I hope.
I should add “in whatever fashion possible” after practice, and by practice I mean Ashtanga of course, just the gimpy primary which is the only thing I’m capable of now, in my weak and amateur mode.
I have to admit that in some ways it’s kind of nice to be a beginner again.
I love being a beginner — it is a no-pressure situation and you can just love the aesthetics of the thing you’re learning, without all the drama of “being a master” (which is a bullshit concept, anyhow).
I was never really a master. I had the glaring flaws. But there were certain points when people had decided I was the “one to beat”, which sucked. I don’t have to worry about that now
There’s not even a cat around to watch the show.
Anyway, the initial goal was just to do one weekday morning in addition to weekends. It’s just that I’d wanted to do it already!
I was even thinking about artists and writers who get caught up in their own sense of mastery and then just turn out the same stuff over and over again.
Hope you get some heat and can practice. Though perhaps being thwarted will make your desire even stronger!
Ya I have that perverse instinct, witnessed more than once in the past. Do you remember how I was with the bone graft? I made a complete BFD about not stopping practice for an entire week, as had been initially suggested by the surgeon. I stopped for three days only, and then proceeded through the series in orderly fashion, from primary to advanced, once I started up again.
If the yoga police turned up at my door and commanded me to never consider advanced again I’d probably want to do it. If I could even do primary and second, LOL. Which I can’t.
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i think you’d have fun if you just paid $20 and dropped in at zoe’s once. even if just for primary, i think you’d enjoy the relaxing atmosphere
Did Christopher call you? LOL. Right now I’d be completely humiliated to have ANYone see my practice. It’s that bad. I also can’t imagine wanting to go to the UWS and pay $20 to limp through it. I was thinking the other day that it’s too bad Patti didn’t have anything going on. She’s right around the corner from me and it’d be chill. Not that I’d even do that right now…
Anyway I’m going to Bikram once a week and Dharma’s once a week. We’ll see what happens. My goal is to do primary 3/4x a week for a little bit. I hope it gets better / easier or I might get discouraged but that’s what I’m starting with.
I’m sure I could get guest passes to Pure West if I wanted. I can’t imagine doing that again though.
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hah! he didn’t call, but I’m glad to know he agrees! I think it would be good for you there now (I didn’t used to), since it’s so mellow. I know the uws is a huge pain for you, but it’s literally half a block from the 1,2,3 train, which makes it easier. why don’t you just come once and pay for a drop in?
i’m there really late mornings (after 10), but you’d see lots of friendly familiar faces there earlier.
There’s a few reasons. #1) I have a deep distrust in place regarding nearly all Ashtanga teachers. I guess I subscribe to the 3 strikes and you’re out rule. #2) even if I were arriving at work at 9:30, I’d need to leave before 6am to reliably get my practice done in time and #3) I’m not spending two hours in the heinous subways on a Sunday just to do primary.
I fucking HATE the subways with a passion, now that I’m relying only on the F out of the crippled 2nd Ave stop.
There’s a #4! I’ve got a membership at Crunch and two class cards going. And it seems I broke the backless, found in the lobby desk chair I’ve had for a decade or so last night. I was bouncing up & down in pure rage. I’m going to have to buy a chair…. I’d promised myself no more shopping for 2 weeks but a girl’s gotta have ONE chair to sit in front of her laptop. I’m typing way down low…
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I didn’t mean as a long term solution- just once or twice, until you get your ashtanga mojo back. I don’t really think anyone believed you were going to quit forever
How long could it possibly take you to do primary??? You can get there at 7:30 and leave by 9, which would get you to work in plenty of time to stop at Starbucks first.
Just saying…
Oh you have no idea. I can’t even jump back now, girlfriend. I am seriously crippled and it’s seemingly not getting any better. Tonight I used a block under each hand for every jump back. Not counting prelims it was 1 hour 40m, which is actually good time for me lately! Prelims take me about 5/10m. And I’d need time to take a shower!
I’m not sure of anything: whether or not I can even keep up a maybe 3, maybe 4x a week schedule; whether I can do primary without a salt bath first as it’s painful enough with one; whether I should at some point consider an MRI.
And considering how tonight felt, I’m not sure I should even try anything in the early morning more than half primary… I guess it’s touch and go! I try again next on Saturday morning to afternoon.
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Awww…don’t beat yourself up about only doing half primary, or not being able to do jumpbacks, if more than that doesn’t fit your body or your life (with adjusting to working full-time). Just do what you can, and focus on the fact that it makes you feel better.
I can’t do jumpbacks. And though I quit at navasana it’s taken me 3 years (3!) to get to the point where I can ALMOST do half lotus. I’m not ashamed!
And if you do go to Mysore somewhere, don’t worry about what other people are thinking if they see your practice, or whether they are judging you. Because if there watching and judging you, aren’t they not keeping their drishte where it belongs? And if they are gloating, or happy, because you don’t have that advanced practice any more, are they really someone whose opinion you should value anyhow?
I used to be the Queen of Jumpbacks. Seriously. Five navasana to handstand? No problem! It’s all different post injury.
I don’t think morning practice is going to happen again in the new, minimal heat regime either. Ditto for dropping in anywhere. It’s hard enough for me to get out of bed. The past 3 mornings I haven’t had coffee in the house so I don’t drag myself out until 7:45. So… I’m not so worried about being judged. It’s happened many times before. I remember when I was learning the 3rd series arm balances and I’d have the teacher assistant’s feet in my driste the whole time. Now she’s got her own program. I saw one Yelp review where she was described as “obnoxious” and I had to laugh.
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