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.
11 May 2011
10 May 2011
Hippie Market, Mother’s Day and Practices
Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I missed my mum so much. My mum is a very unique lady, the best in the world. I spoke with her yesterday and we talked about our last travel together. We went to Paris during springtime and it was fantastic. We just walked together around the City of Light, ate and talked in different cafés, went to see Tour Eiffel, Sacre Coeur and all other famous tourist locations. Our time in Paris was magical, because Paris was just waking up for the summer, flowers starting to blossom and people getting exticed about the summertime.
Yesterday’s practice was hard. We did very modified asana practice and Dena was practicing with us. We did lots of hip opening and core strengthening. In the end of the practice Dena talked about mothers, being mother and becoming mother. It was very beautiful, touching and made me miss my mum even more.
After practice we headed to Sunday market. Byron Bay is a paradise for market fans. Here is different kind of like markets through the week and local people really seem to love the market atmosphere. Weather and the drive were so beautiful. It felt like being on the countryside in Italy or France. Market was full of old hippies selling food, clothes and second-hand stuff. Too much weed and drumming for my taste, but it was nice to see the market anyway and company of yogis was the best of course.
Today’s practice was ok. I am doing Dena’s extra core practices before asana practice and then I am doing modified Sun Salutations to strengthen my core. I can feel the difference already and my back feels better, too. Just have to keep going…
Yesterday’s practice was hard. We did very modified asana practice and Dena was practicing with us. We did lots of hip opening and core strengthening. In the end of the practice Dena talked about mothers, being mother and becoming mother. It was very beautiful, touching and made me miss my mum even more.
After practice we headed to Sunday market. Byron Bay is a paradise for market fans. Here is different kind of like markets through the week and local people really seem to love the market atmosphere. Weather and the drive were so beautiful. It felt like being on the countryside in Italy or France. Market was full of old hippies selling food, clothes and second-hand stuff. Too much weed and drumming for my taste, but it was nice to see the market anyway and company of yogis was the best of course.
Today’s practice was ok. I am doing Dena’s extra core practices before asana practice and then I am doing modified Sun Salutations to strengthen my core. I can feel the difference already and my back feels better, too. Just have to keep going…
7 May 2011
First Byron Week
On Friday we had a led class. Dena was practicing with us again. My practice was terrible, because I was next to the heater, which they have in Shala. My feet were burning and my upperbody was ice cold. First I thought that I will only do half-Primary, because I was so distracted, but I was able to do my whole practice. I have to say that the Shala herein Byron isn’t the best one. It’s cold and superhumid. The floor is ok, but when my body is so cold because of the room temperature, I am quite stiff. This practice week wasn’t the best one, because I don’t like short weeks. I like to have a full week and then I am enjoying my day off more.
Dena gave me extra practices to strengthen my core. I think that those will be really beneficial for my back. Dena’s own students are doing those extras too to support their backs during adjustments.
I went to the Shala by bike during one morning and I liked it. I prefer to go to the Shala a little bit earlier and do stretching before class. We start always with common pranayama and little meditation. I haven’t done my own pranayama practice now, but I will get back to it after this course. I think that one breathing practice per day is enough for me.
To be honest, otherwise I am not that impressed by Byron Bay. Customer service here is terrible and people in general are not nice. Here seems to be a lack of manners and culture. People walk around wearing beach clothes and so many are drunk or on drugs. Beach in Suffolk Park is beautiful and this area is very green, but those are the only things, which I really like (and yoga of course) here. Everything is very expensive and often overpriced. In stores you can find a lot of organic and healthy food, but in restaurants food isn’t that good. Maybe many people cook their meals at home. Accomodation is almost ridiculously expensive, specially what comes to quality hotels. Suffolk Park area could be a paradise on Earth because of the amazing beach, but houses are built in a bad way, so that often houses are a little bit too humid, cold and dim.
My roomie Kate is asking me what she is going to do in Byron during the whole month. She is dying to leave this house and go back home to Melbourne. She is specially struggling with our accommodation, because the owner of the house doesn’t keep places tidy. We cleaned here one day and the day after people were walking around the house their shoes on and our work was worth nothing. Luckily I have been traveling for a while, so I don’t struggle that much, but I have to say, that even I would prefer a place, which would be cleaner. Kate got now her own car, so that’s giving her more freedom. I have been borrowing Shelagh’s bike to get around or I have gotten a lift from my friends. For sure Byron isn’t very exciting place and I am pretty done with small places anyway. I am looking forward to city life in Sydney and getting back to civilization, but before that I am trying to enjoy the beach life here as much as possible and read interesting books.
I have been reading quite much lately and I finished Not Without My Sister yesterday. It wasn’t my favorite book, but the topic was interesting. The book was so much about sexual abuse and other heavy topics, that reading wasn’t enjoyable. When three sisters were telling their own versions about the same events, book was repeating itself too much.
After that book I started to read a book called The Road Home by Rose Tremain. It’s a story about Eastern European man Lev, who moves to London to look for a job and start a new life. I like to read books, which are happening in the cities, where I have lived. It’s nice to go back to those cities in my head and be there again.
Tonight I am going for a dinner to my friend Deb’s place. She lives in a gorgeous Japanese style apartment, so I will get my dose of luxury for today. I will prepare a dessert with apples and vanilla sauce, Kate will prepare dal and Sonja promised to make salad. I love sharing meals with my friends. You will get good company, excellent food and the work is half. I don't like to eat alone and cooking for one person is such a waste. Sharing is caring, too…
Dena gave me extra practices to strengthen my core. I think that those will be really beneficial for my back. Dena’s own students are doing those extras too to support their backs during adjustments.
I went to the Shala by bike during one morning and I liked it. I prefer to go to the Shala a little bit earlier and do stretching before class. We start always with common pranayama and little meditation. I haven’t done my own pranayama practice now, but I will get back to it after this course. I think that one breathing practice per day is enough for me.
To be honest, otherwise I am not that impressed by Byron Bay. Customer service here is terrible and people in general are not nice. Here seems to be a lack of manners and culture. People walk around wearing beach clothes and so many are drunk or on drugs. Beach in Suffolk Park is beautiful and this area is very green, but those are the only things, which I really like (and yoga of course) here. Everything is very expensive and often overpriced. In stores you can find a lot of organic and healthy food, but in restaurants food isn’t that good. Maybe many people cook their meals at home. Accomodation is almost ridiculously expensive, specially what comes to quality hotels. Suffolk Park area could be a paradise on Earth because of the amazing beach, but houses are built in a bad way, so that often houses are a little bit too humid, cold and dim.
My roomie Kate is asking me what she is going to do in Byron during the whole month. She is dying to leave this house and go back home to Melbourne. She is specially struggling with our accommodation, because the owner of the house doesn’t keep places tidy. We cleaned here one day and the day after people were walking around the house their shoes on and our work was worth nothing. Luckily I have been traveling for a while, so I don’t struggle that much, but I have to say, that even I would prefer a place, which would be cleaner. Kate got now her own car, so that’s giving her more freedom. I have been borrowing Shelagh’s bike to get around or I have gotten a lift from my friends. For sure Byron isn’t very exciting place and I am pretty done with small places anyway. I am looking forward to city life in Sydney and getting back to civilization, but before that I am trying to enjoy the beach life here as much as possible and read interesting books.
I have been reading quite much lately and I finished Not Without My Sister yesterday. It wasn’t my favorite book, but the topic was interesting. The book was so much about sexual abuse and other heavy topics, that reading wasn’t enjoyable. When three sisters were telling their own versions about the same events, book was repeating itself too much.
After that book I started to read a book called The Road Home by Rose Tremain. It’s a story about Eastern European man Lev, who moves to London to look for a job and start a new life. I like to read books, which are happening in the cities, where I have lived. It’s nice to go back to those cities in my head and be there again.
Tonight I am going for a dinner to my friend Deb’s place. She lives in a gorgeous Japanese style apartment, so I will get my dose of luxury for today. I will prepare a dessert with apples and vanilla sauce, Kate will prepare dal and Sonja promised to make salad. I love sharing meals with my friends. You will get good company, excellent food and the work is half. I don't like to eat alone and cooking for one person is such a waste. Sharing is caring, too…
2 May 2011
My First Days in Byron Bay
So here I am, living in my new house in Suffolk Park. I have three roommates: English Teacher Kathryn, who owns the house, Graphic Designer Kate, who is yogini from Melbourne and originally South-African Shelagh, who is Naprapath and Childcare Specialist. Our house is messy, cosy and very Australian. Beach is near, this neighborhood is calm (drinking is prohibited mostly in this area) and city center is about 30 minutes by bike. Here is very green and different kinds of birds are walking on our backyard. The weather has been sunny, it only rained, when I arrived.
I have now practiced twice with Dena. Shelagh has a car, so I have been lucky to get a lift to the shala every morning. Shala has been packed, it’s quite small room and we have over 30 yogis there. I met four yogis here, who I have seen before in different retreats. I was so happy specially to see Sonja (my friend from Mysore) and Debbie (Dena’s devoted student, with who I practiced in Stockholm and Koh Mak), who both are doing commited practisioners –course with Dena.
First practice on Sunday was led half-Primary, which was a good start for me after long nights at the airports. Dena was practicing with us and she also did some demos for us. Today we started our own Mysore practices. Some of Dena’s students, who are doing three years teacher training with her, were adjusting. All the adjustments, which I got, were smooth and sensitive, so I don’t have anything to be afraid of. My back felt surprisingly good after the flights and coldness (our house is cold specially during the nights, because here is no heating system). Today the energy in the shala was really full on, I think that later people will be more chilled out. I did my basic practice, but started lightly with Urdva Dhanurasana (three smalls and one up). I am happy to practice with Dena again, she is such a good teacher and calming person for my mind.
Yesterday I walked to the center with Kate. It was a long walk, in total it took one hour to go to the center and we both were wearing flip-flops. We went for a lovely sushi lunch (I am just smiling, when I can eat sushi after all that cooked food in India) and checked the main street. Our plan was to go back home by bus, but there was no bus, so we were forced to take a taxi back home.
Today I borrowed Shelagh’s bike and enjoyed the good weather, when going to the town. I finally got new bikinis, so maybe tomorrow I can go to the beach. I found a nice store, which was selling various different parfyme candles and wandered around the town until I ended up to a bookstore. This time I resisted my temptation to buy a new book, I first have to finish Not With Out My Sister. And I got a pre-paid, so I have local number now.
Sun here is very strong, even when it’s obviously the beginning of the winter season (all bikinis were on sale). Tomorrow will be a Moonday, so this week is going to be a short practice week. For me it’s fine to start the practice in a light way and settle down to my new life here first. Tomorrow I will have a dinner with Sonja, so I can finally catch up and here all what has happened in her life after Mysore times. It’s good to see my Mysore friends here, too.
I have now practiced twice with Dena. Shelagh has a car, so I have been lucky to get a lift to the shala every morning. Shala has been packed, it’s quite small room and we have over 30 yogis there. I met four yogis here, who I have seen before in different retreats. I was so happy specially to see Sonja (my friend from Mysore) and Debbie (Dena’s devoted student, with who I practiced in Stockholm and Koh Mak), who both are doing commited practisioners –course with Dena.
First practice on Sunday was led half-Primary, which was a good start for me after long nights at the airports. Dena was practicing with us and she also did some demos for us. Today we started our own Mysore practices. Some of Dena’s students, who are doing three years teacher training with her, were adjusting. All the adjustments, which I got, were smooth and sensitive, so I don’t have anything to be afraid of. My back felt surprisingly good after the flights and coldness (our house is cold specially during the nights, because here is no heating system). Today the energy in the shala was really full on, I think that later people will be more chilled out. I did my basic practice, but started lightly with Urdva Dhanurasana (three smalls and one up). I am happy to practice with Dena again, she is such a good teacher and calming person for my mind.
Yesterday I walked to the center with Kate. It was a long walk, in total it took one hour to go to the center and we both were wearing flip-flops. We went for a lovely sushi lunch (I am just smiling, when I can eat sushi after all that cooked food in India) and checked the main street. Our plan was to go back home by bus, but there was no bus, so we were forced to take a taxi back home.
Today I borrowed Shelagh’s bike and enjoyed the good weather, when going to the town. I finally got new bikinis, so maybe tomorrow I can go to the beach. I found a nice store, which was selling various different parfyme candles and wandered around the town until I ended up to a bookstore. This time I resisted my temptation to buy a new book, I first have to finish Not With Out My Sister. And I got a pre-paid, so I have local number now.
Sun here is very strong, even when it’s obviously the beginning of the winter season (all bikinis were on sale). Tomorrow will be a Moonday, so this week is going to be a short practice week. For me it’s fine to start the practice in a light way and settle down to my new life here first. Tomorrow I will have a dinner with Sonja, so I can finally catch up and here all what has happened in her life after Mysore times. It’s good to see my Mysore friends here, too.
30 Apr 2011
Airports, Waiting, Books and Finally I am Aussie Baby!
My transfer from Wenara Bali to airport wasn’t so smooth as planned. An employee of the guest house forgot to book my taxi, so there I was again fixing my things on my own. In Asia, you have to double-check everything. Read: EVERYTHING! People are very nice, but they can’t get really anything done. I got a little bit mad with them and finally got a nice driver to take me to the airport. I didn’t want to pay any extra fee because of their mistake and that’s always hard in Asia, because they never return any money or give refund. But once again my background in law was useful and I got out of the people what I wanted. You just have to be very calm and determined.
My flight from Denpasar to Kuala Lumpur went fine and then I waited through the night at the airport. I love airports, but waiting at the airport over 15 hours isn’t my favorite thing. Luckily airport in KL is superconvenient, so I found a sofa and I was able to sleep at least three hours.
At the airport I finished reading a book called Choke written by Sian Beilock. Writer is psychologist and her main research topic is choking or how to avoid choking, what happens in your brains, when you choke and how you can learn to control your behaviour, so that choking isn’t taking over. Writer is specialized in sports psychology, so she gave a lot of examples regarding sports and athletes.
Personally I found intresting, that Beilock found that meditation is very effective way to control and avoid choking. She wrote that: “Experienced meditators can clear their minds of unwanted information when practicing their ancient art, but new research suggets that, even when not meditating, people who practise this tradition are better than those who don’t at facilitating their brains’ return to a calm, cool, and collected state when stressful events come their way.” “A recent study by Davidson and his colleagues showed that only three months of intensive meditation (a practise in which you observe what ever thoughts and perceptions arise in your consiousness without making negative judgements about them) reduced people’s tendency to have their attention captured by unwanted thoughts or events.” Beilock mentioned on her book famous people among other Tiger Woods, Hilary Clinton, Al Gore and Goldie Hawn, who meditate and find it helpful.
Beilock’s book included in up-to-date data about different researches and technics how to handle choking in sports, business environment and in general. She gave tips, how to succeed in stressful situations like job interviews and exams, so that you can actually use the extra excitement for your benefit. This was again excellent book about the connection between body and mind. I think that all teachers should read a book like this to be able to go to a student’s level (who suffers choking) and learn ways to help him out this kind of like situation.
After I finished my book, I couldn’t resist going to airport’s bookstore. Books are my absolute weakness. I love bookstores and I can spend hours just wandering around bookstore, reading backcovers and holding different books in my hand. I bought a book, which is the No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller, called Not Without My Sister, which is a true story about three girls’ experience living in (and later escaping) a cult called The Children of God. I will write more about this book, when I will finish it.
Feeling very dizzy after my night at the airport I catched my next flight to Brisbane. Luckily I was able to sleep a little bit during the flight, because the seat next to me was empty. Food on airplane is always making me sick, so again after this flight I felt very swollen and couldn’t function normally. However I was happy to get my luggage and pass the border of Australia. I passed the border easily, not even a single question about my visa. Guards put me to walk next to a dog, which is searching drugs (maybe because of my passport including Indian, Thai and Balinese stamps), but I didn’t catch dog’s attention, so I am now officially Aussie baby. One more night at the airport waiting for my bus to Byron Bay and then I am at my new home.
My flight from Denpasar to Kuala Lumpur went fine and then I waited through the night at the airport. I love airports, but waiting at the airport over 15 hours isn’t my favorite thing. Luckily airport in KL is superconvenient, so I found a sofa and I was able to sleep at least three hours.
At the airport I finished reading a book called Choke written by Sian Beilock. Writer is psychologist and her main research topic is choking or how to avoid choking, what happens in your brains, when you choke and how you can learn to control your behaviour, so that choking isn’t taking over. Writer is specialized in sports psychology, so she gave a lot of examples regarding sports and athletes.
Personally I found intresting, that Beilock found that meditation is very effective way to control and avoid choking. She wrote that: “Experienced meditators can clear their minds of unwanted information when practicing their ancient art, but new research suggets that, even when not meditating, people who practise this tradition are better than those who don’t at facilitating their brains’ return to a calm, cool, and collected state when stressful events come their way.” “A recent study by Davidson and his colleagues showed that only three months of intensive meditation (a practise in which you observe what ever thoughts and perceptions arise in your consiousness without making negative judgements about them) reduced people’s tendency to have their attention captured by unwanted thoughts or events.” Beilock mentioned on her book famous people among other Tiger Woods, Hilary Clinton, Al Gore and Goldie Hawn, who meditate and find it helpful.
Beilock’s book included in up-to-date data about different researches and technics how to handle choking in sports, business environment and in general. She gave tips, how to succeed in stressful situations like job interviews and exams, so that you can actually use the extra excitement for your benefit. This was again excellent book about the connection between body and mind. I think that all teachers should read a book like this to be able to go to a student’s level (who suffers choking) and learn ways to help him out this kind of like situation.
After I finished my book, I couldn’t resist going to airport’s bookstore. Books are my absolute weakness. I love bookstores and I can spend hours just wandering around bookstore, reading backcovers and holding different books in my hand. I bought a book, which is the No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller, called Not Without My Sister, which is a true story about three girls’ experience living in (and later escaping) a cult called The Children of God. I will write more about this book, when I will finish it.
Feeling very dizzy after my night at the airport I catched my next flight to Brisbane. Luckily I was able to sleep a little bit during the flight, because the seat next to me was empty. Food on airplane is always making me sick, so again after this flight I felt very swollen and couldn’t function normally. However I was happy to get my luggage and pass the border of Australia. I passed the border easily, not even a single question about my visa. Guards put me to walk next to a dog, which is searching drugs (maybe because of my passport including Indian, Thai and Balinese stamps), but I didn’t catch dog’s attention, so I am now officially Aussie baby. One more night at the airport waiting for my bus to Byron Bay and then I am at my new home.
28 Apr 2011
Power Yoga with Denise
Yesterday I saw my friend Danielle, with who I did the teacher training in Thailand. We met in Kafe and also her boyfriend Rob was there. It was so nice to catch up and also hear Rob’s experience regarding Thai boxing camp, which he did in Thailand during the time Danielle was with us. I know, that I would love Thai boxing. Just kicking and jumping around so that your pulse is at least 150 the whole time sounds fun for me…
My morning practices on my own have been surprisingly good. I don’t like to practice alone, I need other person’s energy around me, but I have been happy to notice, that I can do it. I have been going through in my head the advices and tips, which I got from Paul and it has been pretty ok. I am practicing on my balcony, so I have to move all the furnitures from there inside around seven every morning to have enough space to practice. My neighbours think for sure, that I am totally crazy.
This morning I woke up, and my throat was sour. My belly was upset again, even if it has been better lately. I did my pranayama practice and after that decided to try something different today. One girl at Yogabarns recommended Denise’s power yoga class for me before and I wanted to try that. In the class description it was written among other things, that this class will take you out of your routine, and right into that sacred space between the external force of gravity and the internal force of the breath. Oh boys, it really did! I loved this class, we started with sun salutations, but then the rest of the class was mixed. We did quite many different balancing poses, which I like, because those are so tricky for me and I really have to concentrate maximum. We also tried some poses from Second and Thrid Series, but it was more playing around than being serious. This class was very rebel, but safe at the same time. My body felt great after the class, even when during the class I was shaking and sweating so much. Denise is excellent teacher and I would love to practice with her again. She did some demos for us and it was great to see, how easy it is, when you can…
I have been so happy with this experimental yoga period herein Bali. My last week with different teachers and different styles has been the best in Bali. It has absolutely done so good for me and my body. I think that it’s sometimes very good go out of the box and have some fun with different styles. It gives totally new approach to asana and you learn to use your body in various different ways. With other styles, there is not that much flow and meditation during the practice, but you can increase your body knowledge hugely. Personally, my body needs cooling practices and restorative classes too, so I am planning to continue this experimental yoga. And I have to get back to my stretching exercises. Those are just so beneficial for ashtangi.
Tomorrow is flight day again and I am heading to Kuala Lumpur. My flight schedual is terrible, but hopefully I will make it well to Byron. And yesterday it was published online, that Sharath will be teaching in Sydney, when I will arrive there, if they get his visa in order. So I am really hoping to get a chance to take one class with him. I can’t afford more (and even that one class is actually too much), but I just want to go, see the shala and practice with him once.
My morning practices on my own have been surprisingly good. I don’t like to practice alone, I need other person’s energy around me, but I have been happy to notice, that I can do it. I have been going through in my head the advices and tips, which I got from Paul and it has been pretty ok. I am practicing on my balcony, so I have to move all the furnitures from there inside around seven every morning to have enough space to practice. My neighbours think for sure, that I am totally crazy.
This morning I woke up, and my throat was sour. My belly was upset again, even if it has been better lately. I did my pranayama practice and after that decided to try something different today. One girl at Yogabarns recommended Denise’s power yoga class for me before and I wanted to try that. In the class description it was written among other things, that this class will take you out of your routine, and right into that sacred space between the external force of gravity and the internal force of the breath. Oh boys, it really did! I loved this class, we started with sun salutations, but then the rest of the class was mixed. We did quite many different balancing poses, which I like, because those are so tricky for me and I really have to concentrate maximum. We also tried some poses from Second and Thrid Series, but it was more playing around than being serious. This class was very rebel, but safe at the same time. My body felt great after the class, even when during the class I was shaking and sweating so much. Denise is excellent teacher and I would love to practice with her again. She did some demos for us and it was great to see, how easy it is, when you can…
I have been so happy with this experimental yoga period herein Bali. My last week with different teachers and different styles has been the best in Bali. It has absolutely done so good for me and my body. I think that it’s sometimes very good go out of the box and have some fun with different styles. It gives totally new approach to asana and you learn to use your body in various different ways. With other styles, there is not that much flow and meditation during the practice, but you can increase your body knowledge hugely. Personally, my body needs cooling practices and restorative classes too, so I am planning to continue this experimental yoga. And I have to get back to my stretching exercises. Those are just so beneficial for ashtangi.
Tomorrow is flight day again and I am heading to Kuala Lumpur. My flight schedual is terrible, but hopefully I will make it well to Byron. And yesterday it was published online, that Sharath will be teaching in Sydney, when I will arrive there, if they get his visa in order. So I am really hoping to get a chance to take one class with him. I can’t afford more (and even that one class is actually too much), but I just want to go, see the shala and practice with him once.
Yin Yoga with Denise and Back to Mysore Practice
Superyoga day today! I woke up early wondering, what I should do today. My belly was better, so I decided to start ashtanga again. I started with pranayama and it was ok. Also asana practice was good today. It’s interesting to see, how fast you actually lose strength. My arms never hurt, but today I noticed, that I had difficulties with Chaturanga Dandasana and also jump throughs were heavy. I had kept my flexibility well and also mind was surprisingly calm and focused.
After almost three hours practice, I had a little swim and small breakfast and then it was time to go again. I walked to Yogabarns to try Yin Yoga with Denise. Denise was one of the recommended teachers, when I spoke with the people in Little K before. And I liked her a lot! She was active, exact and her demos were good. She knew many of the students by name and talked to everybody at least something. Most of all she was very natural, beautiful and I was able to feel her experience regarding yoga.
Denise was teaching Yin yoga, which is according to her a cooling practice and so opposite for many other practices. During the class focus was on connective tissues and we started with a tennis ball. We kept the tennis ball under back, butt and shoulders. Practice was powerful and painful, but in a good way. It was possible to feel, how the pain was melting away. In Yin yoga class you keep the poses for long time and the duration of the poses increases towards the end of the class. Some of the poses are easy stretching moves, but when you have to keep those poses so long time you can really feel your body opening. Last forward bend was really long and I could feel it in my back, but my whole body felt good after the class. Tomorrow my muscles will be so sore, but all in all it’s just good for my body and practice.
After class I headed to Kafe, because Little K was closed. Kafe was packed and busy. I was lucky to get a table and ordered vegetarian sandwhich and cappuccino. Next to me came Australian Emma, who did the same class with me. I didn’t recognize her from the class, but she remembered me. It was nice to talk with her, because she had travelled and worked in India a lot and now her work with international health had brought her to Bali. Her home base is now Melbourne, where she stays three weeks and then she travels three weeks in a row. It was nice to share experiences about constant traveling. Also she thought that it’s really demanding for your private life to travel all the time. And our experiences related to India were pretty similar. She said that working with Indian male ministers isn’t the easiest task for a young woman. Indian culture is very male-focused and white girl trying to change things is facing difficult moments for sure.
I had this morning difficulties to turn my head to left again, so we will see, what I am able to do tomorrow. This problem is related to my back, which actually feels quite ok now. During the yin class we kept block under belly for a while and Denise said, that back problems are often related to tension in a belly. That pose was so hard for me, I felt literally sick. Yin yoga really forces you to breath, because that’s the only way to release your pain and tension. I liked yin yoga and got a feeling that it could be a nice, supportive practice for ashtanga.
After almost three hours practice, I had a little swim and small breakfast and then it was time to go again. I walked to Yogabarns to try Yin Yoga with Denise. Denise was one of the recommended teachers, when I spoke with the people in Little K before. And I liked her a lot! She was active, exact and her demos were good. She knew many of the students by name and talked to everybody at least something. Most of all she was very natural, beautiful and I was able to feel her experience regarding yoga.
Denise was teaching Yin yoga, which is according to her a cooling practice and so opposite for many other practices. During the class focus was on connective tissues and we started with a tennis ball. We kept the tennis ball under back, butt and shoulders. Practice was powerful and painful, but in a good way. It was possible to feel, how the pain was melting away. In Yin yoga class you keep the poses for long time and the duration of the poses increases towards the end of the class. Some of the poses are easy stretching moves, but when you have to keep those poses so long time you can really feel your body opening. Last forward bend was really long and I could feel it in my back, but my whole body felt good after the class. Tomorrow my muscles will be so sore, but all in all it’s just good for my body and practice.
After class I headed to Kafe, because Little K was closed. Kafe was packed and busy. I was lucky to get a table and ordered vegetarian sandwhich and cappuccino. Next to me came Australian Emma, who did the same class with me. I didn’t recognize her from the class, but she remembered me. It was nice to talk with her, because she had travelled and worked in India a lot and now her work with international health had brought her to Bali. Her home base is now Melbourne, where she stays three weeks and then she travels three weeks in a row. It was nice to share experiences about constant traveling. Also she thought that it’s really demanding for your private life to travel all the time. And our experiences related to India were pretty similar. She said that working with Indian male ministers isn’t the easiest task for a young woman. Indian culture is very male-focused and white girl trying to change things is facing difficult moments for sure.
I had this morning difficulties to turn my head to left again, so we will see, what I am able to do tomorrow. This problem is related to my back, which actually feels quite ok now. During the yin class we kept block under belly for a while and Denise said, that back problems are often related to tension in a belly. That pose was so hard for me, I felt literally sick. Yin yoga really forces you to breath, because that’s the only way to release your pain and tension. I liked yin yoga and got a feeling that it could be a nice, supportive practice for ashtanga.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)