Sleep came really easily last night, though I did wake up three times feeling that I was late for the practice. This was at about 11.30, 2.30 & 3.30. Each of these wake-ups was followed by that lovely 'bed time' feeling so it was like getting three nights for the price of one i.e. not a problem!
Problems do exist though, and my main one was a judgmental error that i made yesterday when I went to a hospital to enquire about getting my ears syringed. They've been getting blocked intermittently and I thought this was an opportunity to get it resolved, as I have time on my hands now. Big mistake! I was marched right into a side room, and a doctor (at least I assume he was a doctor) poked around, very painfully, with a cotton bud. I could have done that myself, but I know it's a no-no and, heck, I do wish I had told him to stop! I went into that hospital with 90% good hearing, and I came out with about 30%. The main worry is that it didn't get better overnight and, right now, I'm living in a very quiet world, waiting for it to improve. On the plus side, I do not have any pain or even remote signs of infection. I hope it stays that way. I want the respiration and heat of the daily practice to clear it up, & quickly!
PRACTICE:
It is a long time since I did a led Primary class and Sharath does it in a way that not many can do, or do do!
Not a breath was missed and the 5 breath holds, when counted at a regular and slow pace, make you work hard in many of the postures. I guess when you do self practice, there's a tendency to breath slowly and restfully when in Downward Dog or a seated posture and, breath shorter faster breaths when working a hard pose (balancing or simply holding one of your personally challenging postures). Sharath counts as regular as clockward, which takes you to heaven at some points and almost to hell (if you think about it), in others. So, I tried not to think about it. The halfway hold for headstand (Sirsasana) defeated me. The space between 4 & 5 caused me to surrender today.
I also came away realising that I 'roll back' too often in the last third of the series. We were told "lay down", many times when 'old me' would normally roll back into, say, Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana). 'New me' has work to do on that one, so I'm going to focus on that for a while, and the bandha that's needed to get the lifts when you lay down first.
This was the first of 6 led Primary classes, and Sharath closed it by explaining the reason for all these talk-throughs, and to make the ground rules clear:
- Practitioners who are told to stop at any given point, must do so daily until they are moved forward again by him. Those that were stopped, sat quietly on their mats and then re-joined for back-bending at Urdhva Danurasana. It's a chance to address all of your weak points with the expanded energy budget that a shortened practice offers and, I think this is what will turn an 'okay' practice into one of those hypnotizing 'floaty' ones.
- The other thing I learned today was no bags or belongings are to remain in the Shala. I had to weave my way through about 30 Trikonana's into the changing area, as Sharath found the bag behind my mat (excusable, I hope, as it was my first ever practice there!).
- The last announcement was a reminder that Sunday is a moonday, and there is also no practice on Monday for a reason that I didn't catch (deaf as a post!).
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