Not quite Colorado scenery but we had a taste of Colorado coolness in the morning last week. This is Milo at Longview Park. We've been going there in the mornings before the onslaught of the sun. Otherwise, it is pretty much couch time for the dogs. Here's Milo and Dante last night.
That's pretty much life in Austin in the summer. Along with writing, writing, writing, and yoga.
Of course, I'm at my home a way from home right now getting ready for another rich day of learning at BKS Dallas. This morning is the first time I have actually been sore from yoga in a long time.
The morning started with a lovely pranayama class. I was a little tired from staying up watching Handmaid's Tale and it took me a while to really settle in and feel my breathing. Everything felt a little shallow at first, but I just kept with it and it ended up being a very deep experience of inner spaciousness.
Then we had asana class. Lots of twists. I realized why the short femur bone is so problematic. I can get length now that I used to not be able to get. (there's still more to get and I can get more when someone helps me) but then when I try to hook the elbow /arm my femur is so low that I am not able to kept the ground I gained.
1.30
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vyādhi-styāna-saṁśaya-pramādālasyāvirati-bhrānti-darśanālabdha-
bhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni citta-vikṣepās te'ntarāyāḥ
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These
obstacles are disease, inertia, doubt, heedlessness, laziness, indiscipline
of the senses, erroneous views, lack of perseverance, and backsliding. (I)
These
disturbances are disease, idleness, doubt, carelessness, sloth, lack of
detachment, misapprehension, failure to attain a base for concentration, and
instability. They are distractions for the mind. (B)
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I am going to work with a half block under my foot for a while. I used to not find that helpful but I'm more flexible/open now that when I worked with it before so I will give it a go for a while.
We had lunch at Central Market and I learned that Eric from New Orleans studied philosophy at ASU. He asked me if I was a continental or an analytic philosopher and after I answered him, I realized only continental people would ask that question.
Then Prakash gave a very helpful talk on Bk 6 of the Gita but he also talked about the chariot metaphor and Book 1 and 2. It was helpful in that he presented a POD structure and really talked about the Gita being a teaching for life in general. Everything, just not on the mat. The other huge insight I got was that we often think of the three defintions of yoga in the Gita Evenness of mind, skill in action, and disassociation with suffering as being distinct, but really they are all aspects of the same thing.
Then teacher training and I did an on the spot mock assessment. I thought I was only teaching three poses which I had prepared, but I had to do all six poses. In a way, not knowing ahead of time was good because I didn't have time to be nervous. Got some good feedback about more on the legs and really keep saying the things, not just once or twice. There were also about three times as many students as I would have in an assessment but it was fun and I could really feel that everyone in the room wanted me to do well.
So I felt uplifted not just by the self being with the self but by my whole yoga community.
Fun times.
Time to pack and head on over.
