Earlier Practice

Left work at around 4:30 PM yesterday, Tuesday, to meet B at the studio for a First Series practice. I have never had an early afternoon practice before. It’s usually either in the evenings after I leave work or in the mornings on the weekend. It felt strange, but really good. It was also nice to be done early and at home before 7 PM.

B was a bit weary of getting into Mari D, so I helped her with her balance a bit and she had no problem getting into it on both sides. I had to skip it, of course, due to my ongoing right knee problem. Oh well, C’est la vie; No sense fretting over it with so many other postures and transitions that I need to work on.
It’s a long list of asanas and entries/exits that I find waiting for me during each practice. And as Karen from DonutsZenMom said in one of her more recent entries: it is a lesson in anatomy. It is also a satisfying feeling to be able to come up with ways to work around injuries, seeing how far I can get into a posture before my knee pops.

I was happy to be able to pop up from Supta Konasana (Seated Balancing spread-legs, hands to big toes) again without bending my legs. This has been eluding me for a few weeks and I could not put my finger on the cause of it. I think I got into the bad habit of not spreading my legs wide enough on the way up.

Had to rush into closing after back bends since a class was about to start at 6:30. I barely had time to hold Sirsana (HeadStand) for a minute.
I’ll go back to my regular weekday practice time today and take J’s Vinyasa class, which is always challenging and fun. As an extra treat he might even be in the mood to include many of the First Series asanas. He was away last week at some retreat, so maybe he's got some new tips and techniques for us.