Did it!

Yup, I paid up! Means I'm going to be at the workshop. After Monday morning's practice I gathered - it's just to do it! My shala is closed Thursday until Monday because of tomorrow's holiday, but Morning Star will teach mysore at Mercury's shala on Friday and at her own on Sunday. Since I practiced this morning (yay again!) it's possible to make this a four-day week, which I think is pretty good considering all things?

Today's practice was stiff as hell! But felt good all the same. Still being cautious and not doing all of my practice - I'll ad asanas back in one bit at the time. That sweet feeling afterwards is slowly developing :) I'll get there.

Tonight is Walpurgis Night. Don't think I'll see any fires though... I usually enjoy this evening of welcoming the spring, listening to the singing and watching the fire while the sun slowly sets. But tonight, instead I'm going to see my niece!

Good girl

Yay! Went to MORNING practice today and I'm feeling so good about myself! A bit tired, though, but GOOD nevertheless :)

Dilemma

I said it before, I've enrolled for a weekend workshop with Petri Räisänen. The workshop is in two weeks and I realized just today that I haven't payed for it yet. There is a waiting list and payment is to be made on Wednesday at the latest if one is to be certain to take part.

Now the thing is, I haven't had a consistent practice for almost two months (is it even more?) and at the moment I have a pretty bad shoulder and a bad foot. When I do get to practice I've been modifying a few poses due to that and generally I've been practicing cautiously, stopping either after standing poses or somewhere around janu sirsasana.

That said, I'm starting to think I might not do the workshop at this point? I can only take part two out of three days because I'm away at a conference the first day. That means it would cost me $135 for two mysore classes, which I think is rather a lot. For almost the same amount I could get a punch-ticket to practice ten times with Mercury which I know will definitely do my practice good!

Don't get me wrong, Petri is a fantastic teacher and I have been looking forward to this. But now it dawns on me, maybe I wont really benefit from his teaching at the state I'm in? It's not like I wont get more chances to practice with him, he comes here at least twice a year and he has retreats in both Sweden and Finland in the summer that I've been thinking of maybe going on.

Hm, maybe I've already made up my mind?

Crocus for Cranky

Saw these the other week and they made me think of Cranky. So here's to you :)


And this is how the trees look in my part of the world at the moment! It's wonderful to see everything starting over. To me this is the best time of year. I wish it'd never end! (ok, I know I would probably get tiered of it eventually... but one can always wish, right?)

Talk about the weather

So, I spent Sunday afternoon with The Ed. We went to an exhibition downtown and then just walked around, got ice-cream and sat by the water talking. We passed through Kungsträdgården (Kings Garden) and saw the magnificent Japanese cherry blossom that I always seem to miss every year. But now we caught them, right on time!

The week uptil now has been the most fabulous week this spring - if we're talking about the weather! The sun is shining in the perfectly coeline blue sky and temperature raising a little more every day. Alas, I've had a shitload to do at work (and I thought things were looking up...?), so I can't really say I've had the time to be outside to enjoy it. Although it does make me happy! Somehow, things are a tiny bit easier to bear when the sun shines :)

What can I say...?

...more then that my sister-in-law is a lousy photographer? Joke aside, I'm happy she had the presence to take this picture, blurry or not! It was a magic moment I tell ya' :)

12 PM WTF??!!!

Could someone PLEAZE explain to me the logic in 12 PM being NOON????? I'm fully aware that Americans use the weirdest measurements for almost everything: length, weight, cubic measure, temperature, you name it! (I've never been able to figure out how tall I am using foot/inch - very illogical!) But this? Since when does counting START with 12 and then proceed to 1??? I mean, the logic thing would be that 9, 10 and 11 AM is followed by 12 AM, but no! This is were the peculiar Americans decide that after 11 AM comes 12 PM which comes BEFORE 1 PM! This drives me crazy!

On another note, today has been a gorgeous day, sunny and almost warm (ok, not WARM, but at least not COLD! :) It feels like spring is finally for real, although snow in April and even beginning of May is quite possible...

Yesterday I went to evening practice with Humming Finn. He is such an excellent teacher! Because I haven't practiced since last week I took things very slow (have you heard this before? ;-). For some strange reason (too much for lunch?) I had great difficulty holding bandhas properly. Tried hard though, and focusing on breath. I didn't even have to tell Humming Finn to be gentle with me, he spotted my condition right away and gave me very good but gentle assists in prasarita padottanasana, UHP and janu sirsasana A. After that i stopped and did finishing. Finally, in padmasana, he sat behind me, putting his feet on my shoulder-blades and kind of massaging my shoulders and traps to relax and open chest. All of the time following my every breath. He is truly amazing :) I wish he'd be teaching more then one or two days a week... Oh well, I'm happy he DOES teach those days at my shala!

The state of things

These last couple of weeks haven't been a joy, I tell ya! Too much to do at work, a REALLY awkward situation has occurred in my workplace, involving and affecting everyone, a cold that has come and gone, and come again and my bad shoulder (that seemed to be getting better) has been bugging me again. And all of this, of course, affecting my practice. Funny how things happen... I was just about to 'gear up' after a loooong and painful winter and then everything just had to be put on hold. Though sad about it because I miss a consistent practice, I'm not really worried or upset about it. I know that as soon as I'm feeling better it's there waiting for me.

Anyway, today I was reminded about the workshop with Petri that I'm going to - and it's in FOUR WEEKS! The first thing that came to my mind was "arghh, I need to get in shape till then!" Huh, silly me! Why would I have to do that?! It's just practice and whatever "shape" I am in then is where I am then, don't sweat it! So, I'm really looking forward to the workshop! Petri is a lovely teacher and there is a marvelous ambiance in the room when he teaches :)

Oh, and Mind Bending posted the whole clip of when Eddie Izzard does the famous 'Death Star canteen'. I watched it this morning, in my office while drinking my coffee, and I laughed out laud, almost choking on my coffee! I've often wondered how he comes up with these situations. He must be insane...

Inspiration

Practice with Morning Star today was sweet! Due to VERY irregular, almost nonexistent, practice for more then two weeks I only focused on breath and bandha and tried not to pressure myself at all. Stayed for extra breaths in most asanas and only did up to janu sirsasana A. Got some really nice adjustments from Morning Star and she helped me find new ways to work with my bad left arm and shoulder. We did John Scotts preps for backbends that I did with Mercury a few weeks ago which was awesome! Who knows, even I might be able to do back-drops one day ;-) After practice we took a nice stroll and then caught a bus back to town. Oh, I just love spending time with her! She is such an inspiring and encouraging person.