I Did It!!!

Yes, I did it today! I managed to stand up from my backbend! Woohoo!

I rocked my body when I did my fifth backbend and with Iiling’s help, I found the ‘momentum’ and stood up! She was very pleased with my progress and I was absolutely delighted!

Also, when I do both Utkatasana and Virabatrasana A now, I can have my arms up straight. I don’t know if it’s just me or it’s quite normal, I found it hard to keep my arms straight until I discovered a trick – if I regulate my breathe when I jump in from Adho Mukha Svanasana, then it is a lot easier to get into the posture.

Anyway, I am definitely one happy bird today and I of course made sure everyone in the office was aware of my achievement as they are convinced all I do at yoga classes is lying on the mat, and relax!!!

नमस्ते

Breathless

Despite the incident on Monday (somehow I managed to injure myself by practicing yoga at home and it was a silly one really – I thought I was ready for it: standing up from backbend and of course I wasn’t and my whole body just collapsed onto the floor and now my right shoulder is painful as hell) and also the dreadful weather today, I was in the yoga class the usual time. In fact, I was 10 minutes early and had time to do some stretching.

I never had problems using Ujjayi breathe but today I just couldn’t seem to get into the flow. Although I was able to practice as usual and actually did Chaturanga ‘properly’ all the way through (which is amazing since I’d never been able to do it), plus the shoulder pain didn’t appear to be as problematic as I anticipated, I simply couldn’t use Ujjayi breathe. My breathes were short and irregular; I didn’t sweat at all and I did not feel the ‘heat’ within.

Um, don’t really know what happened there but I shall keep up the progress I made today and not try to be ‘clever’ again in case I hurt my self again!

नमस्ते

Pig-Out Session

Here comes the second May bank holiday - another pig-out session! The weekend was filled with work, food, and more food. We wanted to go to Bath but unfortunately the weather did not permit, it turned cold, windy and continuous irritating rains! On Saturday, we went to one of our favourite restaurants in Knightsbridge for some grubs. We only managed to take a snap of the delicious humus as we couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

We don’t call ourselves pigs for no reasons! After lunch, we went straight to the Fifth Floor restaurant to have afternoon tea. I know it doesn’t look particularly appetising, but it wasn't really that bad. At least I wolfed down a whole scone on my own; J had some finger sandwiches and a half scone only because she didn't have lunch with us. T was bewildered by my appetite; he only had a fruit tart, but minus the tart, just the fruits!

I slept very well over the weekend, which is something I longed for a while. I think I had almost 12 hours of sleep on Sunday!! I haven’t had a good sleep for quite some times and I have tried all different ways to sleep all the way through without waking up in the middle of the night but haven’t had any success. Therefore I was in a much stable and better mood this weekend - having had my beauty sleep eventually!
While there were still some works to do and I dread to think the morning meeting on Tuesday as there are just so much to do in the coming weeks.

I enjoyed and really appreciate this bank holiday. The three of us had a laugh together; ate like pigs collectively and I had some girly chats with dear sis.

The next bank holiday is in August and I am starting to count the days!

Mad Moroccan Lamb

I'd never been fond of lamb even when I used to eat meat and so I never even tempted to cook it. However, we bought one of Jamie Oliver’s cook books, Cook with Jamie Oliver last week and thought we’d be adventurous to endeavour new dishes.

I decided to give the ‘Mad Moroccan Lamb’ a go. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought especially I’d never cook lamb EVER! According to the ‘tester’ - it was divine! (yes, he might be lying but he did finish the WHOLE dish, which was quite extraordinary considering the amount) The mister says the meat really melts in your mouth and the intense flavour was just delicious. The whole cooking process could be a bit of a nuisance particularly the time required was around three hours.

Although I didn't get to taste the dish but the smell of this wintry-feel combination of lamb, couscous and the herbs was incredible.

The reason why I used to enjoy cooking is because I love my food and I take pleasure in the course of action; making food from scratch. Nowadays, I feel almost more at ease when I cook. I can totally relax (well, almost) and I seem to be able to let go of whatever I have on my mind. Talking about stress, eh?

Happy cooking, everyone!!

Progress

There were some progressions during today's yoga class.

First of all, I could hold my wrists when I was in Marichasana A and B, instead of my hands. However, with Marichasana C, it still depends on the day of how further my body wants to go. Today I was able to grab my wrists. Also, I still need help with Marichasana D, but I was really close to getting into it without Iiling's assistance today.

As with the finishing posture, I was able to do yogamudra with both of my hands on toes!

As always, it was a good class and I felt revitalised throughout the afternoon.

However, Iiling is off to Mysore in June for three months and therefore she is getting one of her friends to take over the class. Um, we were rather anxious as we’ve always had Iiling leading the class and now when I come to think about it, we never had any replacements, which is remarkable. Iiling is good like that, she is always on time and never lets just anyone take over the classes even if it was a 45-minutes class. Anyway, we should see!

नमस्ते

Drishti

Before we started the class today, Iiling asked if we knew how many Drishti (point of gaze) there were and everyone was throwing different answers: 2, 3 (which is the one I thought), 15, 20 etc….

And the answer is NINE!

-Tip of the nose
-Third Eye
-Navel
-Thumb
-Hand
-Big Toe
-Right
-Left
-Up to the Sky

It is all very well and good to practice Ashtanga Yoga but we tend to forget about other equally important techniques and they are the true vital techniques to transform this demanding physical exercise into a spiritual practice and they are Ujjayi breath, Bandha and Drishti. At the moment, I find it difficult to remember the Drishti with different poses so this definitely will be the next stage to progress.

Apart from that, I am now trying to get my Chaturanga right. I still find it a bit of a mission to do each Chaturanga ‘properly’ during primary series, and I am working hard on that without doubt.

नमस्ते

Oops......

I’ve been looking for a bag for a while and I had told myself that I didn’t need all those branded, expensive sh*t. I can do with the high-street ones just as a lot of people do and there is absolutely no point of spending a fortune on a bag especially when most of the time I just end up carrying some really futile stuff in it. I can also definitely save the money to buy something else, like shoes...hahaha! Anyway, with whole other lot of reasons that I came up with but just can't seem to think of what they are now.....but you get the idea, I had my heart set on that notion and I was positive that it would remain firm until, until, um....
No seriously, I do need to start saving some stern amount of money. BUT before I do, perhaps I can just splash out a little, if not, just one last time...

Anyway, so I was bag-hunting and yet I didn't find any that caught my eye until I saw this dazzling baby but unfortunately the price tag isn't as alluring as the look of the bag and it is completely against my very own 'ground rules'! (yes, rules? what rules? there are rules? I can't seem to recall any?!)

Having said that, I am not an impulse buyer and therefore I shall spend some time to assess this little beauty - just as what I did back in February when I almost splurged on another splendour. I still very much adore the one I saw back then but I just need to make a wise decision here! You now can see how serious I am, can't you?