My Return To The Mat

After 2 days off since my injury I returned to the mat today. I showed up and my teacher spent a long time talking to me about the practice and letting go of my expectations, ego, etc. I stood in samasthitih, inhaled while raising my arms over my head and then exhaled as I lowered them. That's all I did. That simple movement hurt. I then went to do finishing and just sat in padmasana. However, I could not hold my arms in the usual position so I rested them on my knees. Most importantly I simply breathed.

This is a very stange place for me to be. This whole practice is about me stepping outside of my box and peeling away all of those layers. (I think that is why this practice is not for everyone) I am hyper flexible and found it hard not to feel frustrated by my body's inability to cooperate with my need to feel as if I have to do the whole primary series. I do not believe in coincidences. Everything happens for a reason and I am where I guess I need to be. As RengegadeBodyWork said "you've got something to let go of there" Of couse I do. Issues always manifest in the physical if not realized elsewhere. So, the plan is to just go everyday and roll out my mat and set my intentions. I am just going to be and try not engage in whatever comes up. I'll keep you posted.

Emergency Room & The Cosmic Serpent

I spent 6 hours at the emergency room in an effort to quash my husband's belief that this practice or "cult" as he calls it, is ruining my (his) life.

About 3 weeks ago my teacher was helping me get into Supta K while sitting up. (I can always get the left leg but just can't figure out how to get the right one behind me without using both hands) Somehow, while laying myself down while bound I felt something in my shoulder blade pinch. I called it an opening. I was sore and careful, allowing my body to adjust to this new opening.

However, on Monday night as I was lifting something over my head I heard a snap and had a lot of pain. I skipped practice on Tuesday but all day every breath hurt. My husband insisted I go to the emergency room and have an x-ray. Imagine this . . . I walk up to the desk, "Excuse me, I need to have an x-ray". "What's going on? Were you in an accident?" "No, I have, um, I injured myself doing yoga. I just want to make sure nothing is broken." I could feel them trying not to roll their eyes. 6 hours later all tests were negative. I took everything for me not to tell my husband "I told you so" but it made him feel better. I think he was secretly hoping something was broken so I would have to take a break from practice.

Luckily a few days prior, Renegadebodywork gave me a great book to read; Cosmic Serpent. I had not cracked it until my hospital excusrion. I read 124 pages. I could not put this book down. I highly recommend it. Thanks G. It made the 6 hours fly by (not really but at least I was not bored).

I hope this injury does not interfer with my SoCal trip.

Encinitas Part II

In exactly one month from today, I leave for teacher training in SoCal. I am a little axious about the whole trip. I am not nervous about the workshop itself rather it's about being away from my husband and children for 2 weeks. That is a long time. Outside of going to NYC for Guruji's tour in 2005 and 2006 for a few days, I have never been away from them for that long. Of course, I try to rationalize it and state that at least I am not going to India for 6 weeks.

It will be so odd to step outside of my daily life. Here, every morning I go to mysore at 5:30am so that I can get home and get my kids off to school and hang out with my 4 year old. I have consciously tried to not let the practice interfere with my children's lives. (Except for Sundays when a group of us go for tea after practice). So, I am having a hard time not feeling guilty about flying across the country for 14 days of yoga. For me, this whole practice has been about stepping outside of my box and following a path. I guess this is just another one of those layers being peeled away.

Thanks to T & J for the advice and photos. I have my accomodations already I just have no idea of where to get the best chai, orgainics, local best kept secrets or must sees in the area, etc. I imagine that I will not have a lot of free time to explore but welcome any insider advice or tips.

Encinitas

So, I will be going to Encinitas for teacher training soon and am looking for any feedback or info from anyone who has taken this workshop before or can offer any info regarding places to go, see, eat, etc.

Initiation

Today is my first post. I've been passively reading all of your blogs for quite a while and felt the urge to join in. I am not quite sure where this will lead but feel it is a step in the right direction or at least it is a step in some sort of direction.