Me and the cow enjoying our coconuts......

And all I could managed to do was grocery shopping and napping today, such a low energy day for a new moon, and the heat does not help....

Such a nice spot for a headstand...

And I wanted to just hold it for one minute, it turned out to be two. It was fun to do it in just pants with running shoes on instead of the yoga clothes. Who says you can't have fun with yoga?! I do it with so much fun, and it was all these fun ideas that get me doing all these one minute hold project. Whatever it takes, that the way it goes in the home shala.

Our gorgeous balcony is just D spot for the headstand! Love it!

H is at it again...

H and I did a different version of assist in Bhekasana. Instead of sitting on me, this time I told him to use his legs to keep my knees hip width apart and parallel. Although this version makes it harder for me to press the feet towards the floor, but it makes the back feel so much more better and powerful, thus the shoulders feels way nicer too. A keeper for sure.

Last night, H and I went dancing at Fluid, and we had a fabulous time. The first 20 minutes or so, I was out out out of breath with all the aerobic movement. But after that, it was all out, and I actually feeling how loose and light my body was from doing the second series, doing lots of shoulder pumping. And this was after a 1.5 hour walk in the heat during the hottest time of the day. But amazingly, my breathing in today's practice was so great, it had to be the aerobic moves from the dancing, so much space inside me for the breathing. Gosh, I love love dancing, and I danced real hard, two hours non stop!

And needless to say, I was near dead after practice today, and of course the most delish nap happened afterwards.... Mysore life!

On the Mysore streets this time....

With Lila's invite to her street performance, I decided to do a solo long walk, all the way from my door to yoga Mandala via the lake taking a small rest on the bench on the lake side. With all the short cuts, it took me just one hour and a half even with the break, and just in time for their street improve at 3:30pm.

I had to actually run after these two girls, and each stop, you had no idea what would happen. I SO LOVE IT! The best part is to see how the Indian react to such "strange" act, or in some cases how they not react to it at all.

Such a treat to be part of it all.....

Still just half way there...

Today's pincha mayurasana barely made it to 35 seconds, a long way till the one minute mark. But I am in no hurry anyway since I am just doing second series till eka pada sirsasana, quite a lot of poses from Pincha anyway. This pincha though was more steady than the last one. I found it extremely hard to hold it long. One, I need to be super focus, not even one split second can be available for thinking, or it will throw you off balance. Two, I need to know how to lift the chest up more so I do not have to rely on my forearms to support the pose, which I did and thus lost stamina at the end, and my back will be more straight if I lift my chest more.

It is such a seemingly simply pose but so much is going on while you are holding it....

It was 5 seconds short of one minute...

I decided to hang as long I could feel comfortable before I dropped the hands today. It was almost one minute. This kind of hanging is another technique of Venketish. I am supposed to hang with feet together straight legs. I kept the leg straight but with feet hip width apart, cause I wanted to tag a drop back at the end. This exercise is more beneficial to deepening my back bend than just drop backs. Believe me, by the time I walked my hands in a bit, and came up, I was as drained as when I come out of a Kapo! Never under estimate the strength of any long hold of a pose.

Next time I want to hold UD for one minute, then walk hands in and stand up. I really kind of like observing my mind during all these one minute holds, whether it is in Kapo B or drop back or Pincha. Fun stuff.

Photo: a much gentle sun set.

Into heels territory....

o


Today, it was our third team effort on Kapo A. H was able to take my hands on to the heels, and I was only ableto hold on to it briefly, slightly longer than last time. I think next week, it will be better. Having H taking my hands while I am walking close to the feet is a keeper. Taking my hands in mid air to heels is not safe for H to do at this point, only very experienced teacher do that safely, or when my back is more open.

During that brief moments of holding onto the heels, I clearly had this thought going through my mind: I AM STILL FAR FROM GETTING TO THE HEELS ON MY OWN! The good thing is that while I am on the heels, I didn't feel so intense as before. A good sign: it is in me!

I held the Kapo B for 30 breaths before I did kapo A today. And as I was holding it: Kate's words came into my mind, it is so spacious. So true, the longer you hold the kapo B, the more space you can feel in it. Thanks Kate.

So far, adding the Eka Pada Sirsasana has not any effect on the kapo. It is important to add the pose slowly to my routine, I really want to deepen the kapo before moving on the the extreme forward bend.

Photo: these are the tiniest bitter gourd I have ever seen! They are for sure the most bitter ones I had, love it!

Let it fall....

There is absolutely no fear or disappointment here doing this. I was trying to aim my knees to my armpits, they missed, and landed on the floor... every time it ends this way. It is still good to do it and fun to do it.

Back on the mat today after the LH. Thanks to the heat, it was not so hard, but a very flat practice. It is just what it is.

Photo: this pretty beans are in season, H loves it like hell.

The Sun was setting...

When I finished teaching today. It was such great color. Not really enjoying the LH day off, to hot to do much. Hopefully back on the mat tomorrow.

Video was the front split from Satuday, a bit of ouch ouch at the end, front split does that to me.

Easier without mat...

I was able to squeezed in a light practice, standing+split+finishing, before the LH came. Sometimes the split will kicked it in. And doing the side split is totally easier without the mat, a trick, it glides it in effortlessly.

It was so hot yesterday, that the light practice was super duper easy, a great day for splits.

The boys did it again....

Even on a Saturday, the home shala is not idle. H did half primary today with J's help, he was back on the yoga wagon again. Such great sweat on his mat. He loved it! Thanks to J, it was their third time doing it together!

May it happen again.....

A slightly busy home shala....

H joined in the practice in the home shala, it lasted two days, then He is off the wagon again. Oh well, better than nothing. And I feel just TGIF, very tired with three days teaching in a row, but I will be used to the routine by next week.

I videoed taped my whole primary today. It was the first time I watched my own primary, and gosh, so many weeds need to be pulled! Video really does not hide anything, it does tell it all! I am giving the standing poses to my student to watch. We are making good progress.

The high light of the practice today: at 5 pm, she told me to give her a minute to pray, and I sat in silence with her. Then we continued.

Adding EPS....

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I did the Eka Pada Sirsasana again today, it was not so good, but not the worst either considering I have not done it for a year or so. And I have decided to add it to my practice and keep it for three weeks before adding Dwi Pada Sirsasana. Slowly, no hurry. The Kapo hand walking has routinely passed the mid feet now. Tiny progress is there.

With my afternoon teaching, it turned out great. She is like my little sister, the most eager to learn student. After the first go, she wants to do it daily. So I agree to do it Monday to Friday. It turns out we only have two months time, so I have to move things quickly. I am going to video my standing poses tomorrow for her to take home to help her become familiar with the sequence so we have more time on the practice itself.

I also expressed my hope that she will finish at least half primary if not the whole primary so she can practice at home when we are done, and I sincerely told her that she could share this practice with her friends back home in Saudi Arabia, I really do hope so. She really likes the idea. She is my seed, and I am sure she will blossom into such beautiful flower on the yoga mat whether I see that flower or not, does not matter at all.

My Mysore life at the moment is so much yoga yoga yoga... like like like!

Better than nothing....

For Supta Vajrasana, I used a shawl and cushion behind me. It was not the best "assist", but better than nothing totally, and my legs burned a lot! Definitely a keeper, shoulders loved it.

It worked!

I tied my knees together today doing the Dhanurasana today, how amazing!

It felt so great in my lower back, and the whole back felt so much stronger, and the two legs felt like ONE! Love love this little experiment, will do it more often. Kapo A is feeling more and more normal now, and today I threw in the Eka Pada Sirsasana, it was all there and easy! A nice little sneak preview. I will give it another week after LH, the leg behinds will be in.

I am slowly getting used to practice in the heat....

The breeze came in the afternoon...

And I was able to have a big nap. Really did nothing all day, a party happened here last night, and Ama was a God sent today to come to the rescue for the super messy kitchen, every single dish was dirty.

The video was from Sunday's practice. Laghu is the most sure thing of all the poses in 2nd series for me, been easy since day one, thanks to my big legs.

Tomorrow I am welcoming someone new to my home shala. She comes from Saudi Arabia, her sweet husband is so thrilled to find me to teach his wife yoga. It is so hard for her to find a woman teacher here in Mysore. I am so honored to share yoga with her. I met her a couple days ago, and we liked each other right away. I have never ever been in such close contact with a vail woman, only her beautiful eyes I can see.

She is the second Muslim woman I am teaching. And it does make me feel like teaching again. I am very looking forward to this experience. H's sister was my first Muslim student, and she now practices at home still. I find the idea of one-on-one yoga time more enjoyable than teaching in a studio. Maybe this is something I can look into in the future. Helping woman who can not go to a studio to do yoga to establish her home practice. We are going to do this three times a week. I hope by the end of three months, her home practice will stay with her. I have a feeling it will.

Yep, planting the Ashtanga seed...

Hot hot hot...

It was a hard practice, not used to the heat today. Didn't feel like doing the back bending at all. Got up and walked around, and decided to get out of my sweaty top and put a summer dress on. Then I so wanted to do back bend, it was fun! Not the best one, who cares.

Need the moon day rest tomorrow so bad.

It is getting easier ....

Yep, for the first time I didn't feel drained coming out of it, I actually had a bit of strength left to take my time to slowly come up. I am also glad my feet stay much more apart than they used to be. And today for a second or so, I felt the beginning of the heels, just a teeny tiny bit.

Gosh so in love with the kapo bitch these day!

Who would have imagined....

That this form of dance show would happen in Mysore. But it did tonight in the court yard of Yoga Mandala in Luxmipouram. What an amazing time I had there.

We were one of the few early people showed up. What came into my eye straight away were two human bodies in the garden. The two creature slowly came alive into their surrounding, realizing there were plants, trees, flowers, insects, sounds and us human in clothes slowly came in one and a few at a time. These human in clothes would watch the two creatures, walk around them, took photos of them, filmed them. The two creatures became curious about us, scared by our cameras, disturbed by our walk around them, yet they were harmless toward us human in clothes. When these two creatures ran into each other, they seek comfort in each other, it melt my heart to watch them: at that moment they were in their own world, us human in clothes were no longer there to them, we no longer could scare them, bother them, ... and their interactive forms are more stunning than sculptures, cause they are so alive, changing each second, as the darkness fell upon them, they slowly crawled away together back to where they belong .....

There was no stage for them. No music for them No form for them to fit in. To me, it was the most organic, raw, and primitive performance I have ever seen in my life. And I would never have imagined I would witness it here in Mysore!

It was utterly dream like....

Done

The hardest thing to do in Dhanurasana is to keep the knees together. Glad the practice week is over.

Sandhya's is just so yummy. She is really the definition of eating traditionally, seasonally and locally. Her old house has never had a fridge there, food is always freshly made for all these years, and there has been always a table full of people enjoying the food all these year since her grandma, her mother....

It really is a shame if anyone comes to Mysore and never eat at Sandhya's...

Dressed up....

Didn't feel like practicing today. What to do? Ha, I play dressed up! For half an hour to decide my outfit. And it worked, I eagerly jumped on the mat. Whatever it took, that was the way it went for self practice. A great practice happened

I love prasarita, it is the spot in the whole standing sequence where I can breath best, and I think that is why it is there.

H is getting his hands on me...

So I got help from H today on kapotasana A and supta vajrasana. It has been more than a year since he adjusted me in Kapo A. We both forgot how to do it.
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It was such a team work. We had to to it three times to make it sort of work, boy I yelled at him again! First go, I told him to catch my hand mid air to place my hands on feet, half way through, I stopped him. Too much. I remembered Kino said if you could not see your feet, you had no business of catching feet mid air. Second time, I told H to wait till I breath a bit in kapo B, then took my hands to feet. It somehow felt too much forcing this way too. We had to stop. Third time was the charm, but I was running out of steam though. I told H to let me walk my hands to my feet then help me put them further. And it worked better this way comparing to the first two times. Gee, a lot of team effort here. But next time, we will know how to go about it. For the record, H may be the only person who adjusts second series without doing much of yoga, just standing poses sometime. But I think it will slowly work out. The supta v is super delish, my shoulder felt just so so great afterwards.

I youtubed a bit for assist or adjust on kapo, it is mostly adjust on bendy bendy folks who does not really need it. I wish I could find some helping on kapo beginners like me.

Falling over on Pincha...

Substitute headstand fro pincha today to work towards one minute hold.

It ain't easy from the get go. It took me forever to balance and stay put, on the third take, I fell over, just pushed up to UD, stood up, and back in the kicking up to pincha game. I never really had much of a fear at the beginning when I first started puncha, cause I just fell over into back bending. Anyway, on my sixth take, I got a longer hold, about 23 seconds. It was much more steady than my 30 second hold last week. For a few breaths, I actually felt the up ward pull sensation, a really good thing. I will try to remember that sensation for my next hold. I have a long way to go to make pincha as comfy as headstand.

Tomorrow, I will do my one minute hold on kapo B again. Since that first one, holding the 15 breaths in kapo B has been easy and a routine now. I really like the fact that I have a short practice, not many postures to work through, thus it gives me the energy to work in depth on one or two poses. Love it.

1st drop back in my home shala....

It was day one of the practice week, and it was not as smooth as I would like it to be, but good enough considering I have not done it for nearly three weeks. The heels were well behaved, firmly nailed. But the front of the feet were up on the first one. My poor legs were so darn bend as I walked in the hands, so ugly, just hate to watch them.

Plan of the week: hopefully get one assist on kapo A from H. Hold the kapo B for one minute again. Do a few pincha to see if I can hold it one minute. During my hold today on the kapo A, I was telling myself: think Grimmly's 25 breaths hold (more than one minute long!!!!), but it didn't last beyond 10 short breaths. I am quite into the one minute hold now. I think from now on I would pick a couple of poses to hold it for one minute each week.

I have to admit, all these crazy yoga videos really get me on to the mat each day with great desire to work on my poses. Not sure how long it will last, but gonna enjoy it while it lasts. Whatever it is that get me on the mat, that is the way to go. I am after all, just a home practice girl, not a pro.

It was a spa day in the home shala today...

Yes, Sunanda came. She came with a smile and left with a smile. I melt under her magic fingers... sleeping away as always... and felt light as a feather afterwards. I told her to come back on the next moon day. She is such an angel. All sores from the week's practice are gone!

Mysore life? Indeed.