A bit sore

Well, I am bit sore from our lovely little practice yesterday. Anne, Jeff, Mark, Hannah, Mandy, Jeremiah, Chelsea and myself all got together for 3 hours of back bends and the fun that leads up to them. We spent a lot of time working on handstand to urdhva danurasana to standing to dropping back to urdhva danurasana to handstand which was fun. (Otherwise known as viparita chakrasana)Then we did make our foray into the EPRK poses which went really well for everyone. I was pretty impressed with the way everyone's practice is really coming along. It is very inspiring to see. I did have a camera in there to take some pictures but I never got around to it- we were just pretty involved throughout.

And I must say that I think we hit a very lovely blend of work and play. We had some talking but it never felt to me like the social aspect overtook the practice aspect and it never felt like we were so rigid on not talking that it was tense or unnatural. One thing I just hate is when in group practices there is not enough focus so when it is over I do not have that "I just practiced" feeling of being cleaned out, at rest within myself and unwound. And I hate when people do not keep themselves in check in such circumstances so that it falls to me to manage the space in that way which is not how I want to spend my "time off."

Anyway, this was not a problem at all yesterday- we had a perfect blend of focus and frolic and from what I could tell, people got good help from one another and everyone seemed to have fun. I know I did.

More or less our sequence (But do not write me saying "what do you mean by that" as I hate answering those kind of emails. If you do not know the Sanskrit for something, LOOK IT UP!!! )

Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana
Surya Namaskar (10 minutes)
Sirsasana
lunge (rooting back leg for this whole series)
eprk prep
twisted lunge
lunge with back leg in ardha bhekasana
eprk prep with back leg in ardha bhekasana
twisted lunge with back leg in ardha bhekasana
prasarita paddotanasana
parsvottasana, classic form
parsvottansasana, hands in gomukhasana
Virabhdrasana One
eka pada supta virasana series
supta padangusthasana series
padmasana
padmasana "no hands" practice (Leaning back on forearms)
ardha baddha padmottasana
ardha padmasana press handstands to padmasana in handstand
press handstand
paryankasana
paryankasana with block under upper back
paryankasana with block at the tailbone
Supta virasana
Pinca backbends at wall
urdhva danurasana over chair with bolster
urdhva danurasana - chest to the wall
urdhva danurasana- feet on chair
viparita chakrasana
drop backs
eprk series
natrajasana
uttanasana
parsva uttanasana
jathara partivartanasana
uppavista konasana
parsva uppavista konasana
ardha halasana with bolster
savasana

Okay- enjoy! And if you want to come down this coming Monday from 12-3 we will be practicing again. Chances are more back bends, but who knows. I might also be good to work on the leg-behind-the- head stuff. Perhaps some of both. I am in a period of obsession with viparita charaksana, one-armed drop backs, one -legged drop backs and headstand dropovers back to sirsasana. These are the things John has had me demonstrate lately that I have not nailed in the demo to my satisfaction (Or his, frankly.)

ANYHOO-- On another note I talked to my editor yesterday who said the editing on my manuscript is going faster than she had anticipated and so she thinks it can be done in time to get to John in time for the Estes Park release. We shall see. There are a lot of factors involved, many of which are out of my control at this point. More on this as the saga continues.