Furry Wombat

Working this weekend. I need the uninterrupted space of a weekend to immerse myself in an unfamiliar programming language and messy, unplanned data.  My progress on this project has been so slow that I have to be especially kind to myself.

Still there are a few Sunday chores – a quick trip to the granola store adjacent the studio, laundry to hang on the lanai.  I bought myself some sunflowers this morning in celebration of Sunday.

Practice this morning was nice. Although I’ve clung to primary through Janu A for a while, CL says it’s time to make a clean break for second. It’s good to have more energy for karandavasana and handstands. I’ve made this break before, but stuck some primary back in after the travel and inconsistent practice of late summer and early fall. My practice feels more solidly in second now. There little fear left in kapo, and I’m finding more strength in the legs.  This week’s small revelation: gluing the legs together with the inner thighs.  It’s pretty amazing energetically — the legs feel like magnets sticking together, like one energetic unit — until I start shaking so much that it falls apart.  I found it in headstand but need to look for it in shalabhasana and mayurasana.

I seem to be emerging for my hole. After several weeks of company (H was here for a few weeks, and then my folks for a week), I was sad to return to my little burrow by myself, so I dug myself a hole. Sometimes I don’t have enough insight to see the hole as I dig it; instead, I focus on the dirt under my nails. I can dig myself into a hole quickly, as wombats have powerful front legs, which are very effective for burrowing.

I have a few practice notes that are mostly for my future reference. My shoulders have been tweaky since I came back from the holidays. As far as I can tell, it’s not really shoulder injury, but a slight nerve pinch in the spine that causes weakness in the arms (this has happened before…). However, in addition to bed hanging, few things are helping: (i) focusing on rooting the thumb and first finger; (ii) making sure that my hands are far enough apart (the wombat forgets that she has broad shoulders), and (iii) realizing that if I make my legs stronger in chaturanga, it relieves alot of the stress from my upper body.

Somehow, it’s always the same revelation in a slightly different format — my foundation is weak and i keep trying to manhandle the world with my (powerful, burrowing) arms.

I recently started working on mayurasana. This morning, I fell forward and now I have a yoga booboo on my chin. Silly Wombat. I’ll make sure my chin is over my mat until I get the hang of this pose…