Autumn Lotus Yoga

Felt better — think it was voice strain yesterday — and made it to Lynn’s 9:30 am 2 hr Core Vinyasa class.  It’s funny, two easy days had me stiff as bejesus!!  Only solution for yoga is more yoga…   And for voice strain, not talking!!  Still keeping speaking to a bare minimum & started back up with my voice therapy exercises, which I naughtily let slide recently.

Lynn did a fabulous job today, even by her high standards.  There was fog coming out of the studio & she was dressed up in costume for class.  The class starts with about 30 minutes of yin/mellow practice, then went into dolphins & Forrest abs.  But the most unique part was her use of the wall for most of the class.  Set folks up near the wall a little less than an  hour in & did serious down dog on the wall holds & incorporated the wall into the standing poses.  It was used as a prop to push against in warriors with the back foot, strengthening the back leg; as a tool to help roll open in half moon by having the TOP arm against it (usually the back leg is used).  Most interesting, the “vinyasas” that are usually done with high/low plank to a back bend then into down dog were done instead as down dog or handstand variations on the wall between sides.

Frickin’ brilliant. Sooooo gonna steal that someday.

Happy Halloween all!!  Hope there are many treats to be had tonight!!

Woke up hoarse & painfully scratchy throated today.  Quelle yuck.

Sends me right back into flashbacks of a really hellish period that persisted over, like, 5 years.  Yeah, I am able to ignore pain for a loooong time.

Used to teach spinning alot, & frequently ended up without a working microphone shouting over loud music.  Started to get a sore throat, then a little hoarse, then a lot hoarse, then painful & cracking & breaking like a teenage boy.  But I was very good at ignoring or minimizing or shrugging off or blaming myself for being injured.

It was godawful for a long time.  Sounded like Kim Carnes, for those of you old enough to remember the song Bette Davis Eyes.

Finally, after five years, Forrest Teacher training & a mini meltdown or two, got myself to a doctor.  Who sent me to a specialist.  Who stuck a little camera up my nose & guided it down my throat  (really, not as big a deal as one would think) & diagnosed a vocal cord cyst.  Think of it as a blister on the vocal cord, usually caused by long term abuse, like wearing shoes that don’t fit day after day. 

This got me put on voice rest.  No teaching, minimal talking.  It hurt to talk, anyway.  Resorted to notepads & whiteboards.  Contemplated going on a silent retreat.  It’s a really interesting thing to not be able to talk.  Voice rest lasted for several weeks before I got surgery to remove the cyst.  The surgery – almost exactly a year ago, interestingly – was minimally invasive but required general anesthesia & associated drama.

Surgery was followed by more voice rest.  And a lot of popsicles.  (Yummmm, fruit juice popsicles.  

Was actually taking class through a lot of the voice rest, though obviously not teaching.  Right after surgery when I really really couldn’t talk for fear of scarring my healing vocal cords, I wore a little name-tag type thing on my yoga top that read “Can’t talk. Voice rest.”  That was pretty funny — as was keeping my whiteboard by my mat sometimes to chat.

Being silent in a noisy world is an interesting exercise.  I went inside my head a little more, listened more closely.

But it means that getting hoarse now sends me into a bit of a tailspin.  I think it was just because I ended up in a loud restaurant last night, or have a little bit a headcold encroaching again.  It’s a big trigger though … and Ana Forrest does recommend never wasting a good trigger.  Gotta listen to what these triggers tell us about ourselves, our responses to the world.

Don’t want to lose my voice again.  Just found it, damn it!

Had intended to go to Back Bay but am being quiet at home to give this time to heal.  No more ignoring pain.  Heading to my mat soon; tomorrow will be a three class day at BBY, providing this is just a little strain.  Here’s to having my voice back, asap.

Lynne (Back Bay owner, goddess teacher & the leader of last night’s Pop Divas Yogathon) set her Facebook status this morning as “yoga hangover.”

Hee hee — pretty perfectly describes it!  Got an hour on the mat today, but my body really needed some quiet time.   I do think the current unplanned dynamic of alternating “push” days of longer, more challenging practices with a few ”recovery” easier days mixed in is contributing to feeling stronger & more balanced.  Happy accident!

Focused today on working on lengthening out my low back.  Actually, more like an area encircling the waist & outer hips & low back, about the size of World Wrestling Federation championship belt. (Hey, I see the commercials!  

No pain at all, but the sensation of tightness really is as if the area was a knitted sweater that had been put in the wash & dried on high — the whole thing just shrunk up!    So I had to ssssttttrrrreeettccchhh it out with lots of side bends & twists.  Ahh, feel normal length again.

Other big news was that I got my intro letter from Heidi Sormaz at Fresh Yoga setting up the first Forrest Yoga Mentorship Program weekend.  Will be in New Haven the second weekend of November & very psyched about it.

All for now — there is a black & white tuxedo cat named Pyewacket assiduously cleaning my left hand as I type this!  Quite distracting; must go pet cat….

So, like, FYI, Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet/mystic.  Very popular within the yoga world.  Go look him up on Wikipedia if you’re curious at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi – good life story & collected works.

A particular Rumi quote has been showin’ up in the ether recently, put forth as inspirational by people I care about & respect.  Here’s the passage:

“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on, I’ll be mad.”

Nice sentiment.  Great rhetoric.  Have both given & received the essence of that speech.  Very handy for inspiring oneself or others to conquer a challenge or get out of rut.

But, also, forgive me lovely yogis, kinda horseshit.

I have in fact lived where I feared to live.  Have destroyed my reputation & the reputation of others.  Been notorious.   Told the world/The Man/ruling hierarchies to go eff themselves.  Thrown off prudence & planning & all inhibitions & embraced my inner rebel & flake.  Been mad in the sense of both totally pissed off & kinda off my nut.

And, really, all of the above are highly overrated.

The point of coloring outside the lines is to paint a new world for yourself.  To rebel enough so that you create a life that you don’t need to rebel against.  To motivate yourself to meaningful change.  Cuz if you’re given a choice between being happy & being “mad,” choose happy.  Really. 

Rephrase: Live where you love to be.  Cultivate a reputation you’re proud of.  Be who you dream of being.  Plan what needs planning & then let it go.  From now on, live authentically & joyfully.

Okay, rant done.  Marathon yoga day at Back Bay was awesome — 2 hrs teacher practice, then assisted class, then did 2 hr fun pop workshop.  Good day.  Can see improvement in that it hurt alot less this month than last month.

That’s a very handy military-speak acronym, meaning Nothing Significant To Report.

My other favorite, applicable to today, is OBE.  Which stands for Overcome By Events.

I really like FUBAR as well, which started within the military, and means F’d Up Beyond All Recognition.

So, point being, my day today was focused on personal life stuff, less yoga.  There was in the midst of the off-the-mat stuff a small, teensy weensy, lilliputian unrolling of the mat.  Best yoga of my day might actually have been the nap I took in the afternoon after all that NSTR stuff caused my world to be OBE until it was totally FUBAR.

Looking forward to Wednesday for a return to fun at Back Bay, including teacher’s practice, assisting the Forrest class, and Lynne’s monthly super-workshop, this time called Pop Divas Unite featuring yoga to the music of Britney, Cher, Lady Gaga et al.  If you’re in Beantown, bop by cuz it’ll be a blast!

Point being once again: Will move my asana more tomorrow.

Good news:  the looooong Mondays are definitely getting easier.  Teach 10-11:30, take class 12:15-1:15, teachers practice 3-5, assist 5:40-7:10.   Even a few weeks ago that day left me hurting & massive tired & was a push to get through.

Today it was nice, pleasant, relatively pain free (little low back fatigue but all good).

Thank heavens for mind/body fluidity & growth.

Well, actually it’s ours.  But there was a flood.  And an ark.  And animals marching two by two through the basement going “crap, man, no way we’re all gonna fit & btw, the water’s rising near your neighbors storage unit & the hyenas won’t stop laughing at the platypuses.  Maybe they’re called platypi.  Dunno.  Ooops, irrelevant cuz after the lions finished off the lambs they started on the platys.”

Okay, I exaggerate.  If you’re our downstairs neighbor, I’m completely fabricating this whole post & nothing of interest happened this morning at all.  Nothing to see here, move along & have a nice day.

Last night was a fabulous date night with Beloved Husband & we were out late (for us, anyway) so I stayed home for practice.  Flexy day & all.  Started a load of wash & did like 30 minutes pretty much just rolling around on the floor listening to Massive Attack under the guise of moving around synovial fluid so as to lubricate the old joints.  Popped out to go down & change the wash & walked into the diluvian chaos alluded to earlier. 

Recruited BH & a raftload of towels & we sopped, soaked, sloshed, slogged our way through.  Mopping, mopping, mopping.  Interrupted by dancing up & down on the aforementioned neighbors’ rug which we sandwiched between towels to encourage drying.

This was just waaaay too remiscent of Lucy & Ethel grape stomping & might have turned into a little tiny moshpit.  It’s good to be married to someone you can have fun with in a flooded basement.

Unless you’re our downstairs neighbor, of course, in which case we were just washing the floor, like the good citizens we are.  These are not the ‘droids you’re looking for.  (Geek.

Tomorrow, back to big day at Back Bay!!