to your nearest music store (preferably a locally-owned indie store) and pick up the new Alison Krauss/Robert Plant cd. It's amazing!
I went into the cd store on Saturday looking for some new music for our ride up to the mountains. I had been thinking about Amy Winehouse, but I was still undecided. I've only heard bits and pieces of it, and I like it, but doesn't she drop some f-bombs? Anyway, they have several kiosks for listening to new releases, and I listened to some of the new Bruce Springsteen (good, with a sound that reminds me of Born In The USA), the new Tegan & Sara (also good, high on my list to get), Mark Knopfler (going to get this for Lee's birthday) and then this one. There is a little bit of the alt-country, bluegrass sound to it, but it also reminds me a bit of the Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Sessions. One of my favorites, though, is "Fortune Teller", a rocking number, which Robert Plant sings.
While I'm on the subject of music, I'll contribute to the Shuffle Your Playlist meme (though I don't have an iPod, I have a Creative Zen Nano, which I chose because it comes with fm radio and I like to listen to NPR sometimes):
1. Hold On Hold On - Neko Case
2. Thinking About Tomorrow (remix) - Beth Orton
3. Amazing Grace - Ani DiFranco
4. Weakened State - Sarah Harmer
5. Crane Wife - Decemberists
6. Accept Things - Delores O'Riordan
7. I Have the Touch (live) - Peter Gabriel
8. You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse
9. Gayatri Mantra - Deva Premal
10. Soldier Jane - Beck
11. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
12. How - Lisa Loeb
13. Simple Kind of Life - No Doubt
14. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
15. This House is Not For Sale - Ryan Adams
Today is a beautiful, windy, chilly day....the weather in the mountains was absolutely perfect. Cold, but not freezing, with a flawless blue sky and beautiful, brilliantly colored leaves. We hiked yesterday morning with the kids and I felt filled with energy....I wanted to break into a run on the trail and just keep going. I had to help keep up with all the kids, though...
Short practice this morning in my freezing living room. I kept a long sleeved shirt on until...whoops, I just realized I forgot purvottanasana....until the janus. Other than purvottanasana, I did everything else except for janu c and mari d. I did three navasanas, a ten breath backbend, a ten breath headstand, yoga nidrasana, and a short savasana, ending just as Lee came back home to get his phone.
This afternoon my friend Gwen and I are taking the boys (hers and mine) to the Atlanta Botanical garden to see an exhibit of whimsical scarecrows. Tonight there is a PTA Board meeting which I am probably going to blow off, as we won't get home from the gardens until 6:00 at least, and th meeting starts at 6:00. I have already gotten dinner started.....I have garlic, onions, and a red pepper sauteeing for black bean soup, which we will have with mild Italian sausages and whole-wheat cheese quesadillas. Perfect for a chilly night.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Better than I expected.
At the studio where I take Bikram classes (they're crim Bikram, I don't think they're supposed to use the name Bikram, but everyone knows that's what they are) there is a class simply called "ashtanga". It's been on the schedule since the winter, when I first started at John's studio. I took it once, and it was laaaaame-o. Super slow, with lots of modifications and props. The crowd seemed to tend toward older ladies, and I guess that's what the modifications were for.
Well, the teacher of that class has been in John's Tuesday morning class every week, and she has a lovely practice. She's super flexy, with lovely floating jump ups and jump backs, and she's pretty nice too. I think I mentioned that I chatted with her briefly, and she told me her practice consisted mainly of chanting. I wish I could just chant and have a practice like hers. Anyway, after taking her class in winter, I didn't bother going back, and at the time, John had morning classes four days a week.
Well, as anyone who's read this blog knows, my daytime primary series options have all but dried up and so I held my nose and went back to this teacher's class this morning.
It was still pretty darn slow, and I'm a slow breather. John's classes move right along so I tend to move along at his pace. For a bit I wished she'd pick up the pace, but as I've digested (so to speak) the class, I see that a slow class definitely has its upsides. For one, holding a posture for ten or more breaths (she spent a lot of time giving verbal adjustments and then would begin to count the breaths) really builds strength. For another, spending that much time in a posture gives you time to make all those adjustments and still have time to hang out breathing. In John's classes, I think momentum carries me through a good bit of the way, and I can move without thinking what comes next (most of the time). In this class, our movements were much more deliberate and I had to focus on what I was doing, with less of an automatic pilot effect. The structure of the class was much more tradtional than the one I took from her previously - primary series through navasana, then closing. Of course, it took us an hour and ten minutes to get to navasana, so it was an abbreviated closing. However, I'd go back again. Though she did do the sing-song chant in call-and-response form.
I take back what I said in my previous post about Sudoku puzzles. Not to be defeated, I did a few more out of the puzzle book and I'm hooked. I tried doing the one in the paper today, though, which was rated as the most difficult, and after spending about two hours total I had to give up.
We are headed to the North Ga. mountains tomorrow with four other families and their kids. Lee & Michael are leaving first thing tomorrow with one of the other families; since tomorrow is Will's last soccer game, we are going to it - at NOON - then staying for the little soccer party/awards, THEN leaving. It'll be at least 2:00 before we get on the road. Then we have to leave on Sunday after lunch in order to make it back home in time for the annual neighborhood Halloween parade. This weekend soccer playing really cramps our style. If Will didn't love it, we would have bailed already.
Well, the teacher of that class has been in John's Tuesday morning class every week, and she has a lovely practice. She's super flexy, with lovely floating jump ups and jump backs, and she's pretty nice too. I think I mentioned that I chatted with her briefly, and she told me her practice consisted mainly of chanting. I wish I could just chant and have a practice like hers. Anyway, after taking her class in winter, I didn't bother going back, and at the time, John had morning classes four days a week.
Well, as anyone who's read this blog knows, my daytime primary series options have all but dried up and so I held my nose and went back to this teacher's class this morning.
It was still pretty darn slow, and I'm a slow breather. John's classes move right along so I tend to move along at his pace. For a bit I wished she'd pick up the pace, but as I've digested (so to speak) the class, I see that a slow class definitely has its upsides. For one, holding a posture for ten or more breaths (she spent a lot of time giving verbal adjustments and then would begin to count the breaths) really builds strength. For another, spending that much time in a posture gives you time to make all those adjustments and still have time to hang out breathing. In John's classes, I think momentum carries me through a good bit of the way, and I can move without thinking what comes next (most of the time). In this class, our movements were much more deliberate and I had to focus on what I was doing, with less of an automatic pilot effect. The structure of the class was much more tradtional than the one I took from her previously - primary series through navasana, then closing. Of course, it took us an hour and ten minutes to get to navasana, so it was an abbreviated closing. However, I'd go back again. Though she did do the sing-song chant in call-and-response form.
I take back what I said in my previous post about Sudoku puzzles. Not to be defeated, I did a few more out of the puzzle book and I'm hooked. I tried doing the one in the paper today, though, which was rated as the most difficult, and after spending about two hours total I had to give up.
We are headed to the North Ga. mountains tomorrow with four other families and their kids. Lee & Michael are leaving first thing tomorrow with one of the other families; since tomorrow is Will's last soccer game, we are going to it - at NOON - then staying for the little soccer party/awards, THEN leaving. It'll be at least 2:00 before we get on the road. Then we have to leave on Sunday after lunch in order to make it back home in time for the annual neighborhood Halloween parade. This weekend soccer playing really cramps our style. If Will didn't love it, we would have bailed already.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
All this enrichment makes my brain hurt.
Ever since I found out how high Michael scored on the MAP testing a little while back, I have been wracking my brains to think of other fun, enriching activities for him. What I really wanted to do was find a chess group for him, but that is proving to be as difficult as finding daytime primary series classes.
Our school is the only elementary school in the city without a chess club, alas. There used to be one, but the child whose parent was in charge moved up, and no other parent has stepped in to take over. There is a chess and gaming center not too far away, but they seem to only have chess tournaments. The public library has a chess master and free chess club, but it's at a branch about a half hour from here and we'd have to go in rush-hour traffic.
He has been getting extra "enrichment" packets and worksheets in his folder periodically, and he treats them as seriously as he does his homework, the little rule-follower, and doesn't seem to feel put-upon even though he says no one else gets this extra work. However, I don't want it to be all about worksheets. A few weeks ago I bought "Jump Start Typing" for him, which he is moderately enthusiastic about. Today I was at Barnes & Noble and I picked up a set of sixth-grade BrainQuest cards and a Sudoku for Kids book. He LOVES the BrainQuest cards because he is into factoids and trivia. I knew those would be right up his alley, and the difficulty appears to be about right.
Then we sat down to figure out how to do Sudoku. Oh, my god. Before I could even finish reading the instructions I was confused. I'm just not cut out for that kind of thing. We did one of the "starter" six row puzzles and I had to look at the answer to even be able to begin filling in numbers. Michael seemed to pick it up quickly, but I am hopeless.
However, what I'm discovering in trying to provide extra stimulating stuff is that it could easily be a full-time job for both of us. He's in school until 2:45, we stay on the playground after school until at least 3:30, then by the time we get home, unpack backpacks, wash up, and have snack, it's 4:00. He has to do thirty minutes of reading a night, then write in his reading log, and he usually has a worksheet or two as well. Will has started having "homework" as well (he's all "Mommy, I have to do my homework", trying to be all serious about it, like Michael is. It's very cute) but his homework is stuff like reading poems together and picking out certain words or types of words, reviewing sight words, and practicing writing letters and numbers. Not onerous or busywork, but it requires me. So then if I want to spend any time doing extra stuff with Michael, then I usually let Will watch an hour of PBS kids. But when I tell Michael to go do twenty minutes of typing, say, and Will's watching TV, then he grumbles, and I can't blame him. He wants to watch too! But by the time PBS is done, Daddy is home, and by the time dinner is done, Michael is tired and it's time for shower, reading and bedtime. And the whole time, I am running around working on dinner, assisting Michael if needed, etc. It's really hard to fit it all in AND that's not even with after-school activities! (I am planning to sign them both up for Taekwondo after the first of next month.)
So this is all disjointed, but in short, I feel like there's not enough time in the day for additional stuff for Michael, even if it is fun. I guess ideally, he'd be challenged more at school. I know his teacher is doing the best she can, and the gifted program is several hours a week. Really, it could be a whole lot worse. But I can't help having this nagging feeling that he's just coasting along, being as sweet and well-behaved as he always is, and he's got all this potential going to waste here.
I don't want to cut into his after-school playtime, because it is totally unstructured play and Will needs it too. I don't want him to spend all evening working on "stuff" because he needs downtime. What's the answer?
With regards to practice, I had a good one yesterday at the studio with John. There were just three of us, so we all got lots of good adjustments. I have been scared of chakrasana ever since I crunched my neck the other week, so I was determined to do it. John was walking by when I did and he laughed and said "well, I've seen better." No doubt! I just wanted to do it so I wouldn't continue to be afraid of it and yeah, it needs work.
I've been seeing the are-you-an-ashtanga-liberal-or-conservative on various blogs and I just have to laugh and say that I think I am, um, an illegal alien, maybe. I'm so on the margins of a bonafide ashtanga society that I can't fit into either. To paraphrase a song on "Hee Haw", which my mother watched when I was little, "if it weren't for crim ashtanga, I'd have no ashtanga at all". About the only straight up thing in my ashtanga experience is the fact that I only know the droning version of vande gurunam. I practice on ladies' holiday, I practice on moondays, the place I practice doesn't even call itself a shala, I drink a good bit of wine, I practice Bikram yoga, and I eat meat. The yoga police are welcome to come get me anytime.
Our school is the only elementary school in the city without a chess club, alas. There used to be one, but the child whose parent was in charge moved up, and no other parent has stepped in to take over. There is a chess and gaming center not too far away, but they seem to only have chess tournaments. The public library has a chess master and free chess club, but it's at a branch about a half hour from here and we'd have to go in rush-hour traffic.
He has been getting extra "enrichment" packets and worksheets in his folder periodically, and he treats them as seriously as he does his homework, the little rule-follower, and doesn't seem to feel put-upon even though he says no one else gets this extra work. However, I don't want it to be all about worksheets. A few weeks ago I bought "Jump Start Typing" for him, which he is moderately enthusiastic about. Today I was at Barnes & Noble and I picked up a set of sixth-grade BrainQuest cards and a Sudoku for Kids book. He LOVES the BrainQuest cards because he is into factoids and trivia. I knew those would be right up his alley, and the difficulty appears to be about right.
Then we sat down to figure out how to do Sudoku. Oh, my god. Before I could even finish reading the instructions I was confused. I'm just not cut out for that kind of thing. We did one of the "starter" six row puzzles and I had to look at the answer to even be able to begin filling in numbers. Michael seemed to pick it up quickly, but I am hopeless.
However, what I'm discovering in trying to provide extra stimulating stuff is that it could easily be a full-time job for both of us. He's in school until 2:45, we stay on the playground after school until at least 3:30, then by the time we get home, unpack backpacks, wash up, and have snack, it's 4:00. He has to do thirty minutes of reading a night, then write in his reading log, and he usually has a worksheet or two as well. Will has started having "homework" as well (he's all "Mommy, I have to do my homework", trying to be all serious about it, like Michael is. It's very cute) but his homework is stuff like reading poems together and picking out certain words or types of words, reviewing sight words, and practicing writing letters and numbers. Not onerous or busywork, but it requires me. So then if I want to spend any time doing extra stuff with Michael, then I usually let Will watch an hour of PBS kids. But when I tell Michael to go do twenty minutes of typing, say, and Will's watching TV, then he grumbles, and I can't blame him. He wants to watch too! But by the time PBS is done, Daddy is home, and by the time dinner is done, Michael is tired and it's time for shower, reading and bedtime. And the whole time, I am running around working on dinner, assisting Michael if needed, etc. It's really hard to fit it all in AND that's not even with after-school activities! (I am planning to sign them both up for Taekwondo after the first of next month.)
So this is all disjointed, but in short, I feel like there's not enough time in the day for additional stuff for Michael, even if it is fun. I guess ideally, he'd be challenged more at school. I know his teacher is doing the best she can, and the gifted program is several hours a week. Really, it could be a whole lot worse. But I can't help having this nagging feeling that he's just coasting along, being as sweet and well-behaved as he always is, and he's got all this potential going to waste here.
I don't want to cut into his after-school playtime, because it is totally unstructured play and Will needs it too. I don't want him to spend all evening working on "stuff" because he needs downtime. What's the answer?
With regards to practice, I had a good one yesterday at the studio with John. There were just three of us, so we all got lots of good adjustments. I have been scared of chakrasana ever since I crunched my neck the other week, so I was determined to do it. John was walking by when I did and he laughed and said "well, I've seen better." No doubt! I just wanted to do it so I wouldn't continue to be afraid of it and yeah, it needs work.
I've been seeing the are-you-an-ashtanga-liberal-or-conservative on various blogs and I just have to laugh and say that I think I am, um, an illegal alien, maybe. I'm so on the margins of a bonafide ashtanga society that I can't fit into either. To paraphrase a song on "Hee Haw", which my mother watched when I was little, "if it weren't for crim ashtanga, I'd have no ashtanga at all". About the only straight up thing in my ashtanga experience is the fact that I only know the droning version of vande gurunam. I practice on ladies' holiday, I practice on moondays, the place I practice doesn't even call itself a shala, I drink a good bit of wine, I practice Bikram yoga, and I eat meat. The yoga police are welcome to come get me anytime.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
All for naught
I hauled ass into town about an hour ago only to find that the noon primary series class has been cancelled because of the Aids Walk.
There is a website. Would it be so difficult to post class cancellations ahead of time? There's a 3:00 primary series class, but with a different teacher, and I just don't want to drive back into town again. My only other option is a 4:30 Bikram class.
I was pissed and disappointed. I was so looking forward to practice.
I have no motivation to practice at home alone. It's just not the same. There's dinner in the crockpot, so the house smells like food, and it's not warm enough in here. And I just flat don't like it.
The last daytime primary series class at the chic intown studio was Friday. I thought since it was that teacher's last day, it'd be packed, but there were only three of us. It was a great class; we did a lot of playing around with postures.
But the fact that there were only three of us shows what the deal is with ashtanga yoga in this town.
I feel like the universe is telling me to give the hell up already.
Wah.
There is a website. Would it be so difficult to post class cancellations ahead of time? There's a 3:00 primary series class, but with a different teacher, and I just don't want to drive back into town again. My only other option is a 4:30 Bikram class.
I was pissed and disappointed. I was so looking forward to practice.
I have no motivation to practice at home alone. It's just not the same. There's dinner in the crockpot, so the house smells like food, and it's not warm enough in here. And I just flat don't like it.
The last daytime primary series class at the chic intown studio was Friday. I thought since it was that teacher's last day, it'd be packed, but there were only three of us. It was a great class; we did a lot of playing around with postures.
But the fact that there were only three of us shows what the deal is with ashtanga yoga in this town.
I feel like the universe is telling me to give the hell up already.
Wah.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Yada yada
It's been almost a week. A week of only two practices, yikes.
Friday I went to the part primary that I've been going to at the chic studio and the teacher told us that she's moving to San Francisco, so, this class I've been going to? Cancelled. There hasn't been enough attendance to justify finding another teacher. Her last class is Friday.
I really, really wanted to go on Monday, but Sunday night was the Ryan Adams show at the Fox, and I didn't get home until 2 am. I was super tired and a wee bit hung over for practice.
You know....I haven't been out late at night for years. I'm not talking about staying out late at a dinner party or anything either, I mean, out out. We were in midtown for the concert, then tried to get a drink and something to eat nearby afterward, but on Sunday night everything closes at midnight, so we cabbed it back to Decatur to a local bar, where, apparently, everyone who gets off work at midnight goes. Lemme just say, it's a whole 'nother world out there after midnight.
Fun, but not something I want to do very often. Monday was pretty much a lost day.
Practice today was decent....still having some mild neck and shoulder issues on the right. John got us through full primary today, which was a nice suprise, since this is an intermediate class. There's another woman in the class who teaches "ashtanga" (in quotes because it's a loose interpretation of the series) at the studio where I take hot classes. I was chatting with her beforehand and she admitted that she really doesn't do much ashtanga. I asked her what her main form of practice was and she said "well, I do a lot of chanting." Hmmmm. With the demise of the Monday-Friday class, I may be forced to take another one of her classes. Unless I can tap into some well of motivation to practice alone. I'll have to dig deep to find it, though.
Friday I went to the part primary that I've been going to at the chic studio and the teacher told us that she's moving to San Francisco, so, this class I've been going to? Cancelled. There hasn't been enough attendance to justify finding another teacher. Her last class is Friday.
I really, really wanted to go on Monday, but Sunday night was the Ryan Adams show at the Fox, and I didn't get home until 2 am. I was super tired and a wee bit hung over for practice.
You know....I haven't been out late at night for years. I'm not talking about staying out late at a dinner party or anything either, I mean, out out. We were in midtown for the concert, then tried to get a drink and something to eat nearby afterward, but on Sunday night everything closes at midnight, so we cabbed it back to Decatur to a local bar, where, apparently, everyone who gets off work at midnight goes. Lemme just say, it's a whole 'nother world out there after midnight.
Fun, but not something I want to do very often. Monday was pretty much a lost day.
Practice today was decent....still having some mild neck and shoulder issues on the right. John got us through full primary today, which was a nice suprise, since this is an intermediate class. There's another woman in the class who teaches "ashtanga" (in quotes because it's a loose interpretation of the series) at the studio where I take hot classes. I was chatting with her beforehand and she admitted that she really doesn't do much ashtanga. I asked her what her main form of practice was and she said "well, I do a lot of chanting." Hmmmm. With the demise of the Monday-Friday class, I may be forced to take another one of her classes. Unless I can tap into some well of motivation to practice alone. I'll have to dig deep to find it, though.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I bore myself talking about what hurts.
In a nutshell, my right shoulder slash collarbone injury improved greatly until a chakrasana yesterday during primary series. The chakrasana was sloppy and too slow and crunched my neck. I felt pain up the back of my neck, behind my right ear, and down the front of my chest. Every time I turned over in bed last night, I felt that pain shoot up behind my ear. I went to a hot power fusion class this morning, where the heat helped somewhat, then to my chiropractor, who worked me over good. She is one of those twist-and-pop chiropractors and I always feel sooooooo good afterward. She gave my neck some extra adjustments and I can still feel a few twinges on the right, but it's much better. I may need to go back again before it's entirely gone.
Now that I've covered my injury, I can move on to blogging about the bitchin' Justin western boots I bought. The boot purchase was a bit of a saga.....first I bought some tall Timberland boots that I loved. They fit like a dream...but were too tall and too wide at the top for my jeans to go over them smoothly. So I sent them back and went to the DSW shoe warehouse last Saturday, where there was not a single pair of Western boots to be seen (thought I did buy a pair of these, in olive and teal). After I left there, I went to the mall and tried on a pair of Frye's that I have always loved, but when I put them on, I didn't love them.....they were stiff and weighed about a ton and were really out of my price range to boot (har, har). I also tried on a pair of Frye western boots, which I liked better. So when I got home, I ordered the Justins from Zappos. They came, I tried them on, they fit okay (a bit narrow, but I know they'll break in) but a bit too short in the shank for wearing with skirts (on the rare occasion that I would wear a skirt and boots). My friend Gwen loves her Tony Lama's, and she wears them with skirts all the time, so I went back to Zappos and ordered a pair. They came yesterday, I tried them on, and decided that I liked the Justins best of all - they're more wicked pointy. Besides, I probably will never wear them with a skirt anyway; I may as well get some that I love with jeans. So back they went and I'm not going to look at my credit card statement for a few weeks.
This weekend is chockablock with social activities: Saturday is soccer, then the Oakhurst Fall Festival, then after the festival, a big family party at the house of a friend who lives just down the street from where the festival is taking place. It's sort of a combined keg party/new fire pit/8th birthday party event. Then Sunday we are decorating for Halloween, and Sunday night I am going with my friend Gwen and two other moms to see Ryan Adams at the Fox.
So not so much about yoga right now, I guess. My next practice will be Friday, then maybe a home practice on Monday (depending on how I feel after a late evening), then full primary on Tuesday.
One last thing - I read a hilarious book by a writer named Jancee Dunn earlier this year. Very funny and highly recommended. I found her blog (where you can read about her book) and the last several entries, which highlight portions of the JC Penney catalog circa 1975, are must-reads. Be sure to enlarge the photographs, because you won't want to miss the details.
Now that I've covered my injury, I can move on to blogging about the bitchin' Justin western boots I bought. The boot purchase was a bit of a saga.....first I bought some tall Timberland boots that I loved. They fit like a dream...but were too tall and too wide at the top for my jeans to go over them smoothly. So I sent them back and went to the DSW shoe warehouse last Saturday, where there was not a single pair of Western boots to be seen (thought I did buy a pair of these, in olive and teal). After I left there, I went to the mall and tried on a pair of Frye's that I have always loved, but when I put them on, I didn't love them.....they were stiff and weighed about a ton and were really out of my price range to boot (har, har). I also tried on a pair of Frye western boots, which I liked better. So when I got home, I ordered the Justins from Zappos. They came, I tried them on, they fit okay (a bit narrow, but I know they'll break in) but a bit too short in the shank for wearing with skirts (on the rare occasion that I would wear a skirt and boots). My friend Gwen loves her Tony Lama's, and she wears them with skirts all the time, so I went back to Zappos and ordered a pair. They came yesterday, I tried them on, and decided that I liked the Justins best of all - they're more wicked pointy. Besides, I probably will never wear them with a skirt anyway; I may as well get some that I love with jeans. So back they went and I'm not going to look at my credit card statement for a few weeks.
This weekend is chockablock with social activities: Saturday is soccer, then the Oakhurst Fall Festival, then after the festival, a big family party at the house of a friend who lives just down the street from where the festival is taking place. It's sort of a combined keg party/new fire pit/8th birthday party event. Then Sunday we are decorating for Halloween, and Sunday night I am going with my friend Gwen and two other moms to see Ryan Adams at the Fox.
So not so much about yoga right now, I guess. My next practice will be Friday, then maybe a home practice on Monday (depending on how I feel after a late evening), then full primary on Tuesday.
One last thing - I read a hilarious book by a writer named Jancee Dunn earlier this year. Very funny and highly recommended. I found her blog (where you can read about her book) and the last several entries, which highlight portions of the JC Penney catalog circa 1975, are must-reads. Be sure to enlarge the photographs, because you won't want to miss the details.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
It all started with the pumpkin.
Week before last I was trying to cut a pie pumpkin in half. I drove my big kitchen knife part the way into it, then leaned my weight on it to push it all the way through. As I did that, I felt a sharp pain above my right collarbone, in that little hollow area below the shoulder. I continued to feel pain on and off, not bad, but definitely there.
Last Saturday I went to full primary at John's studio. Great class - I felt strong and flexible. At kurmasana, I went all out to get my legs straight. Then I linked my hands and John crossed my legs behind my head for supta.
As the day went on I began to feel more achy and sore in that area, I think as a result of pushing too hard in kurmasana.
I didn't practice again until Tuesday, when I went back to John's in the morning. He has one morning class a week for which you had to pay in advance (otherwise I would have thought twice about going).
That practice was okay too. I got into kurmasana again, but didn't attempt to straighten my legs, and I would have stopped John from putting me into Supta if I felt any pain there, but I didn't. (In retrospect, probably a mistake to attempt this posture even without pain.)Only in chattarunga did I feel pain and I compensated by touching my knees down about every other one. But by the end, I felt pretty weak in that area.
I haven't practiced since, and the general ache has spread up into the right side of my neck and at times up behind my right ear, especially when I turn to look over my left shoulder. The pain seems to be centered at the top of my shoulder, just inside the bony point at the top, radiating in and up. Today at Target I was trying on a jacket and when I reached my right arm back to put it in the sleeve, I felt a sharp pain right at that point. Ouch. What have I done to myself?
I am dying to get back on the mat, but I can't envision myself doing chattarungas with this discomfort. I am probably going to do a Bikram class tomorrow, which is easy on the upper body, and try not to stress it again until next Tuesday.
Tonight I am going to hear Elizabeth Gilbert speak. I loved her book and I'm very excited to see her in person less than a mile from my house!
Last Saturday I went to full primary at John's studio. Great class - I felt strong and flexible. At kurmasana, I went all out to get my legs straight. Then I linked my hands and John crossed my legs behind my head for supta.
As the day went on I began to feel more achy and sore in that area, I think as a result of pushing too hard in kurmasana.
I didn't practice again until Tuesday, when I went back to John's in the morning. He has one morning class a week for which you had to pay in advance (otherwise I would have thought twice about going).
That practice was okay too. I got into kurmasana again, but didn't attempt to straighten my legs, and I would have stopped John from putting me into Supta if I felt any pain there, but I didn't. (In retrospect, probably a mistake to attempt this posture even without pain.)Only in chattarunga did I feel pain and I compensated by touching my knees down about every other one. But by the end, I felt pretty weak in that area.
I haven't practiced since, and the general ache has spread up into the right side of my neck and at times up behind my right ear, especially when I turn to look over my left shoulder. The pain seems to be centered at the top of my shoulder, just inside the bony point at the top, radiating in and up. Today at Target I was trying on a jacket and when I reached my right arm back to put it in the sleeve, I felt a sharp pain right at that point. Ouch. What have I done to myself?
I am dying to get back on the mat, but I can't envision myself doing chattarungas with this discomfort. I am probably going to do a Bikram class tomorrow, which is easy on the upper body, and try not to stress it again until next Tuesday.
Tonight I am going to hear Elizabeth Gilbert speak. I loved her book and I'm very excited to see her in person less than a mile from my house!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)