It's pure fun if the body doesn't feel poisened

Oh, it was awesome, my morning practice. I didn't practice all the asanas, knowing that I will go to a led class this evening. I was happy with the number of asanas I practiced. I didn't feel overstretched despite the intensive practice yesterday. This is a good sign. Ah, it was good.

Urdhva dhanurasana: My feet were parallel on the mat when I dropped back. This is an improvement of some inches. I lost control from a much higher position. Stretch the arms against the floor, I think. It's necessary if I don't want to fall on my head. There is still no way to come up. Exercise is done, tomorrow I will do it again.

Pashasana was also better again.

And afterwards was the hour of the truth. I stepped on the scales: only 2 pounds away from my dream weight. This is OK.

The sun is shining, but it is cold. I'm looking forward to meet yogini E for lunch, I so love to talk about Asthanga yoga. :)

Tralali tralala hahahaha tralali tralala

Tralali tralala, I am simply in a good mood today.

Yes up, early again

What is on my schedule???
What is on my schedule???
I remember:
Yoga first of course, this I know.
I'll meet yogini E for lunch. Yepee.
Yes and in the evening I'll go to a led class. Yepee, too.

Oh, my cup of coffee must be ready....

What do you think???

What do you think????
I had to ask M this morning:" What do you think: Will it last 3 years till I will be able to do kapotasana. When will I be able to reach my toes with my fingers? Never? 3 years? 2 years? 4 years?
M: One year,.........

One never knows, but the prediction made me optimistic, too.

Wide-spreaded breathing mistakes during Ashtanga practice

1. Exhaling is much longer and intensive than inhaling. This was my mistake for a very long time. Nowadays I focus on inhaling. Exhaling is usually long enough. Thank you B for drawing my attention to this.
2. There is a danger to hold the breath. Especially when the asanas are demanding, when fear comes up, then we tend to hold the breath. But then it is especially important to relax to breathe evenly.
3. There are those who scarcely breathe, they have nothing heard about uddyjaj breathing. It is so.
4. And then there are those who start moaning during an Ashtanga practice. Thanks god not so many yogis/yoginis do this. The first time when I heard someone moaning I thought, what happened: Has someone found a more joyful game than doing asanas? Has someone started to play with himself/herself??? I searched with my eyes from where the moaning came, but everybody went on with the practice. Yes, from time to time a cry of pain could be heard from me too, when I arched back too far i.e. But to moan is simply not the appropriate technique during an Ashtanga practice, even though this might be relaxing.

When we practice Ashtanga yoga we practice uddyjaj breathing (hope the spelling is correct!). Hahahaha.

I deserve a few salad leaves now.
I am in a hurry. G is probably waiting for me already.

What an excellent practice this morning

I had flow, the body was so soft and willing. And now I can scarcely lift my arms anymore. This IS a sign of a good practice.

Another yogini was in the Mysore class. She was learning primary. "And now bow and bridge," M told her. She: "How is the sanskrit name?" He: "urdhva dhanurasana". Yes, this made me smile this morning. She will soon learn the importance of this pose.

It will be a busy day

I will be busy today: Mysore class in the morning, then I'll meet E's mother for lunch.

Fun, fun, fun is on the schedule.......

I am so careless for the time being, that I'm astonished about myself. What must happen, will happen, I think.

Another chapter of my book must be written. Yesterday I wrote one short chapter, but I'm not at all happy about the result. I decided to judge everything at the end and not in the middle or even in the beginning........I simply must go on with joy and optimism.

And now I must plough my fields at Farmville. Can need some fertilizer. Hahahahaha.

Rose

Rose, rose is the color for me, a bit of silk and pearls. Enough.

I am a writer (and a farmer)

It's one o'clock and I sit at my desk ready to write (my book).
I'm dressed properly (comfortably, but not in yoga clothes). My hair is combed, I put a bit perfume behind my ears, and a lipstick on my lips. I am on time to work on my project. Smile.

The new epidemic, the whole world is in danger to get infected (worse than the swine flu)

I became a farmer at Farmville on facebook. Hahahahahahahaha. C, how could you do this to me.

I preach it, I must believe myself in what I preach

To practice is all I can do. The body was stiff. I couldn't reach the fingers in pashasana. The 2 pounds that I gained in Dubai made it difficult. Whatever.

Kapotasana: Pictures don't lie. It will take years till I will be able to reach my toes with my finger tips. It makes sense to define more reachable goals, i.e. going down where my malas start.

The exercise on the picture I've learned from Swenson's book. It is helpful. The wall gives support and one can focus on breathing and relaxing. Inch by inch I will approach the correct form. Oh oh oh.

Urdhva dhanurasana: I try to drop back while my outer sides of the feet are parallel. I also try to keep the legs straight. It is important for me to drop back, I feel already how fear comes up. I must exercise it also when I do not practice it correctly (knees bowing, feet pointing outward).

It shall be enough for today. My body is much softer than this morning. Ha.

The first painful surya namaskara A and B are done

I feel already how good this was for my body. The body needs the movement, also when it is stiff and clumsy and painful in the beginning.
I had to interrupt my practice for an attempt to wake up my bf. He needs another 15 min of sleep.
Time to go on with the standing sequence.

Up

The challenge now is to structure my day. I'm up early, early means I got up at 6 a.m.. The first hours are dedicated to writing my journal and my yoga practice. I am curious how my body will feel today after the intensive practice yesterday. After a week of vacation the body is stiffer as usual. But that's how life is and how the yoga practice is: up and down and up again. To go on is it, simply to go on.

What else: I want to start with modest goals: From 1 p.m. on I want to sit at my desk and I want to write my book. If I have no ideas what to write I will simply spend my time at my desk (not playing farmville). 1 hour prolific time is planned, not more. I don't want to make the mistake to plan too much and then doing nothing because I feel overwhelmed.

Time to move on. My second cup of coffee finally woke me up. I am present.

Mercy, mercy with me

I dawdled. But not only. I did yoga, I chatted with friends. But this was it. It's the last day in November. It shall be OK for me that it was another lazy day. It cannot go on like this, this is crystal clear......
I'm going to make a plan for tomorrow.
Up at 10 to 6...........

The yoga week has begun

I focused on the breath this morning during the Mysore class. Yes I felt stiff, but it went better with the practice. I was attentive. This was important. That's what it is, I thought, then yoga becomes meditation. I had to be attentive because I didn't like to injure myself. I worked on back bending. M: "Simply do it, don't thing so much of the result." I know that this advice is good.

We (M, C, and me) had lunch afterwards in an Indian restaurant. It's 3:30 p.m. now. It seemed to be a long lunch. I need this, too, to meet friends and to chat a bit.

Tomorrow I will practice alone without the energy of my yoginis around me and without the support of M.. Mysore class and home practice complement each other.

What to do now? I don't know........

Picture: Munich in the morning.

Morning practice

To practice in the morning and to practice at once after getting up makes a difference.
took shower, I walked around, I had a little breakfast already. All these activities wake my body up and I feel already more flexible than an hour ago. That makes me optimistic. Perhaps my yoga practice will be not that awfully painful, but perhaps average? I shall see.

Up

Oh, this is very good that I'm up that early. My challenge nowadays is to structure my day by myself. Less is default. When I want to have a prolific day, it's good advice to get up early. I prefer this challenge than to go to a company. I don't want to go back to that 9 to 5 activities!

At 9 I'll have a Mysore class (second series). I'm looking forward to it, even though I know it will be painful and I will be stiff. I felt both already when I walked around here. My practices in Dubai were not so intensive as I wished they were and I had some extra moon days. But now I'm back. (Break: I need another cup of coffee.) (Coffee is in preparation.) I will focus on the breath today. This helps to stand the stretching pain. I know that it is also helpful not to have expectations. With this in mind I will have fun and an enjoyable practice.

And afterwards C and I will have lunch together: She was in Sri Lanka, me in Dubai, there is a lot to talk about.

What else:
- laundry
- 2 hours I want to work on my book

PS: I do not publish comments anymore with links to a website that sells things. For a while anonymous post are no more allowed, too. I'm fed up with comments that lead to websites that offer Russian girls and Viagra. This is perhaps part of the game that spam is coming in. It was simply too much lately.

Ah, I was not so lazy

I did the laundry, my suitcase is unpacked and and and......

Lazy

I am lazy, even though there is enough to do. I just prepared another cup of coffee for myself. It's cold here. I realize: I arrived at home.....

I don't want to hear anything about crisis

I slowly become allergic when I only hear the word crisis.

It's freezing cold outside

Brrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh.Cold and dry.
Brrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh.

(Blogger removed the spelling check in the new version. They must learn to understand their bloggers. Damned. Many write in English as their second language and also the rest of the world needs it. I don't want to switch to the old version each and every time I want to publish anything. At least the spelling should be correct.)

NOW, the great confusion

Now is what is, nothing else. There is no past and now future. To exercise to be in the now is redundant as there is only now. We can exercise to be mindful. When I cut my vegetables with my sharp Japanese knife I have to be mindful if I don't like to risk to cut my finger.
Also dreaming of a bright future or worrying about the future or thinking of the past happens now and not tomorrow or yesterday. And these sort of thinking (dreaming) will always happen. Ramesh Balsekar distinguishes between the thinking mind and the working mind. But whatever the mind does it is in the now.

It's nothing else but judging when authors recommend to focus only on what the senses feel, see, hear, taste, smell now. Why not think about my grandma from time to time. She passed away a few years ago. To think of my grandma also happens in the here and now.
To be mindful is really an exercise that can enrich life (like yoga or meditation), but it has nothing to do with learning to be in the now, because nothing else exists. (To exercise to be in the here and now (nothing else is possible) is insofar not possible. To exercise to be mindful has nothing to do with enlightenment. Enlightenment is the understanding that we are not the doer, that life happens.)

So, no worrying is necessary. Interesting is the relation between thinking mind and working mind. Only dreaming might mean that one avoids to live. But also this happens in the here and now.

Only now exist. We cannot be not in the here and now. But we can dream now, or work now and it would be good if I stepped on my mat now to do yoga. And wishing this also happens now. Nothing else is possible but being in the here and now.

(This might be a slight difference, but it is a difference in seeing things.)

Yoga can build strength (and flexibility)

Yoga can build strength and in order to do jumping through strength is needed. The picture shows an exercise how to exercise uddyjana bandha. Without strong uddyjana bandha for me jumping through is not possible. 

The picture is taken in 2007 on Gran Canary, Spain.

My black coffee is the best

I'm up and it is still early in the morning. I'm enjoing my morning routine which starts with preparing  a cup of coffee for myself and checking my emails and facebook side.
It's nice to be at home again.
There is still one month left in 2009. This is something. I'm reminded of some soccer games. Sometimes in the last minute a team scores a goal, which can change the result. My book must be written. Now I have the time. One month is a long time there is time to do something prolific.
My yoga week starts on Sunday, this is today. I will do primary. I will focus on jumping backwards and forwards. Yesterday I read in the book by Gregor Maehle. In order to learn this vinyasa he recommends to do lolasana first and to hold it. The next step is to swing gently forwards and backwards. This is what I will try today.

Back in my ground station

I am not a gipsy. I love to have a ground station. From that ground station I fly away from time to time, but I always return like a peace dove.
I'm back in my villa motley. Yoga is on my mind. I just watched a few asanas practiced by Sharath. I shouldn't be so severe with myself, I thought. Perfection does not exist.
My movies that I made in Dubai shocked me, but I'm learning through them. One thing I've already changed. To go into upward facing dog is also a slow even movement. Most people go too fast into this pose.
I want to focus on the vinyasas. This shall be my focus for the next week. This implies exercising jumping through (forward and backward), but it also means the correct counting. Enough.

At the airport

We have to wait another 30 min till we can get on board. The flight will last more than 6 hours. I will try to sleep.

A last picture from the desert

Dinner in the desert

All the tourists sat down on cushions and had Arabic food before the belly dance. Without doubt it was a nice atmosphere.

At the camp in the desert

The men were smoking schischa. The women could get a henna painting on their hands. I did neither of it, but I watched the people.

Time to go to bed

Tomorrow at 4 a.m. we must get up. At 8 a.m. we fly back to good cold Germany. I come back, Dubai is a beautiful country.

Tourists in the desert

Belly dance of course

This was belly dance for the tourists. At the end 20 or more people were dancing on the stage.

The desert with its calm beauty

The dunes

There were a lot of such cars in the dunes. Up and down it went. It was something for the tourists, no doubt. The desert is beautiful after sunrise and before sunset, because then the light makes shadows. During the day the sand is boring as there is no structure. Aha.

Barfoot in the desert

I love to be barfoot. The sable was warm and soft. We weren't the only people there. It's a bit of an adventure to drive the dunes up and down.

Sunset in the desert

Needs no comment.

What can still be seen in the city Dubai

must wait till next time.

We decided....

..to stay in the garden close to the beach till lunch and till our trip starts.......

This is our last day here

The morning we'll spend in the garden of the hotel. I'll have time to do yoga. I have already admirers here. One man had watched me on one of the last days with his dark sunglasses. The next day he approached me and told me that he had try some of my poses and he fell over. It's obviously more demanding than it looks like.

And in the evening we have booked a trip to the desert with dinner and belly dance.
On Saturday early in the morning we'll fly back to Germany..........
But I'm still in Dubai and I will soon enjoy this most delicious breakfast downstairs.