Goodbye Mexico, Hello Spain!

The next few blog posts are all posted together, as I have no internet here.  They cover a two-week period.

The flight over was great.  On an almost packed flight, we ended up getting four seats together to ourselves.  It was because the girls beside us went to sit with their friends… either that, or we smell.  Jaja.  Most of it I spent sleeping as there was Diazipan to be had, but I did manage quite a bit of yoga.  Lots of forward bends, Baddha Konnsasas, and even an Urdhva Dhanurasana across four seats in a Jumbo jet!  I should have got a photo of that!

Arriving, and it was freezing!!  Freezing as in “I’ve just come from 35 degrees, and if it hits 15 degrees tonight I think I’ll die!”  So nothing like Canada, but still unpleasant.  It will probably take a couple of weeks to acclimatise, and then I’ll be fine.

I got a standing series done day one, and that was enjoyable.  My legs don’t seem to have tightened up too much with the cold, which is a good sign.

Photo reblog

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Photo reblog

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Good bye Shala

Friday's class has been cancelled for a special event, so this was my last class in the old shala.  The whole hotel has been sold, so if I come back to this part of the world some day, I don't know where Coco will be teaching.  It's a beautiful place, and it really means a lot to me.
More than the place, I'll miss a lot of the people here.  We have a really nice friendly community, and everyone is really supportive of each other.  I've made some good friends among these yogis.  I hope I see some of them again.

It was nice to be back in front of the window with the cool breeze.  The class was a little easier than the last one, though i still sweated buckets.  Unfortunately Coco has been drinking far too much mate.  I say this because she did the Surya Namaskaras in doubletime.  I couldn't keep up!  Added to this, there are a few in the class who don't to a full exhale to Chaturanga-Dandasana, meaning they rush through the vinyasa, and this encourages her to race as well.

So the jump-forwards have totally disappeared.  I don't know where to, but the last few days, I haven't been able to do a single one.  It could have something to do with the loss of muscle-mass that seems to be acompanying my yoga practice.  I can jump up, but my feet get caught on the mat on the way through and stop.  Somehow I have to learn to keep my knees closer to my chest to give my feet closer in to my body.

In Marichyasana A, I figured out that I can stretch a little better if I use my armpit and shoulder to apply pressure to my shin and knee.  It helps me to keep my foot on the ground, and my chest forward.  The binds have gone again in B and C, but they'll be back again, I can wait.

There's a girl in class (I've forgotten her name) who has only been there for two months, and just can't believe that I'm such a beginner after being in Coco's classes for nearly a year.  She's just someone who was born with flexible muscles, and so finds yoga incredibly easy.  I wonder if she gets as much out of the class as all the rest of us who are struggling with the postures.  I think the struggle is really where the benefit is.  Maybe she uses it more as a relaxation class.

After class I had dinner with my friend Diego and his partner.  They're a Spanish couple who moved here because the employment situation is better here than in Spain.  It was fun to hang out with some educated people, chat about ideas and language and culture.  It's not something you find in Mexico.

Utthita Parshvasahita straight leg, and a fond farewell.

Class yesterday was exhausting.  I don't know if it's all the late nights out seeing friends, or if it's merely the emotions of leaving town soon that is affecting me.  I was tired from the first movement, and all the way through.

Again no binds in the Marichyasanas, and I think Coco was happy that I stopped trying to bind after B.  She often says I push too hard in class.  Yes I agree with her, but it's because I feel safe in her classes.  I don't push that hard at home, but in class I have the confidence to give the poses a good tug.

Today's breakthrough was Utthita Parshvasahita.  Coco adjusted me into it on the first side, and somehow it happened with a straight leg.  This is a massive improvement, as usually my leg is so bent that my knee touches my arm.  It was so exciting!  It's the first breakthrough I've had for a little while, and something to leave town with.  I then managed the second side all by myself.

It was a moon day yesterday, so Coco only had us do three Navasanas.  That was a little bit of a relief.  I had the best Setu Bhandasana I've ever had, and that was fun too.  I felt like I could stay up there for days, and had none of the cramping I'd had earlier in the week.


So that was my last led class for a while.  I don't know when I'll next be able to get to a shala.  Coco and I said our goodbyes, and that was it.

Paying my dues

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.

Strong led class

Monday's led class was warm and busy.  When I arrived, Coco set me to hanging a huge picture on the wall.  I mean seriously, there must have been fifteen people there already, but she waited for me to come.  Hahaa.

Class was fantastic.  I got back to where I was before my little regression, that is, binding in Marichyasana B and C, and a nice strong Urdhva Dhanurasana.  With the heat that's around at the moment, I got really sweaty, and not only was my mat towel soaked, but there was a little lake around my mat.
I managed to get a little further in The Prasarita Padottanasana variants than I had done before, and I think soon I could be straight legs, bent arms in D, rather than Straight arms, bent legs like I am at the moment.  I think these are the most effective stretch for my hamstrings and hips at the moment too.  I think I really should give these a go a couple of times a day, to help my hip-opening along a bit.

After class I met up with my friend Morganne, who owns a bar, and we did some Mezcal tasting.  Now as a non-alcohol drinker, drinking Mezcal completely destroyed me.  I was also up very late, and thus completely wasted the next day.  Work was an absolute catastrophe!!  Oops!

Stiffness

Well I hardly got through my practice this morning!  It took me two hours, and I still barely made it through.

I had planned on sacrificing watching the London Marathon, and doing my practice before Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but somehow even though I woke up early enough, the coverage of Liège-Bastogne-Liège had already started, so I just ended up watching that for three hours instead of one!
Liège was a fantastic race!  With Dan Martin managing to push away early enough to finish ahead of the lighter Spaniards Valverde and Rodríguez.  I'm sure all the Brits will be going crazy over his win.

Then it came to the yoga, and I was really stiff.  I haven't been this stiff for a long time.  It truly felt like I was just starting out again.  I don't know why this happens to me sometimes.  Did I oversleep last night?  Am I dehydrated? Did I not eat enough dinner last night?  I know I'm usually stiffer in the mornings, but this was 10am, so it should have been ok.  I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow back in led class.

After yoga was Michael Gannon's birthday.  I finally got to meet one of his kids, and what a sweet little thing he was.  Also it was cool to see Michael as a dad.  I've only ever seen him as a yoga teacher/ mentor, and seeing him today, he really looked like such a great daddy!  That's so cool to see.

Photo reblog

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Teaching my first class

I taught a class!!  Led primary!!  WHAT???  I know, how strange.

This is seriously not something I thought I'd do for many years, if at all.  After all the work on my shoulder, i was ready to do a class with Coco.  I'd texted her to let her know that I would be coming on Friday night to her led class, but she wasn't there!  Neither was Karla.  They're both doing the Michael Gannon day tomorrow (Grrrr... I still have knee pain from that man!!!) and I suppose they were resting up.

Hugo said that Coco had let them know that there would be nobody there to teach, so we decided that we'd just do a private practice, and leave on our own.  After I led the class in the chant, I started my Surya Namaskaras.  Well, immediately it was obvious that there were beginners in class who had no idea what they were doing.  So I had to talk through the poses and the breaths, leading the class.

It was really fun.  I did a little bit of adjusting; nothing forceful, just some alignment stuff, reminding people of dristis, and gave a guy up the back a variation for Marichyasana D because he was crazy stiff.

Nobody understood Gharba Pindasana, so I had to give a demonstration.  Fortunately I nailed it, and Kukkutasana as well, so that was a cool demo.

According to the regular students, I was a bit fast in my counts.  I suppose that's normal for a beginner teacher.  I certainly wasn't  expecting to teach, and so hadn't prepared myself for it.  The other issue was that I had to teach the class in Spanish.  Now yes, I do speak Spanish, but in the stress of trying to teach my first ever class, remember the postures, maintain an even breath count, help and correct students, AND do a little adjusting, my Spanish just went out the window!  Ah well.

The Chiropractor

The Chiropractor was really good.  He explained where I was at with my body, and said there were some areas were I was certainly tight with a limited range of movement.  He advised that I keep stretching my hip flexors, something that I haven't done regularly since my running days.  He also said that I had no major muscle imbalances in my body, only that my pecs were overly dominant and pulling my shoulders forward, causing bad posture.

The one area were I have an issue is that my scalene muscles are too tight.  I thought a scalene was a type of triangle, the one with unequal sides or angles, but what do I know????  Anyway, I need to stretch out my scalenes, and that will free up my shoulders and neck to be how they should be.  The tight scalene muscles and forward shoulders were probably as a result of the years of hard road cycling, with inadequate stretching.

He was really positive about my body.  He said I had an amazingly strong core, and that my muscles were all really well balanced, resulting in nothing out of alignment.  He did however say that I had limited range of movement in my spine, especially in the thoracic area.  The general advice was to keep doing yoga regularly, and if I can, get occasional checks with a Chiropractor or Osteopath. 

Delicate home practice

Nearly a week off yoga, and my body has tightened up.  I thought it would stay loose as long as I didn't do anything silly, but it seemed to revert back to my old "can't touch toes" kind of feeling that I used to have back when I was a runner.  I wonder if my body will eventually get to a state where that loose feeling I get from a couple of weeks of solid practice becomes it's natural state.  Or will I always revert to this tight feeling whenever I take a few days off for whatever reason?

I did a home practice, a full primary during the heat of the day.  It was nice, but there were a few poses I had to hold off - Marichyasana B and D were out, and I didn't try to bind in A or C either.  Garbha pindasana was a no-no because of my ankle, which of course meant wiping out kukkutasana, urdhva padmasana pindasana, and doing a modified matyasana.  It felt good to get back on the mat, but I'll keep taking it easy util after my chiro appointment on Thursday.

Photo reblog

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Find Your Yoga Infographic

It's always good to laugh at yourself!!

Find Your Yoga infographic by YogaTrail.

Moon days in Ashtanga yoga

Traditionally in Ashtanga Yoga, we take both the full and the new moon off.  We call these days 'moon days'.

Why do we take moon days off?  Now days we do it to respect the traditions of Ashtanga yoga, and to respect our masters, specifically Sri K Pattahbi Jois (Guruji).  Guruji used to teach at the Sanskrit College at the Mysore Palace in Mysore, and in that college, Sanskrit classes were cancelled on the days of the full and new moon.  When Guruji later started his own shala, he kept these days off, originally taking only two days off work each month.

Why was the Sanskrit college at the Mysore Palace closed on moon days?  To answer this, we have to look at the role of the moon in primitive society.

Imagine living in darkness before electricity.  When nightfall comes, there's not much to do.  It's DARK!  Now have you ever been out to the country, or in a small town?  By the light of the full moon you can walk about and do stuff!  By the light of the full moon you can read and write. 
In many primitive societies, the full moon was a time to party, or a time to sow the crops, depending on the society.  More people and more activity means more mishaps and accidents and more dogs barking.  More light streaming through your bedroom window probably means it'll be harder to sleep too.  So if even in western society, we have this cultural artifact that people often think that they go a bit crazy around the full moon, because not too long ago, we were all partying!

India was at that time a very primitive society, superstitious and polytheistic.  Electricity only came to Bangalore in 1906, and slowly spread across major population centres in India over the next 30-40 years.  Now I don't purport to know why the Sanskrit classes were cancelled on moon days.  Perhaps everyone was out sowing the crops, or preying in temples.  Perhaps they were out on the town getting wasted! (In my research I have however learned a lot about Indian history - yay!)

Do superstitions die overnight in a culture with limited education?  Absolutely not!  You only have to look around you in educated societies for how omnipresent these superstitions and cultural artifacts are.  Think of how many people still see the number 13 as unlucky.  Do you know people who won't walk under a ladder?  Or even more common, how many people still say "bless you" after somebody sneezes?  I do, it's good manners.

People have tried to think up all sorts of things about the moon.  One common myth is that because our bodies are made of 70% water, they're affected by the moon like tides in the oceans.  This is a bit silly.  Any large body of liquid is affected by gravity, not specifically water, and we certainly don't have large expanses in our tiny human bodies.  Finally, we can turn to science to help us answer the question if the moon has an effect on us.  Here is a link to a site summarising a comprehensive list of studies.  These studies show that there is no significant link between the moon phase and human behaviour.

Guruji was a pragmatic guy, and would occasionally move the moon day if he had something to do and needed a day off.  Alan Little, in his diary from studying with Jois in 2001 joked when Mr Jois moved the moon-day "the ability to move the moon being one of those siddhis possessed only by a handful of advanced yoga masters".

Your yoga teacher may tell you that the moon day is special "because our bodies are made of water", or "because everyone gets a bit excited during a full moon and can hurt themselves".  They may say "Moon days are a cute part of the history of Ashtanga" and not observe them at all.  My yoga teacher says "It's a moon day, lets chill out a bit" then cuts a couple of Navasanas, drops Marichyasana D and Setu Bandhasana, and takes it easy in Urdhva Dhanurasana.

Each of these choices is cool with me.  Whatever they choose, it becomes part of their yoga practice.

So if you want to take the moon day off, go for it.  If you want to practice on a moon day, go for it.  I personally take the the moon day off.  Partly because I wish to show respect to the great master Pattabhi Jois and the traditions of Ashtanga yoga, and partly because I like an extra couple of days off each month.

Massage

Getting the first rib and shoulder worked on, the therapist came out with comments like:

"Wow, you have the tightest, most ropey muscles I've ever seen."
"You have practically no movement around the rib-cage.""Have you got a history of serious shoulder injuries?"
"I'm guessing you get a lot of lower back pain."
"Have you ever been to a chiropractor?"

The advice was that I'm doing everything I can to fix my stiff old body, so I should just keep on with the yoga and the stretching, and things will improve over time.

I'm going to a chiropractor in a week.  Because i'm leaving town soon, I'll get him to write out a written evaluation of my back and what needs to be done.  We'll see how that goes.

Photo Shoot

While taking a rest day from Ashtanga, I had been booked for a photo shoot today.  Karla (yoga teacher Karla) is starting her own yoga, wine and chocolate class for partners and groups.  As part of this, she has to get some photos for the advertising.

We did a little bit of partner yoga today.  We did a few warm-up moves, a few stretches, and a few acroyoga moves.  It was really fun.  We were on the top of a beautiful palapa, and the strong wind kept almost blowing us over.  Here are a few of the photos.

Hopefully I'll get a couple more when the photographer has had time to look at them all.

Dislocated First Rib

First Rib.  It sounds like something out of a biblical myth, right there with original sin. Else it could be a ridgeline on the map of a fantasy novel, but it's a part of my body; And it's dislocated.

My shoulder was hurting more than usual, so I went and had it looked at.  Turns out I have a dislocated first rib on the left side of my body, and it needs to be put back.  There are also a lot of knots and stuff that have to be worked on.

Tomorrow I have a photo shoot, so the pain will be on Friday.  Then no Yoga for at least 24 hours after that.  So it's going to be a big break from yoga for me.  The lovely Ticia says to drink lots and lots of water before she works on my shoulder, and to be ready for a bit of pain. Jajajajaaaaa

Sniffles

Well it was a bit worse today.  I think it's a little more than just normal variations, I think I have a cold.  I had the sniffles all through class today.  The muscles didn't want to do what I wanted them to do, and even simple postures weren't happening.

Also, My sore shoulder that I hurt last December is hurting a lot more than usual, a lot lot more.  Also I've had an "opening" of my right ankle and it's a bit swollen.  It's the ankle that i dropped a motorbike on a few years ago, and it's been a bit stiff since.  It's time to take a day or two off.