Ashtanga Vinyasa Primer with blocks...

I don't know what's wrong with me but I am feeling exhausted.... I had a headache all day and booked the rest of the week off to give me a full week off work over xmas. I need it.

I got home after what felt like cramming 1 weeks worth of work into 1 day and just wanted to crash...But I logged on to Grimmley's Blog and as usual it was enough to get me motivated to do some yoga practice. So I hit the mat....

I did a few things differently today; I used 2 mats and I used blocks for all my jump backs and jump throughs. I even tried the blocks for utplutih but it didn't work so well...;o) Using blocks for the lift up from seated then swung my legs through behind and tried to land in chaturanga in one smooth movement! Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't so smooth, but U gotta take the rough with the smooth ;o) The upward dog and downward dog still with blocks which felt lovely on the back, and then the jump through to sit, I was flying through my arms!!! I definately 2 inch longer arms!!!

Unfortunately, but concentrating on the props, I forgot my parsvak, prasarita pado sequence and supta parsvasohita, woops! Nevermind, some yoga better than no yoga :o)

I did some nice backbends but couldn't stay up too long as I have a niggle in my left shoulder (which has been playing me up for a week or so now, clicking a lot).. So that was a shame cos they are getting better. My konasana series was very good, getting so close to the floor with my supta now and in baddha I spent a little longer and really pushed my knees into the floor trying to breathe longer and trying to open my feet more, which seemed to work!! My setu bandhasana was great, legs almost straight and I put that down to using 2 mats - less hard on the forehead and therefore less strain on the neck, so I could concentrate getting legs straight - genius! Why did I not think of that before? Rolling over the toes - less painful - again - 2 mats.. headstand - brilliant - 2 mats! I see a pattern emerging here!! I even stayed with legs parallel to floor for 7 breaths - record time! Yay!

So, the moral of the story is, even if you feel like doing absolutely no yoga and that all you wanna do is sleep, do some anyway, just hit the mat! At least do SOMETHING, it's always worth it...

And, on a final note - I LOVE MYSORE STYLE YOGA - the best invention in the world!!!