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Wednesday Mysore practice is always a favorite, because I telework on Wednesdays and can just forget about getting myself to the office at any particular time.

Practice was primary, then to supta vajrasana. I contemplated going on, but decided I’d put any extra energy into urdhva dhanurasana. Did 5 at a nice leisurely pace, making sure to push into my legs and up out of my shoulders. Need to test the Erich Schiffmann shoulder stretches! Are they loosening things up? Why yes, I think they are!

Quite honestly, I usually pay close attention to my practice up to UD, and then I pay attention to dropbacks, but UD often gets short shrift. I kind of do it and ignore it at the same time. Largely because it’s still tough for me. I mean, it’s gotten SO much deeper and SO much more comfortable, but it’s not a natural for me, and it’s not inherently amusing (like new poses or dropbacks), so I can overlook it.

Today, though, I did my usual five, paying close attention to how my psoas muscles felt, and how my shoulders felt, and how my traps felt. And then I did another, so I could check out all of those things again, and maybe see what it felt like to imagine the energy all pulling into the center of my body. That was fun. And then I did another, to see how THAT felt. And another. And another. Ten in all. Each one a few moments of listening and (as ES would say) “seeing how it feeeeeeels.”

It felt really good.

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For anyone following along here to find out more about shoulder stretching, check out the comments on the previous post. There’s a new shoulder stretch in town, and we call it the Spanish Inquisition.

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MM wanted to do dropovers after assisted dropbacks. Okay. Up and over. Fine. Up and oooooooooo…. Oops. My left foot came down off my mat and just slid. He was assisting, so I didn’t crater — in fact, I think it was all very graceful, if asymmetrical. I imagine it looked rather like a modern dance move. I wish I had a picture!