Back to yoga mat, back to reality

Rayray is a week away turning 10 months old and I thought I ought to get my acts together or at least try to see if I could still do it. I went back to Bodhi Yoga  as I thoroughly enjoyed my prenatal yoga classes there and thought the teachers there were very helpful and insightful. I went for the led ashtanga class as I had not practiced in two years and just in case I couldn't make it through the entire class.

I liked Eason, today's instructor as he was very patient and explained different postures in great detail. Although it resulted that we only managed to Parivritta Parshvakonasana, it meant I could pace myself as I already sweated buckets after Surya Namaskara B!!!!!

We finished off the class by doing Urdhva Dhanurasana (The Bridge) and I struggled to stay in the posture for 5 breathes! Though I know I need to listen to my body as I could feel my back was obviously not flexible as I used to but practice makes perfect! I just wish mum could babysit more often so I could start practicing again!

I really enjoyed my 75 minutes on the mat today and namaste everyone!!!

Three more weeks to go!

Technically I am considered full-term so baby can come any time.

At 37 weeks, baby is the size of a watermelon that weighs roughly around 3 kgs!!!!! Hence my lower back has started to really suffer. Other than that, I start to get tired quite easily and stitches whenever I take a walk right after a meal. Otherwise I am feeling pretty peachy, well, most of the time anyway.

I found this yoga studio www.bodhiyoga.com.tw/eng/index.html which not only does prenatal yoga but also ashtanga yoga!!! I can't wait to try as I have had trials at other yoga studios and was not impressed with the way how the class was led. At Bodhi Yoga, teachers here talk about bandhas all the time as well as stressing the importance of pranayama so I think the ashtanga class would probably be my type of class!

So what have I been doing to fill the days? I tend to go to bed late and wake up late, according to London time as am still trying to cover some work. I then have my brunch, and yoga class in the afternoon. I try to walk there and walk back so I get enough-ish exercise! Or I would go for my prenatal massage once a week if I can be bothered! I have my early dinner when I am home as ever since I was told that I have put on too much weight, I have been more careful of what I eat. Though my pitfall is still fruits. I can't seem to resist eating fruit but then I have always been a huge fruit lover so cutting down on fruits isn't easy, thought at least I have started eating guava more which would have never occurred before.

I also need to get a grip to start packing my pack especially it's not long to go! I have done part of baby's laundry and have more to do.

So this is my latest update and will aim to blog more before D day!

Namaste.

Backbend

I don't tend to have problems with backbends i.e. Urdhva Dhanurasana until recently, which could due to the fact that I have been slacking off but I now sometimes even struggle with 3 full backbends let alone 5. I have also learnt that gradually I should be able to see my feet even though I don't see myself progressing that further in the near future! Well, with my current practice routine, it might never come!

However, I do urge any of you out there who practice backbends, it is absolutely essential to do the counter pose afterwards i.e. Paschimottanasana as it really is important to stretch the lower back before progressing onto the next posture.

Until next time...

नमस्ते

Marichyasana D

Woopi! Our guru is back and my, she looks trimmer than ever! and gosh, it's so good to have her back, the class yesterday was just like the good old days apart from me struggling to cope!!! Partly I guess it’s because I hadn't been practicing since ..um..whenever, but also it was back to the old pace and dear, it wasn't easy to get back to the rhythm after three months of not pushing myself and all those sleepy classes! Okok, I know I have to let it go and I promise it’s the last time that I whinge about it.

I couldn't get into Marichyasana D and Iling seemed to be surprised and so asked how I managed to 'lose' it as we were supposed to be practicing and improving?! well, we barely did Marichyasana B or C, let alone D! Anyway, it was good not to skip any postures.

After the class, my legs were shaking but I felt really good. I promise that I will be going to yoga class at least three times this week and I WILL make them!!!

नमस्ते

Pindasana

Yes, surprisingly I managed to spare an hour's lunch time on Thursday to go to yoga class. And it was not because I had been slacking off but people just preferred lunch time meetings before winter arrives so that we could still lounge in the sun while enjoy a macchiato or a glass of vino, or in my case, a rosé or an extra spicy virgin mary!

I did find the class difficult as it had been two weeks since I last practiced yoga and having had to do five Surya Namaskara A and yes five for B just made it harder even though that's exactly how you should warm up and it probably actually did me a huge favour!!!

This time we had another different teacher and she was equally good. She told us various techniques which she came across when she was learning/trialling and I thoroughly enjoyed the class. When we did finishing postures, I found backbend challenging. Normally I could do five backbends straight without any hesitations but this time I struggled with the third one. However, I somehow managed to do the full Pindasana even without trying!!! (I was finally able to wrap around my lotus) It's all true - when your body is ready, it will get into the postures before you realise it!

Anyway, hopefully I will get to practice at least once more before I leave for my Far East trip on Friday! (to be honest, I am not really looking forward to it as I sense it could be a rather stressful one especially when it comes to my dearest dad!)

नमस्ते

Animated Yoga? how does that work?

The yoga class on Thursday was actually quite enchanting. (ok, it was last Thursday but as I promised to update my cafe as often I could, I would still like to share the rather intriguing experience) The teacher was very animated and would guide the class through by visualising each postures using animal features, i.e. imagine there were two elephant ears when getting into Janu Sirsasana C etc, which was really fun and there were constant laughter throughout the class. It was just refreshing and it also showed how distinctively different each teacher could be. I guess this goes back to my previous comments on emphasising the importance of finding the right style with the right teacher for each individuals.

Work is still manic but I feel more dogmatic and can be more firm when it comes to awkward cases. Sadly I haven't had a chance to go to the gym nor yoga classes this week as I have been indundated with meetings. I so look forward to the bank holiday weekend as I am in serious need of some decent sleep! I shall also hopefully get some time to update my cafe!!

Breath Again

For some peculiar reasons I have not been able to get into ujjayi breathe three classes in a row now and I am starting to get a little bit concerned. I can see that I am progressing with some postures but not being able to utilise ujjayi breathe does worry me a little as it’s one of the fundamental elements. I can’t help but think whether it is to do with the fact that Mr B counts every breathe so slow that I can’t regulate mine?! Okay, I know I had BEEN having rather biased views on the new teacher and the reason I am using past tense is I have realised that there is no point to dwell on the negative sides of things and life is really too short. I have learnt just to get on with it and let things go. Therefore I have been doing what I would do in the class and I can sense that he kind of grasped the hint not from me but from few of us and so he tries not to skip postures but still talks a bit too much and therefore we don’t get to do as much postures as we should. But hey ho at least that’s an improvement. Having said that, he actually is quite good when it comes to explaining new postures and he is one patient man. (well, I have to try to discover some positive things about him, don’t I?)

Anyway, I can now grab hold of my wrists instead of my fingers when I do Marichyasana A, B and C and although I can’t take my wrists when I am in Janu Sirsasana A, B, C but I can interlock my fingers. I can definitely see some progress when I practice, slowly but I know I will get there one day.

नमस्ते

New Postures

Despite my previous complaints about the new teacher, I still have been going to the classes. The pace is still very very slow, and I mean really slow! In fact, two girls said that they were sure that they fell asleep one time during the class! Yes, falling asleep in an ashtanga yoga class. Anyone who has done ashtanga yoga would know that it’d be difficult not to sweat during the class, let alone falling asleep!!! The new teacher still skips postures in between but decided we might be interested to learn new postures! So he demonstrated Bhuja Pindasana Vinyasa in and Bhuja Pindasana.

Yes, I know! We all thought it was utterly madness! He thought we might find lotus/half lotus postures too hard but it was fine to do something new which I have no problems with but I am not sure if we were ready for them yet. We haven't done anything from the finishing sequence for a long while, either.

Anyway, I've decided that I will still continue going to the class as I worked hard to get where I am now and I am not going to let someone spoiling it. Though I have to be honest that I feel like I am losing the momentum with yoga because of this teacher but I will try hard to be persist with my practice.

नमस्ते

Why Did You Do That For?

Today’s yoga class was somewhat weird. To start with, we expected the girl we had last Thursday, who said she was taking over the class in Iiling’s absence, but instead we had another man as the three months replacement. To be fair, the 'Thursday-girl's' style was different from Iiling but at least she didn’t skip postures in case they might be too difficult? huh? We are only doing the primary series, and to be honest, majority of the class have been going to I’s class for almost a year now, some are even longer and even if some postures are more challenging than others, we still practice them so that we progress in time, which I believe it’s the whole purpose of practicing. This is a way to learn and listen to your body and gradually you will be able to get into each posture.

I agree every teacher has different approaches and teaching techniques, but surely you still teach the full, precise sequence rather than doing bits of it! Well, at least that’s what I think and that’s the way I have been taught and practicing.

I am going to try this man’s class once more and see how it goes. Though most of the people felt the pace was far too slow and certainly didn’t understand the reason of skipping postures!!

नमस्ते

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

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

A Good Start of the Week

I wasn’t feeling particularly energetic today but I was really surprised with myself in today’s yoga class. Not only I can do Vinyasa In well, I could also do Utpluthee for full 10 breathes, which is something I hadn’t been able to do for a while.

I think one of the reasons is that I actually used my bandha (it’s amazing the significant difference it makes and as I am still learning about my body and trialling various techniques it's quite exciting to discover what works for my body since everyone is different & it really is important to listen to your body and not stretch it too far) which I know we should engage it at all time when practicing but it really is a matter of ‘getting it’ or actually ‘realise’ that we’ve got to utilise the abdominal muscles.

As with Vinyasa In, I made good use with my upper arms’ muscles (probably from the two body pump classes I’ve been going and I think it helped!) and also bandha to jump in and I now could land fully on the top of my feet, not just on the edges. Hopefully I will be able to sustain it and progress.

One thing I still struggle is Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana. I have long and tight hamstrings and I just can’t get my legs straight at all. My left side is slightly more flexible but it just seems that I can see progresses with all other postures and not this one, which is rather frustrating. However, I am certainly not giving up, I will try to get there one day!

नमस्ते

Yoga Rugs

I sweated buckets in today’s yoga class and so it was the first time I found the mat slippery.

Just did a bit of research and thought I might actually give cotton mats/rugs a try since it’s actually the traditional India way to practice yoga. They are recommended especially for ashtanga yoga well, any sweaty practice really as they absorb sweat. Rod luvie, you might want to invest in one of them.

I am looking forward to the weekend as we are having our very first company BBQ!

नमस्ते

Bandha Worked For Me Today

After two weeks' food indulgence and lack of exercise, I was actually quite surprised with myself in today's yoga class. My hamstrings were tighter than usual, which was normal, but I wasn't feeling as tired as I expected. However, I wasn't able to do Utpluthee - well, I did but only for 5 breathes which was rubbish. On the bright side, I think I kind of got the hang of Vinyasa In by landing on the top of my feet and not getting bruises!! Thanks to BANDHA!

The other thing we learned today was when we do Vinyasa Out, we should ideally get straight into Chaturanga but since it takes practice; we will just do the plank for now.

नमस्ते

It is Finally Back

At long last that I was able to get into Marichyasana D again! I was also able to grab both of my toes firmly when I am in Baddha Padmasana…very pleased with the progress indeed! But then perhaps my body was just more ‘in tune’ yesterday and sometimes you just can’t push yourself too hard.

I am home alone till next Thursday before taking off for holidays therefore have been planning some ‘mini activities’ (i.e. hopefully will do some readings, practice more yoga and also watch whatever I want to watch on the telly!!! I know it might sound sad but hey a woman has to try to entertain herself!) for the evenings ahead of weekend when my dearest Joce is back and also WN’s ‘home coming’!

firmology

I have been feeling rather weary this week but still forced myself to go to yoga classes. I was not certain if I should practice today, not just because it was raining and bitterly chilly but my body was not well, in the sense that I felt really drained. After two minutes of hesitation, I thought I would feel better afterwards and I was WRONG!!!

I don’t know how I managed to get a few bruises on my legs and the ball of my right foot was awfully painful. Therefore I couldn’t do vinyasa in properly and it just went downhill after Purvattanasana. However, the finishing postures were not that bad and the backbend seemed to have progressed, I now could have my hands and feet closer.

Also I can’t believe how this week has gone pass by that it’s Friday tomorrow!
I am looking forward to the lie in on the weekends even though I know I will end up getting up really early again.
Will also check out the latest addition, COS (Collection of Style) on Regent Street – an extension of H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, a first flagship store outside of the USA…..not really interested in their clothing but the six-pac hunks standing at the doors! Yum!

p.s. Oh and this is the latest Benefit product I discovered. Being a devoted Benefit fan, I sure will try this out to see if it does what it says – ‘’a toning & smoothing serum leaves skin radiant and silky to the touch!’’

Vinyasa In

Today the challenge was to land on the top of the feet rather than the ball of the feet when we jump in from downward dog so that we could progress and ultimately sit striaght on our bums when we do vinyasa in. It was not as tricky as I thought but my feet bloody hurt!

It’s always good to learn new things so that we know we are progressing.

However, this is all the yoga for this week as I am taking sis to the airport this Saturday! Oh and I already can’t wait for her to get back with all the goodies i.e. a couple of new moisturisers that I really would like to try!

My Mysore Class II

I am pleased to say that I actually did manage to go to the mysore class on Saturday morning and sweated throughout the two hours.

To be honest, I am not quite sure how to make of the class, or should I say, myself. I was in fact feeling quite energetic, or so I though but my body was quite tight. I wasn’t able to get into Marichasana D and it took me three attempts to do my head stand (against the wall of course but without any help). And one new thing I learnt was how to stand up from Urdhva Dhanurasana (back bend), it was really difficult as I had to find the ‘momentum’ to lift myself up.

However, the good thing is that I remembered all the asana. My hamstrings are still very tight and apart from practicing more I just have to live with it.

The thing I love about Ashtanga Yoga is that you really do learn about yourself and your body. It is always too easy to be over ambitious and competitive but in reality you truly have to be patient and get to know what you are good at and what your limitations are.

नमस्ते