Käsekuchen

Had some German cheesecake on the weekend and I have to say it was absolutely delightful. The cheesecake was made with a yeast dough bottom and in the cheese mix there were raisins and a light egg-white snow on top. What I enjoyed the most with this cake was that it was not too rich. Too often cheesecakes are uber rich and sweet and often give you a sickly feeling after a few bites.

One downfall is that…I had it AFTER the yoga class which just kind of defeated the purpose of exercising.

So I told myself that life is too short and there is nothing wrong to have treats every now and then, only the ‘every now and then’ just turns out to be every single weekends in my case.

But hey, what the heck! At least I enjoyed it!

My Mykonos

The weather over the weekend was absolutely beautiful and that just reminded the time we had in Greece last year. The sky was blue, the sea was blue, and the buildings were also blue and I am referring to Mykonos in particular. I know a lot of people don’t actually like the island because they think everything is all very commercialised and there isn’t much to do there. However, I really enjoyed my stay there, it’s a heaven for gay couples and we bumped into these cute couple and I swear that if I wasn’t there, my darling T would be dragged away. They were really coming onto him and did not stop saying how gorgeous he was. It was all rather entertaining.

Anyway, back to Mykonos – the pictures really say it all. I love the little alley ways; fascinating shops and friendly Greeks; not to mention the delicious food. I personally would highly recommend this island and I would definitely like to go back sometimes in the future.

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

The ''King of Asanas''

The ‘new’ posture we did today was Sirsasana – head stand. Well, I didn’t actually get into it as the class was too big and it was rather ‘unsafe ‘ to do it as everyone would just end up doing different things specially I’ve only did it once with help and also against the wall. Therefore we just tried ‘The Dolphin’. Hopefully my lazy butt would lift me up this Saturday morning to do mysore practice.

Sirsasana is known as the 'King of Asanas' because of its many benefits. Sitting and standing for most of the day causes circulation to become sluggish, so the heart has to work harder to pump sufficient blood to the upper parts of the body. Normally, the heart works against gravity; inverting the entire body lessens the strain on the heart, and allows a plentiful supply of oxygen-rich blood to reach the head and brain.

नमस्ते

What Exactly is Ashtanga Yoga?

I am supposed to learn this from the very beginning since it is after all, the foundation. Ashta = Eight, Anga = Limb; Yoga – Calmness of waves in the mind. I knew what Ashtanga meant but not in a great detail and had no idea what yoga meant. So when Iiling asked the class what exactly Ashtanga Yoga meant there was a long silence. In western countries, people tend to start with the third limb, Asana which is the postures.

Eight Limbs are:

Yama (moral observance)

Niyama (inner observance) A

sana (postures)

Pratyahara (breath control)

Dharana (sense control)

Dhyana (meditation)

Samadhi (contemplation)

It is ‘’not possible to practice the limbs and sub-limbs of yama and niyama when the body and sense organs are weak and haunted by obstacles’’ (Jois 2002 17). Therefore it is important to take up DAILY asana practice to make the body strong and healthy (Jois 2003 10). With the body and sense organs thus stablised, the mind can be steady and controlled (Jois 2002 16).

Hopefully I have not bored anyone but just thought it’d be nice to share the little something I learnt today.

नमस्ते

The Bloody Vehicle Clampers

Saturday morning started off nice and easy; the sun was shining; put on the tangerine top I bought; enjoyed the buzz of early spring feel and was looking forward to meet up with friends. Everything was going so well before we decided to go to the cinema to watch The Queen. It was then I found that my car was clamped! Yes and the penalty was £141!!!!! I was absolutely gobsmacked. The place I’d been parking for the last 5 years decided to charge cars parked on the premise without permits! What permits? The porter was off over the weekend and there was no way to obtain one. Long story short, we paid the fine but are trying to make an appeal. So we didn’t go to the film and the day ended with a huge cloud over my head.

So I decided to pig out on Sunday and hence we made some dumplings. Yes, dumpling…one of my favourites, they were juicy and comforting and almost healed the pain until I realised I had too much chilli in my dipping sauce!

It was certainly a bloody expensive lesson to learn as well as a dear weekend but hey ho, that’s life and life is tough.

Ashtanga Yoga Mantras

Today Iiling stressed again the importance of Ujjayi breath, Bandha and Drishti. I can do the Ujjayi Pranayama but tend to forget about it after Surya Namaskara A, which just isn’t right. Though I did find it easier to do it when I did mysore practice (the only one time..) as each postures needed to be counted so that you don’t forget how long you are actually into the posture.

I managed to do five Urdhva Dhanurasana (back bends) today and it was not as hard as I expected. Normally I would do two semi back bends and the three full ones but since I was actually feeling quite energetic today so I thought I should really push myself.

I also tried to do Vinyasa In ‘properly’ i.e. jumped with my bums as high as possible but still need a bit of practice.I was hoping to go for my second mysore practice this Saturday but since we are meeting up friends for a ‘footie brunch’, hopefully I will be able to make it next week…

नमस्ते