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Ooh, one of those practices this morning where you go to work afterwards and notice that you’re vibrating at super-speed. My gums and ankle bones were almost ringing with zingy-ness.

And the weird thing is that all I did was primary. I realized I was building a little superstition in my head about not being able to do good backbends unless I did part of second series. And for some reason, I am hypervigilant about superstitions. Always have to react against them. So I did primary, and then I had plenty of energy for lots of work in urdhva dhanurasana, dropbacks and assisted dropbacks.

And to my happy surprise, I find that strong attention to those backbends at the end of primary is enough to propel me into energetic zingy-ness. A very good thing to know.

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Coffee after practice with The Poetess. No more Tuesday and Thursday Mysore: the numbers weren’t high enough. Damn you, occasional Mysorians! “Attendance is mandatory!” I said, when she told me some of the reasons people weren’t participating.

The Poetess made a good go of it, though. She even started recruiting new Ashtangis. A coincident that most of them were men?

Honestly, I’m happy for some home practice time. I was religious about atendance because I wanted to contribute to the success of the community. But if it’s not to be (at least not right now), then that’s okay. The Poetess was philosophical.

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Tabby Cat said something really interesting recently. He was talking about the cultivation of tai chi energy. But I have been thinking about it in relation to my practice, and to pretty much everything: “You don’t get it by grabbing more stuff, adding more to yourself. You get it by shedding and subtracting.”

Think about it. The whole “next pose” phenomenon is about grabbing for more. How about subtracting the desire and the grasping and just practice? Funnily enough, that’s exactly what’ll get you to the next level for real.