Well I certainly suffered in class after last night. I believe I almost died. Note for later: Don't stay out late drinking Mezcal, and then expect to be able to do yoga the next day.
It started strangely, as there was a political rally outside the house. It's so sad what is happening in Mexico these days. Since the rigged election imposed an almost totalitarian regime, the country has changed significantly. If I drive north to the city, the highway is lined with mile after mile of political propaganda. The money is all funnelled into the major political party and their friends, and they hold huge rallies where they buy the peasants votes with bright lights and shiny trinkets. It's sickening.
The streets were all blocked off, and there were police everywhere. Thus nobody with a car could get to class, and this included the teacher. So after a little bit of waiting, we all started Mysore style. After the Surya Namaskaras, Coco turned up, and so we started again. I was already shaking in Adho Mukha Shvanasana, so to say it was a struggle is an understatement.
Sweat was litterally pouring off my nose in Uttasana. It felt like I could almost taste the Mezcal streaming out through my pores.
In Janu Shirshasana B, I think I've figured out that by sitting a litte further back on my heel, I enable my knee to be more out to the side. It's not perfect, but I think one of the problems before was that with my knee joint all closed up, i couldn't stretch out from my hips. My Janu Shirshasana C has also improved. I used to only be able to get my toes to the floor and keep my heel up on the right side, but now that's happening on the left side too. The foot isn't vertical or close to the body, but the heel is definitely a full cm off the ground, throughout the posture.
Urdhva Dhanurasana was good again. I've had a few days now of good UDs, and I really like the posture. It sems liberating for some reason. I can feel the opening of the back, and also see the progress that I am making. There's so much more that can be done on this pose too. The first goal is to do it with straight arms, then walking closer in to the body. Then come drop backs. Then comes popping up from drop-backs. Finally, in second series are the tic-tocs. When I can, I'd like to video my Urdhva Dhanurasanas, so I can see where I'm at. Actually to think of it, I should video my whole practice soon. Last time I did that was on the 4th of December, so it's been nearly six months. How about that, six months of doing a daily Ashtanga practice. Certainly the improvements only came after I switched to a six-day per week practice. I don't know why that makes such a difference, but practicing three days a week just did nothing for me. Well not nothing, but there were certainly no flexibility gains.
Lastly, with the increased heat, I got a cramp in Setu Bandhasana. I have to say, Setu is one of my favourite poses. It's just so weird! But my hamstrings do tend to suffer. They cramped last night, and they've done that before, last week I think. It's concerning, because the last thing I want to do is mess up my Urdhva Dhanurasanas.
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