On the Beach and Practice

Today is sunny and so beautiful in Byron. I went for a walk along the beach before midday. Beach in Suffolk Park is breathtaking. It’s very powerful place, the sky seems to be so high and the air is fresh, salty and warm. Little surfers are catching their waves and dogs are running wild, feeling the same freedom as we people, when we are so close to the nature. It’s very enjoyable to watch surfers’ skills, they can read the sea, its moves, its ups and its downs. Surfers must feel the same as yogis, that sea is their minilife as the mat is for yogis. Sometimes it’s easy to keep up the balance, even eyes closed and sometimes there is absolutely no balance. You have to look for the right moment to relax and the right moment to follow the wave. Often you crash and then you just slide through the wave again and finally you are inside the wave and you can just flow. You surrender completely in front of the sea and the sea will carry you.

Dena is playing with us a lot. Today we did standing poses together, so that we were allowed to take only three breaths in every pose. But those breaths were long and specific. We were trying to actually use every breath completely. In Sun Salutations every vinyasa was four counts, so the practice was slow in a way, but very relaxed, controlled, smooth and really following the breath. Shala was so cold today, but this practice technic really warmed up my back.

I was really flexible today and didn’t feel pain during the practice. Dena’s extra core practices are working and I try to open my hips a little bit before practice, too. My right shoulder hurts because of the continuous imbalance in my practice as a consequence from my back problems. Sometimes is feels like my whole body is falling apart step by step because of my back pain, but I just have to find the way get my body straight again. And even when my practice is so hard often, I am reminding myself, how serious my back problems would be without this practice. So the practice sometimes hurts, but it hurts less, than without practice. Hopefully one day there is no pain.