Ashtanga Foundations, session 2

It's freaking cold! It was pleasantly warm at onlyoga, though, because John had a couple of space heaters going. Half the women that came last week did not come back, but there were six other folks there, obviously having done some ashtanga but not tons. One of them had a super loud ujjayi breath going.

We started with chanting and sun salutations (and as I thought I remembered, John does not have us chataranga in between up and down dog like David Swenson), then moved to the standing series - padangustasana and padahastasana, both of which I felt very capable of thanks to bikram. Then to trikonasana and paravritta trikonasana. Paravritta trikonasana I can get twisted into, but balancing is difficult. Really engaging my legs and pretending I am trying to stretch my mat with my feet helps. John came and pulled gently on my extended arm at one point. Uthitta parsvakonasana I also felt prepared for because of bikram's trikonasana, except we did it with our forearm on our quads. Revolved side angle we did with our hands in prayer - I love spinal twists so I cranked way around to each side. Ahhhh. Then prasarita padottanasanas - again, poses that felt familiar because of bikram though I wonder how long it will take for me to get my clasped hands to the floor in C.

Parsvottanasana is very similar to bikram's dandayamana bibhaktipada janushirasana except that instead of having the arms extended and hands in prayer, hands are in prayer behind the back. The bikram version is one I have worked very hard on, especially in getting my hips level and balancing with my hands in prayer, so during the five breaths I was able to squash my nose on my shin. Engaging the bandhas really allowed me to feel like my chest was actually sliding down my leg as I lengthened.

Utthita hasta - he sort of went into it assuming we would not be able to do it, so we just played around with it. Once again, this is not unlike bikram's dandayamana janushirasana, except in bikram we clasp the foot with both hands. He had us assume the first part of the pose as we could do it, then hold for ten breaths. My standing leg was screaming! Then we switched. We did not do b, c or d.

Ardha baddha padma uttanasana - once again, we just played around with opening up the hips and getting the foot up high. That is exactly bikram's tree pose, so hiking my foot up to hip is easy. However, I can't bind with my right arm - can get my arm to my foot, but not enough to grab it. I can bind more easily with my left. John pulls his leg clear up to his stomach.

He talked briefly about headstands - something that scares me. He had us place our arms in position as if we were going to headstand, look forward at our hands, extend our legs as in down dog, then we held for ten breaths. We jumped through to sitting, then went to the floor to work on a few closing sequence postures - John says that next week we will cover sitting and , and then hopefully do a full practice on the last day. We did modified setu bandasana, then salamba sarvangasana, halasana and karna pidasana.

Then savasana, which was one of the most relaxed savasanas I've ever had. Then closing chant and time to go.

Today Lee and I removed the lower full bed from Michael's twin-over-full bunk beds. The lower bed took up so much room and we were so tired of working around it....plus, what little floor space was left was always covered in legos, and we were constantly fishing legos out from under the bed.

The lower bed was not attached to the frame of the upper, so it was easy to pull it out and dis-assemble it. The frame is stored in the rafters of the garage and the mattress and boxspring are leaning against the dining room wall, waiting to sell on craigslist.

It's positively luxurious to have so much space now. Michael has plenty of room to spread out and I don't have to squeeze around the edge of the bed anymore. We went to Target today to get a bean bag chair to put under the loft, but they don't have them. Humph. I may have to break down and order the very nice but very expensive Lands' End beanbag chair if I can't find a decent one that doesn't have a sports team or Dora the Explorer theme.

The next two days are going to be busy - tomorrow morning is hot yoga, then kids yoga after school, then a PTA board meeting. Tuesday is the 05 News winners trip to CNN center to tour the studio, which I am chaperoning, then I have to be at the central offices to set up for the 05 News awards dinner at 5:30.