Making a commitment

It has been a couple of months since I’ve been to a led class at the studio to practice yoga. Yesterday I finished up a 6 week Mysore program in which I was practicing Ashtanga 3 times a week.  I was also trying to practice at home when I had the discipline to do it but that only happened a few times.  For some reason I just haven’t been able to make a home practice stick. So yesterday when the Mysore program ended I decided to make a commitment to my home practice.  I would like to practice 5 days a week for the next 30 days.  I know how to do my own practice without a teacher so there is no reason for me not to.  If that means coming to my mat and just doing sun salutations or just working on hip opening or backbends, then that’s ok.  I just want to get in the habit of making the time a priority and bringing my focus to my mat so that I can work on creating a disciplined home practice.

So here I am, making that commitment.  I will document when I get on my mat, how long I stay there and what I practice each day.  Hopefully at the end of 30 days I will have stayed true to that commitment and have a new found discipline for ignoring all the distractions and making the time for my practice at home.

July 27, Day 1 – Today it took me a few hours to get my focus together and do my practice but eventually I got on my mat and actually did primary series through the marichyasanas (skipped A & B) then went into closing. I bound to my wrist on my left side in Marichy C for the first time on my own!  I felt like I could get deeper in my bind today so I did Marichy C twice on each side and got to my wrist on the left side.  Which is odd, since that is usually my tighter side. Weird how things will just switch up on you like that. I think this is the first time I’ve practiced alone that I’ve gone past the standing sequence.  My practice was focused in portions. I would focus on breath, bandhas and posture awareness for a few poses then I would get distracted and mess around with music or go to the restroom or check my text messages (so unnecessary!!) then I’d come back and focus for a few more poses.

I started with doing the hip opening exercise from David Keil then went into primary series from there.  I really felt like working on backbends today so I did 6 backbends and 2 dropbacks on my own using tips from a video by Kino McGregor for dropping back. I did a little bit of rocking and tried to rock up but I barely felt any weight lift out of my hands. I still have a lot of fear in coming up. I know I lack the knowledge and control that I need to come up but the fear definitely gets in the way too.  I ended up cutting closing short. As I came out of matsyasana Jim Morrison’s voice came on singing “Before you slip into unconsciousness..” and I decided that was my cue to go into savasana.  I had a very nice and long savasana listening to “crystal ship” and then “shine on you crazy diamond”. Very deep relaxation & release of my practice.  

I’m satisfied with what I accomplished today.  Still need to work on shutting out the distractions and getting through a full practice. I was on my mat for over two hours just to get through half primary! I was taking some time on my jump throughs and figured out if I focus on bring my knees into my chest more I think I get a little bit more space between my feet and the ground as I try to get my feet through. They are still brushing the ground but I think the brushing felt lighter than normal. Over 2 hours is still way too much time for what I’m doing, even with a little more time spent on this or that, but it’s a start.

These are the videos for the hip opening and drop backs that I used in my practice: