donutszenmom.com

T12 pain sensation brought me to investigate chiropractors on the company health plan. I go to chiropractors every couple of years or so, when I need a few sessions to fix whatever I’ve done to myself.

Selected the chiro closest to the office and made an appointment for the next day. Last chiro I went to was not amused that I’d messed up my back by doing a little ricochet fall while rock climbing. Seemed to think I should bag the climbing and schedule twice-weekly chiro sessions to go on into perpetuity. How would it go with the new guy? I wondered.

Well, I guess I’m gonna call the new guy Disco Doc. Why? He’s a smooth-talking fellow who is straight out of one of the upscale martini bars here in Scottsdale. Lots of off-handed, clearly well-rehearsed one liners. Gold chain to indicate alpha status. (Though if you indicate alpha status, you are automatically disqualified. Seriously, that’s the rule. Make note.)

He seemed disconcerted by my explanation of the pain. (“It’s not too bad — I pretty much only feel it when I backbend or put my feet behind my head.”) Suggested humans aren’t meant to do such things. I find this a little distressing. Shouldn’t Disco Doc, of all people, have a deep and abiding respect for the strength and flexibility of the spinal column?

No matter. He cracked my back like a pro, and that’s really all I care about. The nightclub-quality patter can be overlooked. Unless I ever go into an appointment and find him wearing leather pants. If that happens, I’m outta there.

Anyhow, freshly cracked, I presented myself at the front desk to book my second session. “Oh, he won’t be here,” the receptionist said, sadly. “You’ll have to see the other doctor.”

Things are going my way.

***

Yup, so the T12 hurts, and the right piriformis. Primary on Friday wasn’t horribly painful, but I felt distracted by the sensations that just feel odd until I go deep enough to find the painful cream filling. And it was extremely hard to relax in supta kurmasana as Muscle Man pulled the knot of my legs tighter.

Next week is a full week of very early mornings at the office. A number of different conference calls and webconferences and presentations for different groups — all of which start anywhere from 7 to 8 AM. Plus, I have to factor in a half hour to prepare whatever technology we’re using to broadcast. So, yoga practice will be… um, different. As soon as I saw how my schedule was panning out, I told my boss I couldn’t possibly skip practice 5 days in a row. She was quite sympathetic. Suggested I practice at some point during the work day, seeing as I’ll be coming in so early.

I’ve scoured the schedules of some nearby studios and will do a combination of Anusara and Bikram classes next week. Ought to be good blog fodder, for one thing — will also give me a break from the, uh, repetitive stress of Ashtanga, brush me up on alignment (Anusara) and offer some heat therapy (Bikram).

When I first started considering my crim week, I felt like I was betraying my religion. Now I’m feeling pretty excited and amused by the whole idea.

***

Noodled around with handstands and the wall ropes as the puppy took his mid-morning nap this morning. Handstands are sucky since I haven’t been practicing them at all. This is sad, because nothing makes me happier than doing handstands for my own amusement. I really don’t think of them as yoga; much like headstands, they are just things I liked to do even before I ever took a yoga class.

And wall rope hijinks are great fun. Even though I do always wonder about how well the attachments are holding up.

[wpvideo 0O3QXbse]

***

May take the puppy over to visit my parents today. They live about 40 minutes away. How much of one of the seats in The Cop’s truck will Tyler be able to eat in 40 minutes, I wonder?

People ask me if American bulldogs bark. Not so much apparently. What they do, though, is moan. This video is a pretty mellow example. He can go on chewing and moaning for minutes on end, getting louder and louder. It’s hilarious. One day, I think I’ll lie under my desk at work with a chew toy and make existential moans like an American bulldog.

Feast your ears.

[wpvideo 1fKInfEX]