Went to Anonymous Shala for practice yesterday. It was so hot and sticky. And the Gay Pride Parade was scheduled to go down Fifth Avenue, right by Anonymous Shala. I almost bagged it then realized that it would be days before I could practice again, so I'd better get it in gear. Plus I had to give Anna the mysore rug that I ordered for her from LA. It was a slow, heavy, pokey practice. Two or three times I stopped and just sat there, saying to myself 'you can do this, really, you can finish this, you are not that tired'. I quit at ubhayapadangusthasana. When I couldn't get up and actually stop myself on my sit bones, I knew it was time to throw in the towel. The backbends were good though, I actually was able to press forward into my armpits for the first time. Now I think I know what people are babbling about when they say that! I also got a really nice fingertip grab in marichy c. I think I'm figuring out how to move the binding shouler forward and down so that the arm can really rotate behind. Fascinating. For the first time in a long time I also got wrapped up in supta kurmasana. That was nice too.
G: Can you put your shoulders under more?
Me: Nnnngggghhhhh. Nod head slightly.
G: (Presses shoulders under legs) How's that?
Me: Nnnnngggghhhh.
G: Chuckles
The packing went pretty well this weekend, we are almost ready. I think there may be two or three more boxes that need to be packed. I'm so tired though! The heat here is brutal.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Fate is a funny thing
So after work on Friday I tried to catch the 5:11 train out of Penn. I ran for the train and when I got to the platform the train was packed, standing room only. I was hot and cranky and had to pee desperately so I said 'f it' and went back upstairs to the concourse to wait for the next train. I went back down to the platform to catch the next train. When I got down there, I realized I was on the platform that has the booze booth on it so I decided I needed some kind of 'de-stressor'. I bought a beer (seriously, I never drink beer) and turned to figure out which end of the platform was the front of the train. As I walked toward the front I saw a guy and thought he looked like a guy that I used to work with at the big evil law firm about three years ago. He was also pretty friendly with BF at the time. I tapped him on the shoulder, hoping it was him and I wasn't going to humiliate myself. Turns out it was! And he lives right here in Port Washington. It was so cool to catch up with him and now we have friends on Long Island! It was very cool.
Today I went to the led half primary/half intermediate class at the shala in Huntington. It was pretty good, my stamina is definitely improving but my hip flexors and quads are still REALLY stiff. Backbending was pretty tough today. Bhekasana. As if. I did one ustrasana and felt really dizzy and nauseous. I'm not exactly sure why. I did a second gentle ustrasana then we blissfully went on to UD. The teacher was trying to help me with headstand (again....poor woman, she thinks I might actually be able to do it, LOL) but she did give me a REALLY helpful tip about what I'm doing. Apparently once I get my hips over my shoulders with my feet still on the floor, I pick up one foot and my hips sag back down so they are no longer balanced over the shoulders. Well that's not gonna work now is it!?! Definitely something to practice with at home. Of course, now that the apartment is filled with boxes, there is nowhere to practice. Shiva only knows when I'll practice again after tomorrow. Tonight BF was trying to get me to blow off class tomorrow. Um, I don't think so!!!! I probably won't be able to practice again until Wednesday morning at best.
Stay tuned for a very un-LIAsh-like post coming soon to a computer screen near you!
Today I went to the led half primary/half intermediate class at the shala in Huntington. It was pretty good, my stamina is definitely improving but my hip flexors and quads are still REALLY stiff. Backbending was pretty tough today. Bhekasana. As if. I did one ustrasana and felt really dizzy and nauseous. I'm not exactly sure why. I did a second gentle ustrasana then we blissfully went on to UD. The teacher was trying to help me with headstand (again....poor woman, she thinks I might actually be able to do it, LOL) but she did give me a REALLY helpful tip about what I'm doing. Apparently once I get my hips over my shoulders with my feet still on the floor, I pick up one foot and my hips sag back down so they are no longer balanced over the shoulders. Well that's not gonna work now is it!?! Definitely something to practice with at home. Of course, now that the apartment is filled with boxes, there is nowhere to practice. Shiva only knows when I'll practice again after tomorrow. Tonight BF was trying to get me to blow off class tomorrow. Um, I don't think so!!!! I probably won't be able to practice again until Wednesday morning at best.
Stay tuned for a very un-LIAsh-like post coming soon to a computer screen near you!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Achey
First, for the general diary stuff. I went to class today. I was supposed to have a private last night with Christopher but we ended up blowing each other off, for various reasons. He wanted me to meet him up on Mars at like 5 instead of 5:30 downtown. Uh, dude, I have a JOB! So I said, you know what, I'm moving on Tuesday so I'm a little nuts anyway so let's push it back to next Thursday. Cool.
Practice today was tough. I practiced Sunday then Wednesday and Wednesday was, well, pitiful. So I really haven't done much this week at all. My practice space in the living room keeps getting smaller and smaller due to boxes and bins and such. Therefore, I was REALLY stiff today. My right knee gave me that tiny warning pain it gives on the inside of the knee when my hip is too stiff to be doing what I'm doing. If that makes any sense. My knee is like my early warning signal. Any nagging pain on the inside and I know my hip is stiff. There's also something going on in my left leg, it's hard to explain. Right up under my bumcheek, my hamstring is quite sensitive and painful. Forward bending has been difficult all week since last Sunday. Then in the front there is a nasty tightness that turns into pain whenever it is stretched. I managed to lumber my way through the whole primary today though, so that's something. And three decent but tight backbends. Actually, given how tight I was, I'm surprised I could backbend at all. At this point I actually have the ability to THINK when I get up there so on the third one I tried to breath into the hip flexors to help them lengthen. I'm not sure if it really worked but it was cool that I had the presence of mind to do it! Slow and steady progress, as always.
I keep thinking of good 'substantive' blog topics when I'm offline. I have such a hard time remembering my ideas when I'm online! Moving on Tuesday and nothing is done in the house. Scary!
Practice today was tough. I practiced Sunday then Wednesday and Wednesday was, well, pitiful. So I really haven't done much this week at all. My practice space in the living room keeps getting smaller and smaller due to boxes and bins and such. Therefore, I was REALLY stiff today. My right knee gave me that tiny warning pain it gives on the inside of the knee when my hip is too stiff to be doing what I'm doing. If that makes any sense. My knee is like my early warning signal. Any nagging pain on the inside and I know my hip is stiff. There's also something going on in my left leg, it's hard to explain. Right up under my bumcheek, my hamstring is quite sensitive and painful. Forward bending has been difficult all week since last Sunday. Then in the front there is a nasty tightness that turns into pain whenever it is stretched. I managed to lumber my way through the whole primary today though, so that's something. And three decent but tight backbends. Actually, given how tight I was, I'm surprised I could backbend at all. At this point I actually have the ability to THINK when I get up there so on the third one I tried to breath into the hip flexors to help them lengthen. I'm not sure if it really worked but it was cool that I had the presence of mind to do it! Slow and steady progress, as always.
I keep thinking of good 'substantive' blog topics when I'm offline. I have such a hard time remembering my ideas when I'm online! Moving on Tuesday and nothing is done in the house. Scary!
Monday, June 23, 2008
PISSED OFF!!!!!
OK, maybe I take my work a little too seriously but I wrote the following letter to Lee Gomes, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal. He wrote this article regarding company anti-spam practices.
Mr. Gomes,
I'm writing in response to your article in the Wall Street Journal dated June 18, 2008. First, I would like to thank you for alarming the CEO of my company (a company which shall remain nameless) with your poorly researched and clearly non-technical article regarding anti-spam practices. If Dow Jones as a company has chosen to disallow its users from accessing their e-mail marked as spam, that is unfortunate for you and your co-workers. However, that is not necessarily standard practice with anti-spam vendors, and isn't even standard practice for Postini! Normally companies will implement a system, much like the one Postini normally provides, whereby the users are notified that they have messages in their spam queue and they can browse to those messages and choose to either release them or not. Not only have you misrepresented anti-spam technology in general, but you have made e-mail engineers like myself, as well as IT as a general group, look like controlling, e-mail patrolling jerks. I thought a journalist was supposed to bring all of the facts of a subject to light in their articles. My mistake. So, thank you Mr. Gomes, for making my job and the job of e-mail engineers everywhere that much harder. I suppose I should expect nothing less from the newspaper that brought us an article entitled "10 Ways to Get Around Your IT Department".
Fuckmuppet.
Mr. Gomes,
I'm writing in response to your article in the Wall Street Journal dated June 18, 2008. First, I would like to thank you for alarming the CEO of my company (a company which shall remain nameless) with your poorly researched and clearly non-technical article regarding anti-spam practices. If Dow Jones as a company has chosen to disallow its users from accessing their e-mail marked as spam, that is unfortunate for you and your co-workers. However, that is not necessarily standard practice with anti-spam vendors, and isn't even standard practice for Postini! Normally companies will implement a system, much like the one Postini normally provides, whereby the users are notified that they have messages in their spam queue and they can browse to those messages and choose to either release them or not. Not only have you misrepresented anti-spam technology in general, but you have made e-mail engineers like myself, as well as IT as a general group, look like controlling, e-mail patrolling jerks. I thought a journalist was supposed to bring all of the facts of a subject to light in their articles. My mistake. So, thank you Mr. Gomes, for making my job and the job of e-mail engineers everywhere that much harder. I suppose I should expect nothing less from the newspaper that brought us an article entitled "10 Ways to Get Around Your IT Department".
Fuckmuppet.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Seriously....
It's Sunday and G is back so I went to Not So Anonymous Shala for class. It was good to see him, he seemed full of energy and extra cheerful. So, I figured after yesterday's BRUTAL Laughing Lotus class I would be really sore and stiff but not so! Actually, I've found that I have the best Sunday practice if I do some sort of ultra-criminal class on Saturday. Anyhoo, there is some soreness in my front ribs, which Anna thinks is the result of the MULTIPLE vasistasanas. How did she manage to get me to go to the class that REPEATEDLY did the one pose I hate? I'd go again though. I did a little bit of R&D before I got started, pigeon, firelog etc. I did 4 A's and 4 B's (very unlike me, I hate the B's). I was so tuned in during padahastasana that I missed G going to the front of the room for chanting and bolted upright during Om. Oh well. Standing poses were pretty good, I feel like I'm really making progress. No help in UHP, whatever. I need to learn to do it on my own anyway. New perspective on Janu A from G, that was interesting. Assists in Marichy A, B and C from the assistant, I just love her. I notice that C is coming along. I got my upper arm in front of my knee and managed to get my wrist wrapped around my ankle so that my hand was behind, all on my own. Wow! It actually kind of startled me, the assistant laughed. The navasana was still pitiful, perhaps I should do more of them during practice. I'll try that. After Navasana, I looked up to find G because we had discussed me doing bhujapidasana. It was two weeks ago, I didn't expect him to remember. I caught his eye and he said 'oh, it's the look'. LOL. I asked if I should keep going and he said 'yeah, sure' with moderate enthusiasm so I did the whole thing except setu bandhasana.
Here's where it gets dicey. I lay down on my back to do the chakrasana after supta padangustasana, rolled my feet over my head and farted. Um, unfortunately somewhat loudly. It totally came out of nowhere and I was mortified BUT I didn't lose my cool, I managed to execute the best chakrasana I ever have and just kept on going like nothing happened. To my fellow anonymouse shala-mates, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean it. It happens, I guess. Moving on, I did my three backbends (with restasana between, need to work on that), five breaths each (longer breaths than last time). Then I did my baby dropbacks and saw the floor again, yikes! I also managed to remember paschimatanasana.
So I moved to the back of the room for finishing and that was pretty good too. I actually managed to gather up my legs and do a half-headstand with bent knees for about four breaths. Now, I know that doesn't sound like much to long-time headstanders but I seriously am afraid of headstand and rarely can do it without the wall, especially in a room full of people.
All in all, it was a fantastic practice, even with the flatulence.
In other news, we just got back from seeing The Incredible Hulk movie. Seriously, I really liked it. And, much to the chagrin of the men of the house, I really hate action movies. This one was good, even if Liv Tyler was a bit much with the pouty face and big sad eyes. Definitely better than Iron Man. If you have older kids who can handle it, definitely go see it.
Here's where it gets dicey. I lay down on my back to do the chakrasana after supta padangustasana, rolled my feet over my head and farted. Um, unfortunately somewhat loudly. It totally came out of nowhere and I was mortified BUT I didn't lose my cool, I managed to execute the best chakrasana I ever have and just kept on going like nothing happened. To my fellow anonymouse shala-mates, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean it. It happens, I guess. Moving on, I did my three backbends (with restasana between, need to work on that), five breaths each (longer breaths than last time). Then I did my baby dropbacks and saw the floor again, yikes! I also managed to remember paschimatanasana.
So I moved to the back of the room for finishing and that was pretty good too. I actually managed to gather up my legs and do a half-headstand with bent knees for about four breaths. Now, I know that doesn't sound like much to long-time headstanders but I seriously am afraid of headstand and rarely can do it without the wall, especially in a room full of people.
All in all, it was a fantastic practice, even with the flatulence.
In other news, we just got back from seeing The Incredible Hulk movie. Seriously, I really liked it. And, much to the chagrin of the men of the house, I really hate action movies. This one was good, even if Liv Tyler was a bit much with the pouty face and big sad eyes. Definitely better than Iron Man. If you have older kids who can handle it, definitely go see it.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Doggies are so cute
I went to an early vinyasa class at Laughing Lotus with Anna. It was such a fun class, early in the day, the teacher was so sweet and I loved her music selections. The studio had a great vibe and the facilities were nice. I bought their intro special, three classes for $30 so I guess I'll be going back! After a loooooong series of modified sun salutations and standing poses, the teacher dove right into handstand and I dove right out the door to the ladies room. My fear of handstand is stupefying, seriously, plus I was feeling a tad lightheaded and dizzy, so it seemed like a good time to use the facilities and splash some water on my face. When I came back she was having everyone prepare for viparita salabasana. Yeah. The teacher had us do it at the wall but she did it at the middle of the room. Very nice! Anna and I had a few giggles along the way, especially when I ran away from handstand. After class we had a bite to eat and talked and talked and talked. And petted doggies. We think we saw a shiba, plus there were staffies, what looked like a Brussels Griffon pupppy, and two Italian Greyhounds who were terribly cute and very friendly. Naomi Watts was sitting right behind us, I could only see her in the reflection of the glass but she was gorgeous nonetheless. That's the fun of living in NYC or LA. You never know who you might run into!
On the drive home I wrote up a lovely, introspective, probably far more interesting blog post in my head. And of course it's gone now. I need to figure out how I can keep these posts that get written up in my head. Usually my blog ends up being a diary rather than any interesting rumninations.
I've been doing some ruminating about my YOGA ROOM that I will have in the NEW HOUSE. I can't decide what color scheme to go with - either a jewel-toned with lots of brightly colored silk pillows and heavy incense a la Jivamukti and Laughing Lotus or a spa themed color scheme with lots of Zen elements and a nice, neutral paint color a la Home Simply Yoga. If anyone has any opinions, I'm all ears! I'm also hoping to make this house as 'green' as I can without spending a ton of money redoing stuff that doesn't need to be redone. If anyone has a good book or online resource for natural methods of cleaning I would greatly welcome that information. I think I realized (in the middle of the night last night) why the kitchen in the NEW HOUSE is set up the way it is. It has an odd but nice-looking double sink that's separated, there's a built-in oven in the wall but also a regular stove/oven combo. It's a frigging Kosher kitchen, DUH. Had to share that revelation with everyone.
That's all for now.
On the drive home I wrote up a lovely, introspective, probably far more interesting blog post in my head. And of course it's gone now. I need to figure out how I can keep these posts that get written up in my head. Usually my blog ends up being a diary rather than any interesting rumninations.
I've been doing some ruminating about my YOGA ROOM that I will have in the NEW HOUSE. I can't decide what color scheme to go with - either a jewel-toned with lots of brightly colored silk pillows and heavy incense a la Jivamukti and Laughing Lotus or a spa themed color scheme with lots of Zen elements and a nice, neutral paint color a la Home Simply Yoga. If anyone has any opinions, I'm all ears! I'm also hoping to make this house as 'green' as I can without spending a ton of money redoing stuff that doesn't need to be redone. If anyone has a good book or online resource for natural methods of cleaning I would greatly welcome that information. I think I realized (in the middle of the night last night) why the kitchen in the NEW HOUSE is set up the way it is. It has an odd but nice-looking double sink that's separated, there's a built-in oven in the wall but also a regular stove/oven combo. It's a frigging Kosher kitchen, DUH. Had to share that revelation with everyone.
That's all for now.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Boring today
I had a low-motivation practice today. I finally heaved myself out of bed at about 5:40. I managed to get on the mat by about 5:50am. I did some sun sals and started the standing then gave up. I was just sooooo not motivated. BUT, since I was there, on the mat, I decided to do some of my favorite backbends. So that was fun. And really, at least I practiced. I'm going to a vinyasa class (bad lady!) with a friend on Saturday morning then full practice on Sunday at Not-So-Anonymous Shala. So, really, it's a fairly decent practice week. Every week gets just a little bit better. BF keeps whining when I want to go to bed at 9pm sharp (or earlier) and this contributes to my inability to leap out of bed at 5am. I guess I'm going to have to put my foot down and go to bed on time.
I made banana bread last night, it's pretty tasty. And I bought a piece of salmon at Whole Paycheck. I'm going to take up DZM's challenge for today and Google a recipe when I get home, using the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.
Other than that, it's pretty boring around here. My co-workers all took dumbass pill today so everyone seems about 20 IQ points dumber than they were yesterday. I have no idea what's going on there but it's annoying!
I made banana bread last night, it's pretty tasty. And I bought a piece of salmon at Whole Paycheck. I'm going to take up DZM's challenge for today and Google a recipe when I get home, using the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.
Other than that, it's pretty boring around here. My co-workers all took dumbass pill today so everyone seems about 20 IQ points dumber than they were yesterday. I have no idea what's going on there but it's annoying!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Update
I got an update on Rocky yesterday afternoon. The lab results came back on the tumor and it is Grade 1 Mast Cell tumor which basically means it's non-cancerous. The margins are clean so they believe it will not grow back. Yay! Little Rockefeller.....such a sweet boy.
I practiced this morning. I argued with myself in my head for about ten minutes before I hauled out of bed at 5:05. Threw on yoga clothes, went downstairs, turned on the heater, got all set up and went to it. And, seriously, I did the whole primary series. In my living room. Didn't drop any vinyasas, even in-between. Also did baby dropbacks. I didn't see the floor this time but that's ok. What's even more miraculous is I'm not in pain from the backbending any more. The annoying pain in my hip seems to be dissipating. Dammit, Teacher was right! The more I practice the easier and less painful it gets. I almost didn't get out of bed but then the realization that I have another private one week from today launched me right out of there. Nothing like the fear of disappointing your yoga teacher to get you out of bed at 5am! AND I did it all in about an hour and a half. Including a 25-breath savasana. Outstanding.
No other real news to report, Mercury moves out of retrograde today (is that how you say it? I don't know) so hopefully this house thing will get rolling full steam. We have a lease but we don't know when we can move in! Jeez!
I'll have the weekend to myself, it is our weekend to have the FSC but they will be with their father in Smithtown pretty much the whole time. Let's see, what WILL I do with my time?????
I practiced this morning. I argued with myself in my head for about ten minutes before I hauled out of bed at 5:05. Threw on yoga clothes, went downstairs, turned on the heater, got all set up and went to it. And, seriously, I did the whole primary series. In my living room. Didn't drop any vinyasas, even in-between. Also did baby dropbacks. I didn't see the floor this time but that's ok. What's even more miraculous is I'm not in pain from the backbending any more. The annoying pain in my hip seems to be dissipating. Dammit, Teacher was right! The more I practice the easier and less painful it gets. I almost didn't get out of bed but then the realization that I have another private one week from today launched me right out of there. Nothing like the fear of disappointing your yoga teacher to get you out of bed at 5am! AND I did it all in about an hour and a half. Including a 25-breath savasana. Outstanding.
No other real news to report, Mercury moves out of retrograde today (is that how you say it? I don't know) so hopefully this house thing will get rolling full steam. We have a lease but we don't know when we can move in! Jeez!
I'll have the weekend to myself, it is our weekend to have the FSC but they will be with their father in Smithtown pretty much the whole time. Let's see, what WILL I do with my time?????
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I'll be sore tomorrow
I had a fantastic practice. For the first time in months I did the entire primary series except for setu bandhasana. AND I managed three good backbends, five (quick) breaths each. AND I did my baby dropbacks on the wall. AND I saw the floor on the third one. That's right, SAW THE FLOOR. It freaked me out so I came right back up. That was enough for me! I forgot to do paschimatanasana after my backbending (oops). Went behind one of the big pillars to do my finishing. Frigging shoulderstand felt fantastic. I don't know if it was the humidity or the heat or what but it just felt GOOD. The sub whipped me into Marichy C which is still REALLY scary. I can't figure out how to breathe into my chest in general and in that pose in particular. It's like a big neon sign that says 'belly breather, belly breather'. What can I say, wind musicians don't breathe into the chest. We're taught to breathe all the way into the belly and to exhale FROM the belly. The assistant gave me some good advice about that though so I'll see how it goes. By the time I was all finished, I was totally blissed out and wiped out so I was grateful for savasana and had no trouble doing my 25 breaths. In spite of the fact that the room was complete chaos. I attribute that to the fact that the sub is a little 'green' as a teacher. Now I'm just in a really great head space. Nothing could piss me off today. I think......
For those of you who have been keeping little Rockefeller in your thoughts and prayers, he's fine. The tumor was larger than they thought and the surgery took a bit longer than it was supposed to. He has a lot of stitches and the incision is longer than we expected. We'll call him scarface now? He's ok though, and his big brother is VERY happy to have him back at home.
For those of you who have been keeping little Rockefeller in your thoughts and prayers, he's fine. The tumor was larger than they thought and the surgery took a bit longer than it was supposed to. He has a lot of stitches and the incision is longer than we expected. We'll call him scarface now? He's ok though, and his big brother is VERY happy to have him back at home.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Boring practice post
I managed to haul my lazy bum out of bed this morning at about 6am and get in an hour's practice. A whole hour!!! I actually worked up a sweat and everything. I'm quite proud of myself. I tried to backbend and the first one was quite stiff so I did bridge instead, working the legs really hard. Walking up and down the stairs is now quite difficult. I did my required 25-breath shoulderstand and halasana. I can't yet make it to 10 breaths in my half-headstand, so that's where the work is. I also managed 25 breaths in savasana and only got truly distracted by the monkey mind once.
Stay tuned on updates regarding the house! I don't want to jinx it by blogging about it before it's all settled.
Stay tuned on updates regarding the house! I don't want to jinx it by blogging about it before it's all settled.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Required reading
Anyone who has any love or compassion for animals should read this.
Puppymill investigation
Please don't buy puppies. Adopt or rescue!
Puppymill investigation
Please don't buy puppies. Adopt or rescue!
Reality
This is going to be a disjointed post. Mostly due to the fact that my head is rather disjointed right now.
It's blazing hot here in the greater NYC area. I don't deal vey well with the heat, which is why I moved out of Florida to begin with. It's only June. June is supposed to be nice weather here. Not 98+ degrees.
It's ladies holiday on my planet right now, so no practicing. Probably tomorrow though. I'm planning on making another private appointment with Batman for maybe a week or two from now, as motivation. Apparently Boy Wonder won't be at Anonymous Shala on Sunday, which is a major freaking drag.
Today I'm calling up my father's creditors, telling them that he has passed away with no estate. It's very depressing. Nothing like seeing his death certificate to bring home that fact that, yes, he's actually dead.
My (obviously insane) boss left me in charge while he's out at a conference, so I'm basically doing two people's jobs right now.
We haven't started packing yet, and the process of getting a lease signed is dragging unbelievably. Now we're going to have to make an appointment with the landlord's attorney to hash out the lease.
Fuck.
It's blazing hot here in the greater NYC area. I don't deal vey well with the heat, which is why I moved out of Florida to begin with. It's only June. June is supposed to be nice weather here. Not 98+ degrees.
It's ladies holiday on my planet right now, so no practicing. Probably tomorrow though. I'm planning on making another private appointment with Batman for maybe a week or two from now, as motivation. Apparently Boy Wonder won't be at Anonymous Shala on Sunday, which is a major freaking drag.
Today I'm calling up my father's creditors, telling them that he has passed away with no estate. It's very depressing. Nothing like seeing his death certificate to bring home that fact that, yes, he's actually dead.
My (obviously insane) boss left me in charge while he's out at a conference, so I'm basically doing two people's jobs right now.
We haven't started packing yet, and the process of getting a lease signed is dragging unbelievably. Now we're going to have to make an appointment with the landlord's attorney to hash out the lease.
Fuck.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
In India they.....
I'm all for ashtangis going to India. In fact, I would love to go there myself to practice one day. They just have to address that whole showering/toilet/stray puppy issue. But I get really irked when people come back and are full of 'well, this is how Sharath does it' and 'Guruji says this' and 'Guruji doesn't like that'. I prefer it the way Teacher does it. He just says 'my teacher taught me this way, so this is the way I teach it'. I went to the led half primary/half secondary at the studio in Huntington. Or so I thought. Turned out is was a led primary but not everyone was allowed to finish. I distincly remember having a discussion with the teacher/owner last week about how she changed the format of the Saturday led primary class to be led half primary and half secondary up to ustrasana. I thought that sounded like fun, and certainly more asana practice than I would get in the vinyasa class that comes before it so I figured I'd go. Otherwise I would never go, I despise led primary. I really dislike going at someone else's pace. So I get there and it's a different teacher and she just got back from Mysore like literally last week. OK, whatever. I need to practice so no biggie. The class starts and she announces that 'we are going to do it like they do it in India'. Which means led primary only, everyone goes up to Navasana and if you can't bind the marichys then you won't go past that. So during navasana she (very publicly) taps like five people to keep going. She stops two more at kurmasana. There were only two people who finished the whole primary series. One guy asked if he could just TRY bhujapidasana and she's like 'no, just sit and watch and do the vinyasas with us'. Um, fuck that. I did my backbends and finishing along with three or four others and left when the 'advanced practitioners' were in shoulderstand. Oh yeah, you're not surprised that I wasn't one of the ones who wasn't asked to keep going are you? Because I wasn't. I didn't really care that I was stopped, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was more the vibe of the class that I found to be a problem. I need to find out if she's the permanent Saturday teacher because if she is then I think I've hit a dead end again for finding a steady class. I know that I'm picky about my teachers, I can't take a class with just anyone but I don't think I'm being particularly picky here. She just rubbed me the wrong way. Very 'I went to India - holier than though' kind of attitude. The whole time it was full of 'Sharath says this' and 'Guruji says that'. Um, if I wanted to know what Guruji and Sharath had to say, I'd fucking go to India!
More Not So Anonymous Shala drama that I won't go into here. Apparently not only are we not supposed to blog about our teachers but we aren't supposed to blog about our shalas either because they're monitoring us. Not acceptable.
Still working on getting that lease signed so that I can sleep at night again.
It's soooooo hot and I'm exhausted. BF is adamant that I go to the movies with them tonight to see Indiana Jones but I don' wanna!
More Not So Anonymous Shala drama that I won't go into here. Apparently not only are we not supposed to blog about our teachers but we aren't supposed to blog about our shalas either because they're monitoring us. Not acceptable.
Still working on getting that lease signed so that I can sleep at night again.
It's soooooo hot and I'm exhausted. BF is adamant that I go to the movies with them tonight to see Indiana Jones but I don' wanna!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Savasana is the hardest pose
So, I know you're all dying to know....
I did my sun salutations today. Then Pashimatanasana, sarvangasana, halasana (15 breaths each, mind you), sirsasana prep (feet on floor) for only 10 breaths, that was all I could do and I 'took rest' for 25 breaths. For what it's worth, sarvangasana is difficult when you haven't done a full practice. I was so stiff my arms felt like they were going to break off under there. I don't usually have much trouble with shoulderstand so I'm assuming it was because I hadn't done a full practice, and also because I'm still a little sore and stiff from the private with Teacher. Oh yeah, and did I mention that he whipped me into Marichyasana A, B AND C like it was NOTHING. And it never hurts. How does he do that???? Magic Mysore yoga teacher juice?
It looks like we are FINALLY going to receive a lease for the house that we've been trying to rent for almost two weeks. Happy dance! It's a great house and is a real bargain. We actuallly started looking again this week because we started to get antsy about not having a lease yet. Nothing in this price range compares to this house at all. So, fingers crossed that all of this will be resolved by early next week because it's time to start PACKING!!!!!!
I did my sun salutations today. Then Pashimatanasana, sarvangasana, halasana (15 breaths each, mind you), sirsasana prep (feet on floor) for only 10 breaths, that was all I could do and I 'took rest' for 25 breaths. For what it's worth, sarvangasana is difficult when you haven't done a full practice. I was so stiff my arms felt like they were going to break off under there. I don't usually have much trouble with shoulderstand so I'm assuming it was because I hadn't done a full practice, and also because I'm still a little sore and stiff from the private with Teacher. Oh yeah, and did I mention that he whipped me into Marichyasana A, B AND C like it was NOTHING. And it never hurts. How does he do that???? Magic Mysore yoga teacher juice?
It looks like we are FINALLY going to receive a lease for the house that we've been trying to rent for almost two weeks. Happy dance! It's a great house and is a real bargain. We actuallly started looking again this week because we started to get antsy about not having a lease yet. Nothing in this price range compares to this house at all. So, fingers crossed that all of this will be resolved by early next week because it's time to start PACKING!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Private and surgery
First off, my little Rockefeller is having surgery on Thursday. All this talk of Mercury in retrograde has me nervous about it but it's supposed to be fairly simple. He has a mast cell tumor on his eyelid. It sounds more gross than it is, basically a tiny patch about half the size of a dime on his eyelid is a teensy bit swollen and all the hair has come out. It changes in size and shape according to the allergens in the air and his excitement level. The vet did a needle biopsy on it and deemed it 'suspicious' so it needs to come off. Because my ex is a painful bastard, that's all the information I have (even though I'm paying for half the surgery, HELLO). Supposedly he keeps his eye and eyelid? Hopefully he doesn't look too funny when he comes out, not that we care but I don't want people to see him and be grossed out or feel sorry for him. He's such a happy lovey little dog. Mama's boy! Our bigger worry is that Rufus will be without his brother all day on Thursday. This doesn't sound like a big deal except Rufus is a very insecure pug. I mean, like, when he gets separated from Rocky or either me or my ex, he CRIES. LOUDLY. And it's annoying. He's going to annoy the crap out of my ex's wife. I'm ok with that, tee hee. She's kind of a bitch to me. And to my ex, if you must know.
Here is a picture of Rocky with his tumor. You can see on his left eye (to your right) the eyelid is swollen and you can see a red spot.
Here's my baby boy as an overgrown puppy:
Play with me mommy!!!!!!
OK, so the private with Teacher. It was pretty weird. I've only ever done a private by accident, like when no one else showed up to class but me. It's very disconcerting to have someone stare at you like that for over an hour and a half. Here are the highlights:
1. Must practice more consistently. The current goal is to do three days a week full practice and at least two more days a week surya namaskara and more if possible.
2. Finishing postures (sarvangasana, halasana, sirsasana, padmasana) are the most important ones. I must work toward 25 breaths in each. Bah!
3. My breath is GOOD. If I just stay with what I have for that, and work on the bandhas and dristhe, I'm doing what is supposed to be done.
4. I should be doing all of primary, even if I modify. There's no reason to stop. I am perfectly capable RIGHT NOW of getting my toes up off the floor in bhujapidasana.
5. Must 'take rest'. I hate savasana but apparently I must do it no matter what. Again, BAH!
6. I should 'sit' either upon waking up or just before going to bed. A little meditation. I'll buy that.
And here's the stuff that I'm putting on the shelf for now:
1. Eating meat creates some kind of acid that will prevent me from binding easily in the marichy's. Um, yeah, we'll see.
2. I can get my toes up off the floor in bhujapidasana. Whatever!
3. I sleep too much. The fact that I sleep more than 8 hours on a regular basis (I'm a 9 - 9.5 hours a night kind of girl) is part of the reason I have such a hard time relaxing in savasana. Teacher cited some recent sleep study or some such. Um, again, doubtful but I'll take that under advisement.
So, those are the highlights. My current plan is to do this maybe twice a month. It's EXPENSIVE, not that Teacher isn't worth it but who has the money to pay someone to teach them privately? Oh yeah, rich people. And I am not rich.
Here is a picture of Rocky with his tumor. You can see on his left eye (to your right) the eyelid is swollen and you can see a red spot.
Here's my baby boy as an overgrown puppy:
Play with me mommy!!!!!!
OK, so the private with Teacher. It was pretty weird. I've only ever done a private by accident, like when no one else showed up to class but me. It's very disconcerting to have someone stare at you like that for over an hour and a half. Here are the highlights:
1. Must practice more consistently. The current goal is to do three days a week full practice and at least two more days a week surya namaskara and more if possible.
2. Finishing postures (sarvangasana, halasana, sirsasana, padmasana) are the most important ones. I must work toward 25 breaths in each. Bah!
3. My breath is GOOD. If I just stay with what I have for that, and work on the bandhas and dristhe, I'm doing what is supposed to be done.
4. I should be doing all of primary, even if I modify. There's no reason to stop. I am perfectly capable RIGHT NOW of getting my toes up off the floor in bhujapidasana.
5. Must 'take rest'. I hate savasana but apparently I must do it no matter what. Again, BAH!
6. I should 'sit' either upon waking up or just before going to bed. A little meditation. I'll buy that.
And here's the stuff that I'm putting on the shelf for now:
1. Eating meat creates some kind of acid that will prevent me from binding easily in the marichy's. Um, yeah, we'll see.
2. I can get my toes up off the floor in bhujapidasana. Whatever!
3. I sleep too much. The fact that I sleep more than 8 hours on a regular basis (I'm a 9 - 9.5 hours a night kind of girl) is part of the reason I have such a hard time relaxing in savasana. Teacher cited some recent sleep study or some such. Um, again, doubtful but I'll take that under advisement.
So, those are the highlights. My current plan is to do this maybe twice a month. It's EXPENSIVE, not that Teacher isn't worth it but who has the money to pay someone to teach them privately? Oh yeah, rich people. And I am not rich.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Privates (and private)
I have a private with the former Teacher today. In two hours. Let the nervous peeing commence.
I have absolutely nothing to post about. Everyone is going private, it sucks. I mean, I got invites and everything but isn't blogging about saying what you want to no matter what? Probably not. I know I don't say whatever I want. Because there are some people in my non-yoga world who read this blog. So there's a lot of stuff that goes unsaid in my own blog because it's public. I get it.
Did I mention I have a private? At 6:30? Ummmmm, yeah.
More on that tomorrow.
I have absolutely nothing to post about. Everyone is going private, it sucks. I mean, I got invites and everything but isn't blogging about saying what you want to no matter what? Probably not. I know I don't say whatever I want. Because there are some people in my non-yoga world who read this blog. So there's a lot of stuff that goes unsaid in my own blog because it's public. I get it.
Did I mention I have a private? At 6:30? Ummmmm, yeah.
More on that tomorrow.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Mellow rock hits of the 70's
That was the soundtrack this morning in the car on the way to Anonymous Shala. I was in a great mood, really looking forward to my practice. And therein lies the rub. Because it SUCKED. It sucked all day long and twice on Sunday. I stopped several times during sun sals. I was soooo tired and felt like I couldn't breathe. Lately I've been doing a lot better during sun sals and standing, able to really get up a flow and not 'putzer' so much. I must have stopped ten times today during standing alone. I just felt exhausted.
And then I got to tiryangmukhaikapada paschimatanasana. My nemesis. The pose I hate the most in the primary series. Not the pose I hate the most ever (that award goes to vasisthasana) but pretty freaking close. In over two years I have made incremental progress. I mean, I don't sit on the block any more because, really, what's the point? My butt has probably dropped about an inch toward the floor. Maybe. On a good day. The butt cheek of the folded leg will NEVER get to the floor, it seems. And that's where the spiral began. Here's what it sounded like in my head:
You'll never be able to do this pose.
You're way too fat to be doing yoga.
Look at how thin she is next to you. You'll never look like that.
Why can't I do this pose? Everyone can do this pose but me!
Because everyone else is thinner than you. And way more disciplined than you.
I'm tired of not having a teacher! If I had a consistent teacher maybe I could actually DO this crap.
Not likely.
And on and on and on. Boy Wonder came over to help me out. Basically he pushes his leg up against my 'listing' side so I don't fall over like a bloated yacht. And that's when the tears began. I cried into my towel for a while. Then moved on. Then cried into my knee in Janu A. I skipped Janu B, I didn't even mean to. Frankly I wasn't in the mood at that point to jam my heel into my perineum anyway. Hurts my wound. I finally (mercifully) got to navasana. I lay down to backbend and got up once and it felt so bad I didn't go up again. I just picked up my stupid smelly heavy rubber mat and went behind one of the gigantic pillars to cry in peace.
And that's when Boy Wonder followed me. DAMN! Of all the days for him to notice me!
We kind of introduced ourselves to each other. I explained that my attendance seemed sporadic because I live and work on Long Island and it is difficult for me to get into the city. He offered to give me more poses next Sunday. Which is really sweet and I was, of course, very touched. Need I remind everyone that I HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN ALL OF PRIMARY SERIES????? I told him I had but that I was stopping at navasana because I cannot do bhujapidasana at all. But I told him that if he was willing to teach me it, we could give it a go.
So, yeah, that's my day. I'm not allowing comments on this post because, while I dearly love and appreciate the support of the cyber-shala, I'm CERTAIN that people are tired of my 'woe is me' posts. Frankly, I'M tired of them. I just felt like I had to get this all out.
Did I mention that I'm pretty sure that this meltdown has PMS written all over it?
And then I got to tiryangmukhaikapada paschimatanasana. My nemesis. The pose I hate the most in the primary series. Not the pose I hate the most ever (that award goes to vasisthasana) but pretty freaking close. In over two years I have made incremental progress. I mean, I don't sit on the block any more because, really, what's the point? My butt has probably dropped about an inch toward the floor. Maybe. On a good day. The butt cheek of the folded leg will NEVER get to the floor, it seems. And that's where the spiral began. Here's what it sounded like in my head:
You'll never be able to do this pose.
You're way too fat to be doing yoga.
Look at how thin she is next to you. You'll never look like that.
Why can't I do this pose? Everyone can do this pose but me!
Because everyone else is thinner than you. And way more disciplined than you.
I'm tired of not having a teacher! If I had a consistent teacher maybe I could actually DO this crap.
Not likely.
And on and on and on. Boy Wonder came over to help me out. Basically he pushes his leg up against my 'listing' side so I don't fall over like a bloated yacht. And that's when the tears began. I cried into my towel for a while. Then moved on. Then cried into my knee in Janu A. I skipped Janu B, I didn't even mean to. Frankly I wasn't in the mood at that point to jam my heel into my perineum anyway. Hurts my wound. I finally (mercifully) got to navasana. I lay down to backbend and got up once and it felt so bad I didn't go up again. I just picked up my stupid smelly heavy rubber mat and went behind one of the gigantic pillars to cry in peace.
And that's when Boy Wonder followed me. DAMN! Of all the days for him to notice me!
We kind of introduced ourselves to each other. I explained that my attendance seemed sporadic because I live and work on Long Island and it is difficult for me to get into the city. He offered to give me more poses next Sunday. Which is really sweet and I was, of course, very touched. Need I remind everyone that I HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN ALL OF PRIMARY SERIES????? I told him I had but that I was stopping at navasana because I cannot do bhujapidasana at all. But I told him that if he was willing to teach me it, we could give it a go.
So, yeah, that's my day. I'm not allowing comments on this post because, while I dearly love and appreciate the support of the cyber-shala, I'm CERTAIN that people are tired of my 'woe is me' posts. Frankly, I'M tired of them. I just felt like I had to get this all out.
Did I mention that I'm pretty sure that this meltdown has PMS written all over it?
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