga classmate who got back in their car to create a second spot from the one big roomy spot they were in. Parking karma is working fine. Mat to mat high humidity Strive for extra stillness, still work creeps in every six seconds, about the natural thought lifespan of a human being. The days in a row show rumbles onward with no change in sight. Afraid of what will happen when the show is over and the lights get turned back on. Off the visit my marooned dog. No work for me today.

Yoga Pose of the day- Eagle Pose. Garurasana *(spelling?)so many discrete impossibilites in this pose. Palms together below your nose, this makes an eagles beak. The beak in my pose is broken, and listing to the left. Pull your arms from the shoulder joints towards your ribs, gently. Breathe, breathe breathe and then - Do it again.

Here we go again.

My downstairs neighbor is moving.

Breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe.

Good neighbors are such a treat.

My neighbors have always been great.

Breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe. I always sad to see them move on

Breathe brethe breathe breathe breathe.

Glad they have found better opportunities.

Breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe.

Saturday class is mid morning. Not so crowded, just crowded enough. Taken to placing the mat in the mirror seam to observe the difference between right and left sides.
Now have strong fingers, strong toes plus strong ankles.

Chatter was deafening inside my head today. Tea before class makes it worse.

Yoga pose of the day: Utkatasana - Awkward Pose.

Psuh down on the toes, push forward on the feet, lift the heels as high as you can. Then do it some more.

Battling for Serenity Now

The constant challenge is to quiet the mind.

Let the thoughts go. So many random, unconnected thoughts this morning and each time engage the thought, loose the pose. Random Thoughts 26, Breathe and intention 0.

It was a smack down.

6 Am class, happy way to start the day, its done now on to the main focus of every day- creativity, prosperity and productivity. (CPP)

Yoga tip of the day: Head to Knee pose with stretching pose. Janushirasasana with Paschimotthasana. Bend your leg as much as you need in order get your fingers intertwined around the ball of your foot.

Pull back firmly with your strength on your foot.

Day Killer

A 90 minute yoga class that starts as 9:30 am is a day killer. Good class, good spot in the studio near the air purifier. Only one short olfactory hallucination in class, wasabi, during the first compression pose.

Set intention. a break from the internal chatter. No fidgeting, yet fidget and fuss and fall was the name of the game in this class.

Yoga Tip of the day: Arhda Kurmasana Half Tortoise Pose. Get your arms high up in the air and keep your arms as close to your head as possible as you stretch your palms upward. Take forever to move your arms to the floor. The class, like life, will be over before you know it.

Truthfully Scary Yoga

Put your hand in the mouth of truth, only if you dare. Or in the mouth of this dog. Similar. Truth, fear not. Floor poses, in truth, cause fear. Super duper scary pose Supta-Vajrasana, fixed firm pose.

Firmly fixed fear of knees ripping out of the body pose.

Breathe, don't push, no lamaze breathing, breathe, stay away from anything near pain, Breathe Breathe Breathe Breathe Breathe Breathe Breathe. Stay upright if you think you will injure overstretch, strain your knees with the backward bend. Be careful with your knees.

Yoga Tip of the day: Move slowly in and out of the pose use your breathe not your strength, yet keep all your muscles fully engaged. Engaged does not mean strained. Strained muscles leads to injured joints.

Flying Karamazov Yoga Face Towels

There is a distraction when items are tossed in the air. Yoga class was 6:30 pm at the end of a busy workday. So much left undone. Arrive early to drink water and calm the mind, after afternoon cup of tea. Do not pay attention the flying yoga face towels being pick up by a foot and tossed to hands for wiping between each posture. Toss, wipe repeat. Don't watch. Don't notice. Calm your mind. Focus on your breathe, do not even think of the flying yoga face towels. Breathe. Connect to the soles of the feet, set your intention whatever you do do not think of toe tossed flying yoga face towels. Set your intention for the class. Now instead of calm down and breathe, it is "Do not pay attention to the flying yoga face towels." (Which makes me think about flying yoga face towels) . Focus on breath, think you are a skeleton. Gaze soft, god dammit you won't see the flying yoga face towels. Is there nose wiping going on? Just look at yourself, do not pay attention the toe tossing flying yoga face towels. I will never ever ever use the face towels in any yoga studio again. Do not think of the face towels Let the thought go, clear your mind focus on your practice. So hard to do. Then in compression pose face a fire and sensory hallucinations begin. 1962 Christmas stocking, peppermint hard candies in white with red stripes wrapped with clear crinkly plastic, twisted at the ends, and peppermint patties that are a blast of Arctic chill. Rhe memory floods in 90 degree summer day circa 1964. Take out a coin, peel off the white lining from the exterior silvery paper, rub the wrinkles of the paper smooth to craft some shiny, sweet-smelling jewelry. Lips and nose numb, cheeks on fire, upper bronchial tubes collapsing ...

Yoga tip of the day: Keep your eyes softly focus. Any instruction you hear or give your self that begins with "don't or no" wind ups being a do.

Factoring Time

I know what day it is - Day #39, 61 to go. 6 am class. Morning came in the midst of dreaming, yearning for one moment, the ending of some effervescent story. Arrived at class
late for 'the good spot'.


Not exactly sure why.


In Camel not dizzy. Not thirsty during the class. Falling out is fine. Practice does not make your perfect. Deep inside maybe a bit healthier, but it would fade if this practice is halted for a week.

If only I played tennis at the professional level, perhaps this routine would make sense.

There is gerbil on a wheel factoring going on inside my brain. What kind of Kool Aid am I drinking? Why would I want my forehead to touch my knee anyway? What purpose could it possibly serve?




Yoga tip of the day: Ardha-Matsyendrasana Spine Twisting Pose. If you have problems with your your knees, keep one leg straight out in front of you. Keep your shoulders parallel to the floor.

On a Wing and a Prayer

Room to breathe. Use the throat to draw the air deep down into your lungs. Ignore the crowded room, lack of space and stay with the breath. Always with the breathe. The lack of space may inspire you to fly away. There is energy to be gained forma crowded room.

Yoga tip of the day. Poorna Salabhasana. Move in one piece, as if you are unfolding your joints from your spine.

Letting go

The energy to acquire stuff could be at the cost of your soul. (Madoff, e.g.)

The Taliban blow me away.

Shared a very large house with someone with OCD. The stuff had 2000 sq feet, I had 200.

Do not allow material items to hamstring your spirit.

Yoga tip of the day: Utkatasana - Awkward Pose. Think like a marionette. Feel the strings pulling your head and spine as you sink down. Keep your chin parallel to the floor. Your heels cannot be raised to high. Stretch your feet and palms always.

Run, Rabbit, Run

Mouth would not be quiet before class. The mind would not be quiet in class. Burt Lancaster in the 1968 movie, The Swimmer, kept floating into my head, breaking the surface of my calm, flooding it with upper middle class nightmares. Work haunts.

An attraction to a thing that repulses. Rabbit Pose.
Compression poses where the forehead is supposed to touch the knee, make me want to run away. The 100 day challenge rumbles onward, without end or start in sight.

Yoga tip of the day: Rabbit Pose Sansangasana Posture. Keep the top of the feet flat to the floor. Keep your arms fully engaged. Believe in progress even when it not evident.

Caff me up, Booze me down.

The Better Business Bureau called to say my business had a stellar reputation. The BBB.

Water, Oxygen and Glucose. These cross the blood brain barrier with relative ease. When your heart beats 25% of the blood leaving your heart heads north to your brain.

Caffeine starts most days, and busy days means restaurants with foods prepared with hidden fats, sugars and salt. A long day ends with a glass of wine.

Days that start with caffeine and ends with alcohol, throws off balance the next day in class. The left and the right sides misalign. Maybe it is dehydration.

Yoga tip of the day: Half Moon Pose, Ardna-Chansrasana with Pada- Hastasana. Focus on the side stretch from toe to fingertip. Make sure you can lift your ribcage to fill your lungs. It is about the stretch, not the bend.

Dive right in the waters fine

Wednesday morning and up before the wake up call. Time for tea and careful folding of towels.

Intention intention intention, breathe breathe breathe. Tonight is a metoer shower. Head to countyside hills and look up and see what where we all began. Ran into a neighbor this morning after class and he spoke of how bad yoga made him feel. "After three weeks, when I came home, I ached all over. " Small movements, follow your breath. Breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe in, then breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe out.

Yoga tip of the day: Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose Dandayamana–Bibhaktapada–Paschimotthanasana stretches the spine and back of the legs. I imagine I am Greg Louganis everytime I set up for this pose. It helps to keep the spine straight out then down and the chin up and out.

Boondoggle

Tuesday's child is full of grace. A boondoggle is activity full of waste.

Tuesday's class was the last of the day. Workday lurches forward, one remains vigilant. Choose to spend each moment moving towards a free life. Freedom from excessive acquiring, escaped from envy and avarice, freedom from jury duty. Efficiently quash the inner boondoggle. Make time for the last class, even with work projects left undone. Take a minute to converse with a child, scratch a dog's ear. Learn to lallygag. Is a lallygag a boondoggle, or freedom at it's best?
Making more minutes between here and there. Get here, there or anywhere more deliberately. Find your rhythm with the passing of the sun, and the rumbling of your stomach.

Yoga tip of the day: In each posture let each moment pass. Do not count the moments. Be present for each breath, and if you catch it, let it go.

हलुनिसिनाशन्स इन मोंद्यास क्लास

Monday's class was full of olfactory hallucinations.

Smelt (?) a chili colorado dinner eaten in 1987.

In some classes my lips and the tip of the nose goes numb. Yesterday it was different, the lips and the gums were numb and maybe part of the soft pallet, but not the nose. And a headache.

And the sensation of chili coloroda flooding the sensory banks as if one had turned the dial on an amplifier to an ear splitting spinal tap "11".

Intention manifests, someone walked into my house and handed me a large sum of cash. Ran into a surfer at dinner who is also yoga teacher.

Someone in the studio hit a thirty day in row today.

I still do not know what day this is. Will ask again at the end of the month.

Yoga tip of the day. Enjoy yourself. No point in going if you are not having fun.

Surfing on My City Street

It is Sunday. Off to the 4:3 pm afternoon class.

Love the beach yet never learned to surf. Is it too late to
master this sport in the cold, cold Pacific waters of Northern California?

Standing on a board hooked in into a curl and zooming parallel to the shore.

Last night I blogged about surfing the hemispheres of the brain.
This morning I ran smack dab into a surfboard.

Intention manifests so be specific.

Yoga tip of the day: Dandayamana Dhanurasana Standing Bow Pose. Kick your rear leg up and out by steady pressure into the hand. Take your time. Keep your chin parallel to the floor.

Surfing the Corpus Callosum

Tempting people with bad choices is much easier if their logical brain in taxed.
Human resolve is weaker than you think.

How to surf the Corpus Callosum.
Musicians like living there and so do lefties.

I want to surf, feel the ride, balance between the emotional and the intellectual.

Correct footing is difficult as each side is independently developed and have different reaches.

Yoga tip of the day: Trikonasana . Position the feet correctly. The line from the center of your front foot should bisect the arch of your rear foot.

Set your intention

Missed the post but not the class yesterday.

At home, its about redesigning the house,
decluttering, out with the old, space for the new.

Quieting a space is like quieting a mind.
Clear your mind.

Yoga is about making space between bones to let oxygenated blood flow in and allowing blood flow to help stiff joints, ligaments and aging injuries and their subsequent misalignments.

For a days in a row challenge it is important
to have an intention.

Sapce for new is important.

Yoga tip of the day: Forward poses where you feel like you are choking. When all else fails, breathe.

Mouth to Mouth.

Breathe.

Cant breathe.

Breathe.

Heart is all muscle.

Lungs have none.

Be nice to your diaphram.

Tip of the day:

Work from the outside in .

The pressure to be perfect

A class and two thirds today.

After standing series, (1st class) left the studio.

Went to the next class, to be true to a class every day.

Do not have any idea how many classes I have done in a row yet.

Can't be many.

Can't matter much.

I have asked. No one has answers.

Yoga tip of the day: If someone hurls anger at you, it is because they have a retarded sense of humor. When you laugh you forget. Bad jokes, like anger, linger in the air like aerosoled shrapnel. Stretch your palms and feet always.

know shaking, know wobbling

Yoga is a meditation.

Concentration on breathing, elimination of distraction, singularity of focus.

(on a six count breathe, on self alignment, on the parts of the breath)

Slowing ones breathing with attention can alter your brain state

and make one more susceptible to instruction and suggestion.

Like whispering in the right ear of spouse, take out the trash.

One might purchase Amway products, believe est is a good idea, invest with Bernie Madoff.

Or dutifully take out the trash.

In a meditative state people hear what is said, not what is meant.

This is the summer of "know shaking, know wobbling."

Each day I try and stand still after each standing posture and feel the body rocking back and forth on unsure feet, seeking stability like a roly poly clown.

Know shaking know wobbling.

This Monday morning 6 am silent class, with just a continual reminder to change.

At one point everyone was elegantly lost.

Posture tip of the day: Janushirasana with Paschimottanasana Head to Knee Posture, Stretching posture concurrently. In the third (center) stretch, legs together, pivot at the hip joint with straight back, like a plank. Keep your head and eyes toward the wall or mirror. Move your chest to your thighs, chin to your toes simultaneously. Do not use arm strength. Expand the rib cage, loosen the shoulders, let go of muscle tension in the head back and arms to allow the exhale to gently move your body straignt forward and down.

B Itchy (C)

Thursday's dinner guests for a spaghetti feed were a no show for "Eat at your own risk Thursday." For me, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, spaghetti on the menu chez moi.

Sunday waddled into class with big Buddha belly bloat. All tolerance for comfort foods gone.

Time to Breathe.

Minds chatters and yields a slogan for the "butts" of yoga pants ... ala juicy couture.

B Itchy. (c)
Spa wear for the AARP generation.

This is a visual joke.
You need to want to see it.

While in a savasana the yoga instructor announces a days in the row challenger was in class and was about to "get on the wall".

Linda Blair would have be proud of the head snap. Spine straight up. Neck muscles relaxed, head spun, lips barley touching, jaw loose, mouthing words "liar liar pants on fire" while profound finger gestures filled the air.

Yoga pose hint of the day: Standing separate leg forehead to knee pose.
Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana.
This pose follows the curvature of the spine, not a straight line like a plank.
Note: Too much spare flesh makes compression poses difficult.

to start Hips aligned, arms extended, elbows locked, forearms smashed into ears, no air between, palms and fingertips actively stretching out with maximum strength throughout the pose. Plant locked forearms with ears and curve neck back first before bringing chin down to the chest. Spine follows curving neck slowly down eyes look for the ceiling behind, head curled under. On the way down Hips aligned, arms extended, elbows locked, forearms smashed into ears, no air between, palms and fingertips actively stretching out with maximum strength throughout the pose. coming back up press arms and head smashed together, reach out with fingertips to slice a semi circle through the air from the floor to the walls and up to the ceiling apex, stretching fingertips out to all points of the 180 degree arc from floor to ceiling. Bring neck all the way back to your first bend, where the stretch started, and pull with all your might to the ceiling.

This circle awareness will slow the posture, maintain the spine curve. Use equal fingertip stretch to reach each point on the arc, see each degree as you pass it, this aligns hips and feet stay firmly planted as you return up.

Trying on new titles for size.
Decided Your Highness may be more apt then Your Majesty.

Does anyone know what day it is?

The challenge is 100 days of Yoga. In a row. Don't know what day this is.

The studio was closed one day in July, and I missed a few days in July.

It's August 1st.

Show up, breathe, stretch, breathe, sweat, and breathe some more.

This the Bikram Yoga. My water bill has gone up.

Today there were aliens (as in never saw them before) in the classroom. ADD challenged, little things distract.

There are 26 poses. The order still eludes. Once we are on the floor, follow along with class and the stay with the instructor. When all else fails, breathe in, then breathe out.

Practice means, show up with intention, breathe, stretch, breathe, sweat, repeat and rest.

Focus only on your practice. Meditate for 90 minutes, no wiping, no squirming, no water no mindless thought chatter.

Alien starts doing push ups in class. Distracted, lose focus, fall out, then back. Started thinking about designing yoga clothes with a logo across the butt ala juicy. Again, fall out, lose place in the class, had no idea where the class is in the practice. the battle against spacy mind chatter is a daily one.

Put the thoughts out, breathe in, start again.

I wonder what day this is. Does not not matter. Breathe in breathe out.

Pose of the day: Tuladandasa. Great trick, make sure your hips are in alignment with each other before you rotate over even if you do not step out as much.