donutszenmom.com

Boy, I sure could get used to this no working thing! Another late wake-up, another leisurely cup of coffee, another morning where I actually woke up before I started practicing

The Cop is off to the auto parts store. He was really jonesing for the auto parts store. He’s putting a lift on my Cherokee, and big tires, and he only found out, just as the holiday kicked in, that he needed different U bolts for the back axle. So he’s happily on his way to the parts store now, with visions of U bolts and new shocks dancing in his head.

I had another practice with the dog. Usually she sleeps in with The Cop in the morning, so I am not accustomed to her help. She likes to adjust me, but not my body so much as my attitude. When I am upside down, she thinks I need to be comforted, and so licks my face. It’s best not to ask her to stop, because she is a persistant teacher, and if I stop to try to move or correct her, she feels she has to start from scratch again with me. So I accept the face-licking adjustment, and then she can settle down and just watch.

I put my zabuton in a sunny spot next to my mat, right in front of the heater. She thought it was an excellent idea, and sat her butt on the zabuton and put her front feet on my mat. Not quite what I had in mind, but I didn’t want to go back to the face-licking portion of the practice, so we went on. I just had to be conscious of her feet as I jumped back.

I did a modified practice today: standing, then the second series poses to ustrasana, then a big urdhva dhanurasana festival. When I start feeling too much aversion to a pose, I like to wait for a day when I feel happy and then spend some time kind of playing with the pose. In hopes that my attitude will be adjusted. I did urdhva dhanurasanas with my forearms against the wall, and some over the kitchen stool, and some plain old normal ones. It may be that I tend to put my hands too close together. The big issue is that I can’t straighten my arms. Which is primarily about shoulder tightness. I think. So I did gomukhasana for a while, and then hung on the ropes. And then a few more udhva dhanurasanas. By this point, the dog, bored with my obsessions, had retired to the couch.

I had music, too. Coldplay. Best Ashtanga music ever.

I have nothing else I have to accomplish today.

Freedom!