It's been a few months since I posted an update on my year of daily yoga practice.
The news is good! I'm still at it, every day without fail.
By now, my daily asana practice has become so ingrained that skipping it rarely occurs to me. Even the very short, obligatory 15 practices have all but gone. These days, I'm on the mat for at least 30 minutes every day.
The summer was amazing for my practice because my teaching schedule faded to part-time. I had more time and energy to devote to my asan…
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Added by Kaivalya on October 11, 2009 at 4:49pm —
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I last reported progress on my Yoga Streak in early April. I'm now heading into my sixth month of daily yoga practice. Although there have certainly been days that I pulled a 15 minute vinyasa sequence out of thin air at 11:45 p.m. in order to fulfill my commitment, I've actually been quite dedicated to doing a significant daily practice. I've felt the impact this has had on my life and health and it's all positive!
April: In the opening days of April, I received a free pass to the Yoga Show an…
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Added by Kaivalya on June 1, 2009 at 1:42pm —
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Since my last report, I've completed Months 2 and 3 of my Yoga Streak, also known as World Yoga Practice Year, a.k.a., WoYoPracYea! ;-)
By now, daily practice is one of those goes-without-saying things. I just do it. It seems so easy to just do it. Looking back on my Yoga-less Streak last fall, I recall how easy it seemed to just NOT do it. The lesson? Routines are easy. Get into one and anything is possible. Anything can become automatic and expected.
A few interesting things have come to lig…
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Added by Kaivalya on March 31, 2009 at 1:35pm —
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My experience of WoYoPracMo was much different this year from last. Last year, I was in the midst of doing 365 days of Astanga yoga, so I was very focused on that practice. I did the full Primary Series every day in January and it was a considerable challenge. Last year was all about Tapas, Tapas and focus.
This year was more about fitting the practice into my life in a sustainable way, changing my routine to fit different circumstances. When I'm feeling unwell, I've learned that I need to do r…
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Added by Kaivalya on February 3, 2009 at 7:25pm —
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“Remember, Yoga practice is like an obstacle race; many obstructions are purposely put on the way for us to pass through. They are there to make us understand and express our own capacities. We all have that strength, but we don't seem to know it. We seem to need to be challenged and tested in order to understand our own capacities. In fact, that is the natural law. If a river just flows easily, the water in the river does not express its power. But once you put an obstacle to the flow by co…
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Added by Kaivalya on February 16, 2008 at 4:00pm —
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“When the mind is focused on a concrete object, that is called savitarka samadhi.” - Sri Swami Satchidananda
“The principle of meditation is simple: You are what you think. By meditating on words that embody your highest ideals, you drive them deep into your consciousness. There they take root and begin to create wonderful changes in your life – changes you have wanted to make, but have not known how to bring about.” - Eknath Easwaran
One of my goals in January was a return to my…
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Added by Kaivalya on February 9, 2008 at 8:00am —
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With the end of January WoYoPracMo, I will no longer be cross-posting my Ashtanga-related posts to this space. If you would like to read about my adventures in Asana, you can find them here:
The Reluctant Ashtangi.
I've decided to update this blog on Saturdays, my day off from Ashtanga practice. As my goal for the month is Swadhyaya, I will be sharing some thoughts on the reading I've been doing.
My daily reading is going well…
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Added by Kaivalya on February 2, 2008 at 4:58pm —
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Last day of WoYoPracMo 2008! I woke up very, very early and did the
full Primary Series, zipping through in an hour and 20 minutes. The
early start gave me time for a leisurely shower and breakfast before
doing my Karma Yoga, volunteering at the soup kitchen. Musical
Sirsasana was Sean Paul's 'Punkie [Español]' (3 min, 45 sec).
I successfully met the two goals I set for the month of January:
1) The full Primary Series every day
2) Daily meditation
I learned many t…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 31, 2008 at 7:14am —
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A few people have asked why I'm the 'Reluctant Ashtangi'. Why 'reluctant'?
I was reluctant because I had some very bad experiences with the Ashtanga practice early on. Years ago, I started practising yoga without a teacher, using a video. The video I used was based on the Iyengar system of yoga: lots of focus on alignment, longer holds, not a lot of vinyasa. When I did start taking classes, they were in classical Hatha yoga, which is more gentle and less vigourous than Ashtanga (Hatha i…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 30, 2008 at 5:33am —
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I played ice hockey at 9:30 last night, a half-hour past my bedtime, so I napped for an hour-and-a-half before. I hate these late games. I arrived in the changeroom all cranky and tousled, completely unprepared to face my jovial teammates. I put on my neckguard first to ensure I wouldn't forget it and some wiseass immediately made a crack about it. Grrrrrrr...
We played the #3 team in the league. They have the benefit of having the best player in the league, a fast, talented and fabulou…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 30, 2008 at 5:08am —
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Awake at 5, lingered in bed until 5:15 and on the mat at 5:45. I had a very ordinary practice, worked hard, but not too hard. Was distracted at times, but managed to rein myself in. I've noticed that since I started doing daily meditation practice, I've been less distracted during my yoga practice. Probably not so surprising.
Musical Sirsasana was 'A New England' by Kirsty MacColl (3 minutes, 33 seconds).
I'm experimenting this week with bigger breakfasts in the morning. After…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 28, 2008 at 7:19am —
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I'm running on about four-and-a-half hours of sleep this morning
because I was out until the wee hours last night dining and dancing
with my friends. We were celebrating a birthday and had a private room
at Voglie. It was a lovely, intimate setting with snow drifting down
lightly outside the windows and a fireplace (I sat by the fireplace -
I'm always cold!) We had a big group - about 20 people - but I've
known most of them for years, so it was comfortable.
The food was absolutely stu…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 27, 2008 at 6:36am —
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This is the last time I will practice on a Saturday for awhile. That is, it is until the next time I need to move my regular 'day off ' to another day - or the next time I participate in a yoga marathon like WoYoPracMo (probably not until next year). I'm eagerly looking forward to having my Saturday's off, as well as Moon Days. While I appreciate the many benefits of daily practice, it's not sustainable for me. I'm getting tired.
I woke feeling yucky this morning. I'm worried about this…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 26, 2008 at 4:23pm —
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My Friday teaching schedule has changed again with the addition of a new class, so no more sleeping in and lazing around until the afternoon. I was up at 5 and on the mat at 5:30. To be honest, I've really developed a deep appreciation for these early morning practices and look forward to them. This is one thing WoYoPracMo has given me - it's helped re-establish a habit of early morning yoga practice. I really look forward to these serene mornings on my mat.
Big excitement in the neighb…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 25, 2008 at 5:42am —
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I knew that this part of the week would be exhausting and I had a strategy. So far, it's worked pretty well. It's called “Getting Enough Sleep”.
I went to sleep at the shockingly early hour of 8 p.m. on Tuesday to stock up on Z's. This gave me the extra oompf to get through yesterday. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night (I never do with a late bedtime and early wake-up for practice and my Karma Yoga, but I napped for an hour-and-a-half today, so that's something.
Interesting,…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 24, 2008 at 12:21pm —
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“Spend an hour with a pretty girl, and it feels like only a moment. Put your hand on a hot stove for a moment, and it feels like an hour. That's relativity.”This quote is often attributed to Einstein, though I'm not sure he actually said it. That's how I sometimes feel about holding headstand.
Today's Musical Sirsasana was abitious: 'No Cars Go' by The Arcade Fire, 5 minutes, 42 seconds. I love this song. When I'm listening to it, time flies by. It ends and I'm all “Is…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 23, 2008 at 5:26am —
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Sometimes my yoga life and my day-to-day life collide in uncomfortable ways.
I played ice hockey last night and for the first time in several games, we had a goaltender in net. Playing without a goalie is uncomfortable for the team - everyone must play more defensively - but it's particularly hard on the defence. When we're short on players it's usually the defensive line that takes the hit. This means three rotating defence and if there is no goalie, the three of us are on the ice cons…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 22, 2008 at 8:07am —
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Awake at 5, on the mat by 5:45, finished by 7:15. I like to finish up by 7 a.m. because that's when the construction starts next to my building. Fortunately, they started late today and they're not too noisy.
It's still bitterly cold out - the windchill was -21 when I last checked. So I didn't go ice skating (I have my limits and extreme cold is one of them). Usually, I pack up my laptop, a few snacks and spend the morning in a café, working on bookkeeping and my class plans for the wee…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 21, 2008 at 12:36pm —
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I was up at 5 this morning, on the mat by 5:30. My whole body felt stiff and sore and I kind of doodled and dawdled through my practice, not working particularly hard, finding myself quite distracted. I glanced at the calendar this morning and this all makes perfect sense in context to my monthly cycle. Even now, I still feel groggy and out-of-sorts.
I bound to fingers in all the Marichyasana poses because I was wasn't feeling particularly twisty, didn't come as deep into my forward be…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 20, 2008 at 6:30am —
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It's cold out today. The wind chill is -16 C (3 F). I was out walking
the dog a little while ago and saw a guy in our neighbourhood park
doing Ashtanga Yoga in jeans, parka and toque. It was definitely
Ashtanga - I recognised many of the postures, though he was doing them
a bit out of order. He did
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana,…
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Added by Kaivalya on January 19, 2008 at 2:59pm —
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