My face was super swollen. Uh oh.. bad sign. My stomach felt full.. Uh oh.. another bad sign. I was already afraid of my practice today. When I got out from the metro station, workmen were already out in Sint Kathleen building structures for the Christmas market. It reminded me of last year when I really got into the Mysore practice. Ha.. time flies! When I got into the shala, Anne came right after me. Giuseppe was there too. It was really nice to see him ^-^ I placed my mat on my usual spot and began the practice straight away. Despite my worries in the morning… my body felt alright. I felt quite open and flexible from the beginning. Though I didn’t really sweat in the standing sequence. Anne helped me in utthita hasta padangusthasana and I felt very stable and strong. This was a good sign. Even in my parsvakonasana B, I felt my twist got better. Standing sequence was simply sweet. Seated… was a bit weird. It was difficult to jump through with lightness in the body. Then I blamed late night food. Ha… why was I not able to resist the urge to eat….!!! Today I focused a lot on opening/lifting my chest in marichyasana C and D. Again… my heavy stomach was only felt in jump through and not in twist. It was weird. Navasana on the other hand was not good. Really NOT GOOD! My tailbone/sacrum area was hurting to the maximum. I didn’t really care about having my legs straight. I just focused on the quads and bandhas with bent knees. Bujapidasana was quite good and kurmasana as well. I could really deeply touch the ground with my chest in chin in kurmasana. I enjoyed it so much so stayed there for extra breaths. Supta kurmasana was very sweet too. With Anne’s help my legs came high on my shoulder/shoulder blades (almost). Transition was fine today. Garbha pindasana was done without water spray. Rolling is still very rough but I guess with my straight back and fractured tailbone… it will be always difficult to roll smoothly. I loved supta konasana and rolling today. I felt I was fully in control. All the rolling up was good today. Setu bandhasana was okay too. I just don’t like this clinching pain(?!) around my neck and shoulder. I don’t know whether this is avoidable in setu bandhasana. I focused on rolling my thigh muscles inward thinking about what Nick said. It’s really interesting and nice to have your teachers’ voice in your head when you practice. Pashasana was okay today! Yes! I bound my hands myself but Anne came and helped me to put heels down. So both side was okay!! Full stomach but somehow okay twist! Is it the full moon energy? I don’t know… Krounchasana and shalabhasana was same as usual. Bhekasana… was difficult. Wow… I did the right one first and the left. Anne told me to hold both feet at the same time but it was hard. I tried anyways and made more or less okay asana (I hope;;). I think Anne told me to lengthen the tailbone down. Whoa……. It’s a really tough asana than it seems. Back bend was okay. I felt quite open today. Lifting from the third one was tricky but I did it. I sprung forward and laughed at myself a bit. It’s okay. I am enjoying it. Three drop backs were good today. I was happy that I could lift three times today. I think my feet were more or less grounded twice. Half roll and drop (later this will be catching one day…) was interesting today. I didn’t feel much back pain today so I walked my hands/fingers to my heels. I think today was the furthest point I reached on my own. With Sharmila my fingers were right behind the heels (almost touching) because she moved my hands. But this time I moved my fingers on my own. When I reached that point I felt a bit of sharp pain in my lower back and I made a sound of suffering… (hahahah). Anne quickly helped me lift up. It was a happy moment. She gave me a good push in paschimattanasana. Today I was more conscious during the shoulder stand sequence. I found myself losing the count of breaths. I just stayed there without thinking too much. I felt lifted and almost up in the air in urdhva padamasana. I stayed 30 and 20 breaths in sirsasana and half bend. Utplitih was 15 breaths… (What happened today?!!!) I took a 5 min savasana and left the shala with happy heart.
At Ashtanga Yoga Brussels on 13/11/19(Wed) from 06:50 to 08:25
Teacher: Anne