Nearing the end of my first week of Mysore practice at the new studio,
its been really great, not at all scary as I thought it might be. I dont know if I had visions that everyone would stop their practice and start laughing if I couldnt take Kurmasasna or what.
People are begining to say hello and I had a lovely chat with one of the 6 AM regulars this morning.
Apparently there are a few people who have graduated from practicing at the gym to the Shala.
I must admit I do feel as though Im cheating a bit. I havent comitted the sequence to memory and I have had to find someone who is at, or a posture ahead of where I am in the series and follow them. This has proven to be useful for the obvious reason (letting me know what the hell I should be doing) but also in gauging the length of my breaths. I think that my idea of 5 breaths might be too short.
The problem with this “cheating” is that Im not as focused on my own breath and practice. I have to make an effort to “peek” to make sure Im still in line. This is a temporary situation and hopefully soon my body will help me remember the series.
The funny part is that my neighbor who does yoga at the shala and I were chatting lastnight and I told him about my “method”, he smiled and understood, then this morning who is assisting with adjustments….my neighbor. Oh well.
I am daily amazed at my progress, I think its a combination of the atmosphere (there is something to be said for not hearing the thump of house music like at the gym)
and the time you can take to get into an asana. I am this close to getting Marichyasana C not the eloquent type rather the huffing puffing red faced type, but its a start.
Teacher told me today that Im too tense and that I can reach no problem once I let the tension go.
Here are my asana mantra’s
1. Be here now. Helps me when Im fidgiting once Ive taken the pose and trying to “perfect” it.
2. Let tension go. When I am tensing up trying to get into a pose.
I hope tomorrow I can take Mari C because I would really like to continue on in the series.
The good news is that on Fridays and Sundays there is a led class. Cant wait!
