tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53099532012-02-13T23:32:21.388-08:00days in my livesa practice journal by okrgr, a middle aged hacker trying to absorb the many lessons of ashtanga yogaokrgrnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1871100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-55949593662053075182009-10-27T19:34:00.000-07:002009-10-27T19:35:19.083-07:00ASHTANGA PRANAYAMAI. TERMINOLOGYANTARA KUMBHAKA Suspension of breath after full inhalationBAHYA KUMBHAKA Suspension of breath after full exhalationBANDHA Bondage or fetterBHASTRIKA BellowsBEDHANA Bhid = to pierce, break throughCHANDRAokrgrnoreply@blogger.com119tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-75797215009115245492008-03-13T13:11:00.000-07:002008-03-14T07:49:24.285-07:00It took ten tries to land Bakasana B today. Both Julie and Tiffany were there, the two people with whom i made deals with to pay them a dollar for each failed attempt i make. cha ching. So much for the value of the threat of aversive consequences. The Mysore fund and the Seattle fund are rapidly swelling. I landed it pretty well just a couple of days ago too, only took two tries.Today was my okrgrnoreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-41311167578260041492008-03-03T12:08:00.000-08:002008-03-03T15:43:03.553-08:00Arrggh!!, Not more photos!!!I don't intend to do this 'photos of me and family' often. I promise. I'm just sitting here at work with an under-filled schedule, a lot of free time, a disc with scanned in photos on it and a congenital inability to be idle. These are some of the earliest known images of Okrgr. If they are embarrassing, well not embarassing but just look kind of dorky, it's just okrgrnoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-52976568049947025492008-03-03T11:18:00.000-08:002008-03-03T15:22:31.917-08:00Old and TiredI dumped on my son yesterday. There are occasions where I am able to step back, weigh out consequences and decide to let small things that bug me drop. Such situations are too few unfortunately. Yesterday i just didn't have the resources left to do it. My wife, our household financial overseer, had told me we were too close to the red line. We had a bunch of upcoming expenses: okrgrnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-48710024641346066632008-03-01T23:52:00.001-08:002008-03-01T23:58:13.244-08:00Slide Show TimeZoe, now age 11Jake, now age 13Emma, now age 14okrgrnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-64576818786665737612008-02-29T22:27:00.000-08:002008-03-01T11:59:33.470-08:00Coming Out, Everybody's Doing It NowOur old multi-function printer had gradually become enfeebled, losing each of its functions one by one. The last one, printing, finally went by the wayside last week, so I had to go out and find a new one. Having canvased every single variation of consumer electronics stores in our area, I finally managed to make a decision and today plunked down a hundred okrgrnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-5815742023260596442008-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:002008-02-24T18:43:40.225-08:00Pox of the Out-of-TownersIt's been raining in San Diego ever since all those visitors trundled off. They seem to have blessed us with their normal winter weather, just like a visiting pet leaves your home infested with its fleas and vermin. I never even saw some of them and i still get to slosh my way to my car each morning. Not sure who is to blame. Doubt it was Eor, since if it was from him, itokrgrnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-58740561559421015552008-02-17T15:55:00.000-08:002008-02-17T16:41:11.320-08:00Empty NestThe last of the visiting bloggers leaves in a couple of hours. Eor came mid-week last week, but was only here long enough for some bending and brunching, then had to go back to the City. JLafitte headed up north on Friday for another week of west coast action with the LA crowd. I think he'll be going to classes with OvO. The ashtanginis, Anna and Linda, left yesterday evening, okrgrnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-55887250039110802422008-02-15T14:15:00.000-08:002008-02-15T15:22:47.720-08:00Carl, Don't Trust Me Ever AgainI'm a bad man. I had promised Carl that I would come pick him up at his hotel and bring him to the pranayama class. The class starts a little after 6 AM and he would have otherwise had to walk about a mile uphill at 5:15 to make it there. I hopped out of bed in plenty of time, but I guess I got into daydream-land while in the shower, envisioning the great okrgrnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-16059525491865464692008-02-14T15:16:00.000-08:002008-02-15T14:13:45.402-08:00Bloggerpalooza Went BloggerkaplewieBloggerpalooza (sound of air rushing out of a balloon). The idea was to have as many ashtanga bloggers as possible meet up out here in San Diego. We had all kinds of acting up planned: video pose offs, tequila tastings, a party or two, sleep overs. it was gonna be fun. It started when I harangued Boodiba into coming out here for a relatively cut rate okrgrnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-47184579040025497322007-10-23T09:15:00.000-07:002007-10-23T12:55:46.851-07:00Lottery of LifeSo far, we still have a roof. Today will be the crux though.It was a little hectic yesterday, in part because, as is usual in these kinds of things, it was hard to know what was really happening. While the authorities do seem vastly better organized with this fire than they were during the huge fire four years ago, in these kinds of fires, things change so quickly that even with okrgrnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-38535289266185602252007-10-22T08:20:00.000-07:002007-10-22T08:21:13.031-07:00ARMAGEDDON, part deuxokrgrnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-28812342645446637722007-08-27T14:14:00.000-07:002007-08-27T14:38:29.865-07:00Kubler-Ross AshtangaPreviously, i have been in denial. yesterday, i went thru anger. today, i was initially thinking, "there's not much i can do, so the hell with it. can't stress on that crap". i figured i'd moved right on to acceptance. i didn't even do any research during class. just did the poses. problem was, i kept thinking about what i wrote yesterday, the issues, etc. and i kept okrgrnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-62219182653050655392007-08-26T15:10:00.000-07:002007-08-26T17:52:58.131-07:00What's It All About, Alfie?Anybody here not know why we do ashtanga? To get the next pose. Right? Anybody disagree? Raise your mouse. You lie. We may wish it were for all that other stuff, but in the nitty-gritty real world we all sweat in, it's about quantitative evaluation. You do better, you get more poses. You don't get poses, you're not good enough to get them. The simplicity is attractive. okrgrnoreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-11880166882999719122007-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:002007-08-25T17:56:03.479-07:00Pies to Die ForI'm going to take a cue from my e-friend lax and let people come here to get these recipes. these are recipes for a couple of ice box pies that are perfect for summer evening backyard barbeques and what not. both require very little in the way of ingredients or skill. just a bit of work for the chocolate one to get everything blended and smoothFrench Silk Piei opted to use the okrgrnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-49732831591595944102007-07-19T04:06:00.000-07:002007-07-19T07:06:54.793-07:00Magical LightI had one of those wonderful post practice euphorias yesterday. It had rained all day but was just clearing as i drove home. it was about 7 to 7:30 pm and the clearing was to the west. this allowed the sun to come in at a really low angle, lighting everything up under the still dark clouds. there's something special about that particular kind of light. I remember it very well okrgrnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-53162846216420181542007-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:002007-07-18T10:46:11.817-07:00A Crime Against HumanityHad to go to a laundromat to wash some of the lacrosse boy's stuff while we're on this road trip going from one lax camp to another. Talk about going down into the rabbit hole, $4.50 for one load of wash? GTFOOH!! Is this a widespread thing? i mean, you can buy a whole washing machine for about $600. Granted, the place did have free Wi-Fi (Wash-n-Wi-Fi), but i shudderokrgrnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-86944896490666582102007-07-05T19:45:00.000-07:002007-07-05T21:07:08.867-07:00Rishis and GodsWe had a killer class today in Improv. Before class starts, there's often a collection of people zipping thru a variety of personal warm ups and stretches. This morning, no one was moving really. We were all just sitting there, sluggish and stuporous. Tim asked, "Should we do a Yin yoga class then? Lying around, doing very little?" A couple of people asked for a gentle class. okrgrnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-86642444799401845962007-06-22T12:56:00.000-07:002007-06-22T17:30:26.797-07:00Sisterhood of the Traveling ButtflossWell, that was awkward. If you read other ashtangi blogs, and if you read this one, then you almost certainly do, there's a thread going on in a couple of them about giving each other underwear. Like most internet threads, it's hard to explain in a rational way how that train of thought got a life of its own, but needless to say, it did. A couple of them even okrgrnoreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-78065326443719393252007-06-09T04:56:00.000-07:002007-06-09T04:59:10.324-07:00TTFNOff to Maryland for a week. Lacrosse camp, then a tourney.okrgrnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-64704983628444867062007-05-31T09:15:00.000-07:002007-05-31T17:47:24.912-07:00Blood on the MatAt practice, my teacher will watch me sometimes struggle over and over with something I'm not getting, getting more and more aggravated, swearing sotto voce, eventually wearing myself out. Then he'll wander over and remind me that to achieve a state of yoga, one needs to act or perform with a state of dispassion, with non-attachment. Yesterday, I was doing my umpteenth try at okrgrnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-81096687406051598972007-05-28T12:49:00.000-07:002007-05-28T14:39:37.813-07:00Today, I got almost as far on my own (after research) as Iyengar in the bottom left picture. Then, with assistance, I got as far as the bottom right pic. I knew going into the back bending part of second that I was going to be able to get to the heels. The feel was there. Everything prior to that had been going about as good as I can do it. I was real close in Samakonasana. Never been that close.okrgrnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-89394959896367366172007-05-27T18:47:00.000-07:002007-05-27T22:00:22.181-07:00I went to the Sunday morning led second series today. It wasn't the comfort fest that last week's led first series was. Tim started off by asking if anyone knew what significance today had in Christian religions. Not one person had a clue. Buncha heathens all of us. He informed us that today was the Feast of the Pentecost. When we all nodded like unknowing fools, he went on. It's the fiftieth dayokrgrnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-72902881974996658802007-05-25T18:38:00.000-07:002007-05-27T20:39:56.517-07:00When Enough Just Isn't EnoughAt various times, I do these extras. I doubt I ever do them all. When I'm only doing first or only doing second, I tend to do most of the ones that go with each series. Lately, if I'm doing both first and second, I do less. I don't have enough energy to do most of them. Some of these poses I don't really DO, I just attempt to do. Many of the names are sanskrit okrgrnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-41089183013715413172007-05-25T13:49:00.000-07:002007-05-25T14:44:38.493-07:00The Who am I Meme1. I grew up in Oklahoma, but I've never worn a pair of cowboy boots or owned a cowboy hat, I hate country music and have ridden a horse maybe four times in my life.2. I can do a caesarean section in less time than some people need to do a circumcision.3. I've taken off in a lot more airplanes than I've landed in.4. I'm a convict.5. I've only had white cars. Ever.6. I haveokrgrnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-32684230255514250302007-05-23T09:26:00.000-07:002007-05-23T10:47:06.235-07:00have to give this embedding thing a try. here's a video i hadn't seen yet. it has one of tim's first yoga teachers, gary lapodota. they're doing the knee poppers from fourth series and raja kapotasana. if anyone can make out what guruji says after he tries to cram tim into raja kapotasana, post it in the comments. my audio is pretty suckyokrgrnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-90014018219366543162007-05-21T12:55:00.000-07:002007-05-21T13:25:23.376-07:00The Cure for What Ails YouLed first series. Who knew? No research. No added-on 'fun' poses. Just the basics. It worked for me anyway. Had a really good class Sunday morning. It all felt quite do-able. Granted, I got there an hour early. I got off of work at 8:00 and class wasn't until 10:00. The kids were fine at home. So, I went to the studio early. I watched the folks in the second okrgrnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-29994065023047569912007-05-18T10:29:00.000-07:002007-05-18T10:32:50.834-07:00What Is the PointToday was so bad, if I wasn' there, I woulda left.okrgrnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-43097594180600205702007-05-15T15:47:00.000-07:002007-05-15T17:29:38.780-07:00UntitledNo practice today. I did go yesterday. That made it six in a row. Just like the big kids do every week. I opted to just do first series. Mostly, I was being lazy. I could have gone on to do second. I finished first series and still had about 50 minutes to go. I had worked the night before though and just didn't feel like doing everything. I decided to use the remaining time and energy to okrgrnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-9119238093127366112007-05-13T19:15:00.000-07:002007-05-13T21:45:32.055-07:00Start Making SenseIf anybody 'gets' this yoga stuff, clue me in. My best 2nd series practice this week was the one I did on Wednesday. Prior to that try, I hadn't done second in months. I had really only been doing all of first for maybe three weeks. I did a combined practice that day, so I was relatively low on gas going into the second series poses. And yet, I did great, for me. I did fine in okrgrnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-87599725662627150372007-05-12T20:25:00.000-07:002007-05-12T22:00:08.184-07:00Shot My WadHave to write something. Too much yoga to not say anything. Four days now. Mysore the last three and the Saturday morning Improv this morning. Tomorrow, my first go at full second since maybe last summer. I don't remember when I last tried it. I might even have a chance to practice Monday morning. As Tim said to me when I left class Wednesday, it seems like I'm moving out of a long okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-44378189454007162662007-05-09T20:32:00.000-07:002007-05-09T21:28:45.609-07:00Born AgainShould have paid the monthly fee this month. Made another practice today and I should get to go tomorrow as well. I had clinic scheduled for this morning. A few months ago, I told my schedulers that for any day that I'm scheduled to be in clinic for the morning, to start me at 10:00 instead of the normal 9:00 start. I have to work thru lunch to make up for that extra hour but it's worthokrgrnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-40104316129619239492007-05-06T17:35:00.000-07:002007-05-06T18:34:42.954-07:00SLLOOOOOOOWWWIf there really is such a thing as too slow of a day at work, and I don't believe such a thing exists, then this would be it. My production for the entire day consists of doing two circumcisions. That's it. Nothing on L&D. There's only been three patients who have even come in all day, all easily handled by the mid wife and the resident on call. I'm getting paid to sit here and okrgrnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-84905856713641313532007-05-06T15:28:00.000-07:002007-05-06T17:17:30.829-07:00Damnation and RuinJake's team lost. These guys haven't lost a game to anyone in two years. The normal coach didn't even make it to the game. Must have been busy. One of the high schools kids who helps as the assistant ended up doing the coaching. He played everyone pretty equally, which means he didn't play them to win. On the bright side, it's one less thing for Kiran to have to lug him tookrgrnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-7480969543761544942007-05-06T14:00:00.000-07:002007-05-06T16:00:50.988-07:00Do OverSecond attempt at this. First time out, I was rolling out a bunch of thick paragraphs whining about weighing too much, not being interesting enough, blah, blah blah. I quit before I even finished it. I had no interest in it even as I was writing it. Self-flagellation is the most boring form of expression there is. I did get to practice eventually this week, i made it to a couple of improvokrgrnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-66965065180001504672007-05-01T22:31:00.000-07:002007-05-01T22:48:16.391-07:00Bad Man!! but, while you're up, will you get me a slice?I think I've got this losing weight thing pretty much down. Today after class, I had a late breakfast with my son, ingesting a waffle with butter and maple syrup and one and a half side orders of bacon. and a glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.This afternoon, while everyone else was out doing errands, I ate a third of the fresh okrgrnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-47685665849759258112007-05-01T12:43:00.000-07:002007-05-01T13:54:40.203-07:00Swing...., and a MissI knew that, after bragging about how consistently I have been practicing for the previous two weeks, I was due for a correction. Every possible opportunity has been pulled out from under me lately. The schedule change for the OR wiped out Friday morning. Had to miss Friday evening class for kid issues. Same for Sunday morning and afternoon classes. But, today was a lock. okrgrnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-78577113068758509122007-04-27T22:08:00.000-07:002007-04-28T11:16:24.111-07:00EnnuiPractice didn't work out this evening either. Next time.okrgrnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-19399772377288515202007-04-27T10:40:00.000-07:002007-04-27T11:20:55.848-07:00So That's What Those Muscles DoWell, I'm sore and stiff in most of my upper body. especially my neck. I guess not doing any of those harder poses for such a long time has led to atrophy. I don't remember neck stiffness before. It's along the sides and back, most noticeable as i lift my head to look up. Every action involving the upper body is now a conscious one. Awareness has been achieved. I okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-31729825212478249582007-04-26T19:57:00.000-07:002007-04-26T21:35:10.717-07:00Humble PieBad week for yoga. Work wasn't going along for the ride. It was looking like this morning's Improv class was going to be my only chance all week. I've been feeling okay about my first series stuff but Improv can end up being anything and everything. I didn't really have many options though, so I showed up early and loosened up for half an hour. Sure enough, somebody just had to ask for okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-26784373693487045222007-04-23T18:56:00.000-07:002007-04-23T20:31:25.394-07:00Best Laid PlansWell, I meant to get to bed by ten last night, but i got to futzing around with the last entry and didn't hit the pillow until after eleven. So, of course, I had to get up early to assist on a section. It was only 2:00, but the other call doc who would normally have assisted was tied up doing another case in the main OR. I tried to get back for a little rescue nap, but they got me okrgrnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-30401001823765484652007-04-22T20:55:00.000-07:002007-04-22T22:40:37.702-07:00TESTING, TESTING....Uggh. I'm not good at this "code" stuff. Blogger code. Html code. They all suck. For some reason, my comments and my archives disappeared from my blog. I wasted the requisite amount of time looking thru Blogger's "help" section. It was loaded with reports from others having similar blog symptoms. Unfortunately, nothing that i could find helped me figure out what had happened.okrgrnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1176517286787704582007-04-13T16:58:00.000-07:002007-04-22T20:22:36.375-07:00End of the TripI couldn't live here in New York. It's too easy to eat. And I don't even mean all the restaraunts. We've only been in one real restraunt so far, a Mexican place over in the West Village or some such neighborhood. Man, that was really good food. After reading the menu, I told our host that I hated places like that because I wanted to try almost everything I saw on the menu. okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1176317828007406852007-04-11T09:26:00.000-07:002007-04-11T12:10:00.193-07:00NYCWell, We're in New York. We had a fairly uneventful flight. The airlines are quickly changing how they "manage" their customers. Once upon a time, they gave you full-on hot meals. They usually sucked but they were free and therefore were desirable. After a wave of corporate efficiency nazis being hired to run companies, the airlines cut costs by eliminating the hot meals and instead okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1175830880166430352007-04-05T20:37:00.000-07:002007-04-05T22:27:37.633-07:00I got in one more practice before we head east this weekend. I doubt I'll get done with work in time to go an evening class tomorrow. I'm in the OR but I'm assisting others in their cases. That always tends to take a bit longer. I'll have to be done pretty early to get up north in time for a 5:30 class. With Friday afternoon pre-spring break traffic to deal with, if I'm not out the door by 4:30, okrgrnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1175486901399059352007-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:002007-04-01T21:08:21.413-07:00I picked up an extra call tonight at the last minute, so I'm back at my desk, trolling about, trying to keep my mind occupied. God forbid it should be allowed to go still. God forbid I should use the time to go practice while it's still relatively slow.At one of my practices this week, a guy who I thought I recognized but if so it was from a long time ago, began setting up his mat. He went up to okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1175374587489277862007-03-31T12:35:00.000-07:002007-04-14T04:50:29.413-07:00Slip Slidin' AwayTime/Life is just doing that. I was inspired today to write a new post (translation: slow day at work). It's been only fourteen months since my last entry. Sounds like going to confession. I am at work and this may be disjointed as I will be getting called away from my desk frequently (pager goes off). Trying to blog has always been one of the worst jinxes with respect to an easyokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1139186748302887812006-02-05T16:41:00.000-08:002006-02-05T16:48:23.503-08:00Everybody's away this weekend, except me. I got tired of getting my butt kicked playing internet poker so I figured it was a good time for a blog entry. It was that or watch the "Super" Bowl. Even if I cared about the game, I would have had to figure out what was messed up with the TV to be able to watch, so screw that. This is the lesser evil. Blogging, it's a semi-annual kinda thing. Something okrgrnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1120366679811542342005-07-02T20:25:00.000-07:002005-07-02T23:33:09.260-07:00We've wrapped up our two week long Ashtanga workshop. Now I have to leave behind practicing everyday and return to my more usual approach of practicing as and when I can. I didn't set any new milestones in any tough poses in this two week stretch. I almost landed Karandavasana a couple of times but each time one leg would slip off of an arm at the last second. At least I had progressed to a pointokrgrnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1119373469740913872005-06-21T10:00:00.000-07:002005-06-21T10:04:29.746-07:00The annual Ashtanga Intensive, nee "Teacher Training" has begun. Each year around this time, we're joined in our daily classes by roughly 40-45 workshop students taking a two week workshop with Tim. This year I joined them in the workshop. I've been to the one week course he gives along the same lines in Tulum. We've actually made it a kind of annual winter vacation getaway, having gone threeokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1118185658648873082005-06-07T14:50:00.000-07:002005-06-07T16:14:21.936-07:00I'm in the midst of that week of early and long days at work. I've gone to the early class at the nearby "other" Ashtanga studio most of the days that I could. Today I had an interesting and somewhat entertaining practice there. The last couple of times I went there, I got there right at 6:00 and the teacher was already there. I showed up at a quarter till today in hopes that he would be there sookrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1117780282998844352005-06-02T20:44:00.000-07:002005-06-03T10:53:54.983-07:00Yesterday we practiced at our new temporary space for the first time. This place is a major upgrade from what we've had before. Tim's old place was....., old. The walls leaked whenever it rained and the place would smell of mold when it was wet. The only bathroom was marginal. The walls in the practice room had been broken by falling yogis and then repaired so many times they were little more okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1117604786074779902005-05-31T19:23:00.000-07:002005-05-31T23:08:25.033-07:00I promise. This posting won't be as long as the last one. I can't believe it went on that long. Even I started dozing off as I tried to read through it.So, where to start this time? I guess I can start by adding a clarification to Julie's feedback to my last posting. Despite observances to the contrary, I never fell out of handstand. I fell on my back trying to get back up into handstand from okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1117387079491944402005-05-29T10:07:00.000-07:002005-05-29T10:51:43.423-07:00This particular posting has been something of a saga in trying to actually get it published on the blog. I originally wrote it while on call on Friday. I lost the original when I tried to publish it. As soon as I hit the "publish" button, I got one of those messages saying the web page had expired or something to that effect. All that work gone. I eventually re-wrote it, but rather than risk okrgrnoreply@blogger.com91tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1116564420461275702005-05-19T20:27:00.000-07:002005-05-19T21:53:19.253-07:00Thursday is the day for Improv class. I usually don't get to go to it because work gets in the way. Today was a clinic day in which the first two appointments hadn't been booked as of couple of days ago, so I changed that time to time off and came to class today. Tim apparently has a head cold. After pranayama, he made a comment how hard it had been to do today with all of the congestion, runny okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1116309786083168002005-05-16T20:53:00.000-07:002005-05-16T23:03:06.123-07:00I'm trying to decide if I should call in sick tomorrow. I have a pimple in my eyelid, aka a stye. It doesn't bug me at all but people have been looking at me like I have leprosy. It's kind of funny to see their reaction to this apparently revolting looking little pimple. I can see them looking at it, rather than me. There's an initial pulling back on their part, accompanied by a suppressed look okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1116034266167246612005-05-13T17:55:00.000-07:002005-05-13T22:16:26.826-07:00Well, I decided to go to Tim's studio for class today instead of the other guy's place. I supposedly wasn't needed in the OR until 9:30 so if I started at 7:00 at Tim's, I could get in a full practice. Probably. I started bending as soon as they said "Tat sat" in the pranayama class that finishes right before mysore class starts. I hadn't really decided on whether to do first series or second butokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1115959412784845672005-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:002005-05-12T21:58:47.613-07:00This week has great potential. I was able to do my second series stuff as a self-practice in the studio on Monday. Tuesday evening, I did the led first series class after getting out of work with just barely enough time to spare. Nothing yesterday, but today I was able to go to Tim's morning Improv class before going to work. I can't remember the last time I made it to one of his Improv classes, okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1115697186029179912005-05-09T18:10:00.000-07:002005-05-09T20:53:06.100-07:00A month or so ago, my teacher told me that I should get an ashtanga reaffirmation going. After hitting a peak in November, my practice dropped off considerably in the following months. A variety of factors led to the decay. My wife was going thru treatment for breast cancer, a series of surgeries, then a couple of months of dealing with chemotherapy. I still practiced in that time but it seems okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1099110079353632522004-10-29T19:41:00.000-07:002004-10-29T21:51:31.253-07:00I feel like I did last year when I stopped posting for few months--very uncreative. I don't want to post just to post. I want what I put down to be at least semi-interesting. But, I don't seem to be getting interesting ideas. I was talking to the wife of my teacher once. She mentioned that when he was in Mysore early on in his 'career', he started a diary or journal. He kept at it for a while butokrgrnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1098425784553085492004-10-21T20:16:00.000-07:002004-10-21T23:16:24.553-07:00Wow, it's been almost two weeks since I posted last. That flew by quickly. I had a bad week after that last post. Pissed off my wife, hurt my back when I practiced on a moon day, got out of work late and missed part of one of my few classes, locked my all of our car keys in my car, just a bad week all around. But, if you don't have a bad week every now and then, it's difficult to fully okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1097616938235005092004-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:002004-10-13T10:05:57.096-07:00I know what I'm going to do for Halloween this year. I'm going to go as a drop back. Today I was next to another guy and we were both attempting to do drop backs. After watching us for a bit, Tim walked up and said, "Boy, you're a couple of scary looking guys." That's me baby, horror incarnate. But, I did them. All three of them. I was setting up my mat at the start of class when the person who okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1097534868378242742004-10-11T13:40:00.000-07:002004-10-12T06:02:57.843-07:00Yesterday, I got to do the led Second series class. I've managed to get to the point where I get tired but not exhausted in doing that class. I think I actually get more fatigued doing Tim's led First series class on Sundays than from doing the led Second series class. Hard to pin down why that is so. I can remember going to some of those Intro to Second series classes on Friday nights a while okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1097128429942697342004-10-06T20:19:00.000-07:002004-10-07T12:28:45.220-07:00This has been a pretty good week for getting to practices, better than most. The only day that I haven't been able to practice so far was yesterday. I had hoped to get to the evening class yesterday but didn't finish in the OR until after 8PM, so it became a rest day.
Sunday's first series class was a fun one. I got to meet some folks who participate on the EZBoard ashtanga site who were in townokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1096778391137079922004-10-02T18:53:00.000-07:002004-10-02T22:24:45.333-07:00Not a whole lot of yoga action to recount this week. I had that prep class on Monday and then I jiggered my schedule a bit to make it to a Mysore class on Wednesday. I also made it to most of one of the evening classes, which was an improv type class, but that's been it. While it might seem providential to have a week with minimal practice when I'm nursing a sore spot, my back actually feels bestokrgrnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1096342798987510332004-09-27T18:42:00.000-07:002004-09-27T22:00:55.530-07:00A new day, a new pain. Such is the life of a graying ashtangi. The mid line sacral soreness of the last week or so has resolved completely, for now (last phrase thrown in to appease the gods). In my last two classes, I have been able to back bend with relative impunity, with nary a twinge of discomfort. However, (such an ugly foreboding word is however) I now have a brand spanking new ouchie to okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1096170626935174182004-09-25T18:20:00.000-07:002004-09-27T21:46:17.436-07:00Ahhh. The unadulterated pleasure of being able to do an up dog or a backbend and not have to go into it cringing out of fear that it's going to be too sore. The back is returning to a more normal state. Some practices have been near normal, others let me know that something did happen there and that I better be aware. I gotten back to a full range of motion in just about all of my backbending okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1095914529100875662004-09-22T19:41:00.000-07:002004-09-25T18:20:38.763-07:00After tweaking my back last week, I was starting to wonder if I wasn't beginning to see the effects of having had too many birthdays. I didn't practice the next two days after my mysore class last Wednesday. I went to the Saturday Improv class not really knowing how it was going to go. I was still feeling the discomfort at other times, like when rolling over in bed at night or when tossing the okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1095281776323056652004-09-15T13:49:00.000-07:002004-09-17T15:29:40.966-07:00Despite doing no yoga yesterday, my low back discomfort hadn't gotten better enough. I was still pretty tight today. It wasn't as tight as the day I first noticed it but more bothersome than I hoped it would be. I hurried through a couple of things because I know I looked so bad in them, I didn't want anybody seeing me do them and think that that's how I actually did the poses. I had to work at okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1095130332790803222004-09-13T19:30:00.000-07:002004-09-15T14:27:56.870-07:00I'll probably only have time for a short note today. What's that? Thank god you say? I'm at work and may have to stop at any time to do stuff. I was in the OR this morning and afternoon. I finished just before four o'clock. I am on call tonight so I decided to try and get in some stretching or maybe even an abbreviated practice before I had to go on call. When I can get to the studio early enoughokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1095024212767993052004-09-12T13:19:00.001-07:002004-09-12T16:59:29.386-07:00The second series class today was a little disappointing. Somewhere along the line, I lost some motivation. I didn't want to push the edge in some of the poses as much as I might usually. This was most noticeable near the end in the closing sequence. After doing Pascimottanasana, we lay back into a pose called Tadaka Mudra prior to doing shoulder stand. The pose looks like a good place to take a okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1094967587994951112004-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:002004-09-11T22:53:38.710-07:00I should have posted more this week. I had lots of practices to generate blog fodder. I had thought I was going to be able to practice last Friday night but had forgotten I was actually on call that night. I went to LA the next day to watch my son at a soccer tournament. On the way back home later that day, I stopped off at one of the LA area McYoga yoga studios for an evening class. I didn't getokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1094162838454909782004-09-02T11:47:00.000-07:002004-09-02T15:07:18.453-07:00My second attempt at posting today. I had almost a whole entry done earlier but had to go see a patient before finishing. When I came back, the machine was frozen and I had to reboot. A significant blow to my motivation but I'm gonna try again.
After several weeks of mostly doing improv classes or mysore classes in which I just did my second series poses, with only the occasional first series okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1093848116800922262004-08-29T20:20:00.000-07:002004-08-29T23:41:56.800-07:00Another slow day at work (so far), so an opportunity to recount the week presents itself. I have been spending some time recently going through the ashtangi.net site put together by Julie/Suburbfreak. The site is aggregator of ashtanga blogs. Plenty of people discussing aspects of their lives and practices. Interesting to see how each person approaches it. Kudos to Julie and all who have helped okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1093234612036507812004-08-22T18:58:00.000-07:002004-08-22T21:21:49.596-07:00I was talking with a guy after practice today while we waited for the bathroom line to move along. He's from out of town but I had recognized him from a previous visit to our studio. As we chatted, he asked me, "Aren't you that guy with that blog thing?" I thought to myself, "That's the second time in my life somebody's ever asked me that." When I nodded yes, he then asked, "Whatever happened okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1092177952606446272004-08-10T15:45:00.000-07:002004-08-14T22:13:02.893-07:00Hola. I'm away at one of those yoga retreats we go to a couple of times a year. Other than going to soccer tournaments for the kids, our free time these days is pretty much centered around yoga related activities. Kind of a monochromatic existence I guess, but we have a good time. This particular retreat is put on by my teacher, Tim Miller. It's spread over two weeks. They do the first series in okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1090117676723789912004-07-17T15:38:00.000-07:002004-07-17T19:44:54.896-07:00Hey. Back again. Here every month, just like clockwork. There just hasn't been much to say. It's been a very slow month. I've only been able to practice a couple of times a week, sometimes less. As for Mysore classes, I think I was able to get to one of them in the entire month. This week, I was able to go to Mysore Thursday and Friday but my teacher was out of town for a much deservedokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1087792866519159032004-06-20T20:18:00.000-07:002004-06-20T22:02:25.256-07:00I've hit another lull. I just haven't felt that I had much to say lately. Not feeling especially creative. But, some new happenings provide reason to emerge from the fog. The annual teacher training that our teacher holds each summer is at hand, providing at least forty new people to practice amongst. We also had an innovative improv class yesterday that I enjoyed. And, for some reason, my okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1084676115927229802004-05-15T18:53:00.000-07:002004-05-16T16:40:02.400-07:00Too bad my teacher has been out of town. This has turned out to be week fairly full of practices. After doubling up on Wednesday, I did manage to get out of bed Thursday morning and into the 7:00 Improv class. I also made it out of work early enough on Friday afternoon to make it to the 5:30 Intro to Second Series class. I had to leave that class as everybody else was going into Savasana. I okrgrnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1084427283793327922004-05-12T21:34:00.000-07:002004-05-13T18:57:05.040-07:00Well, I did one of my classic Homer Simpson moves this past Sunday, Mother's Day. Way back a ways, I picked up a call for Sunday evening. The call that was available was a 24 hour shift but I opted to only pick up the second half of it. It was Mother's Day after all. Plus, then I could go to whichever of the two Sunday morning classes I wanted too. Sounds intelligent so far. So when my okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1084055690185082442004-05-08T15:34:00.000-07:002004-05-13T19:20:59.043-07:00Things have cooled back down here, in temperature and in opportunities to practice. Gone are the days of four and five yoga classes a week. I've settled back into the norm of two or three chances a week. I did get in three practices this week. It could have been better. I had hoped to get done in the OR yesterday in time to make it to the evening Intro to Second Series class. We didn't okrgrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1083652863312236272004-05-03T23:41:00.000-07:002004-05-04T00:11:05.343-07:00It was hot today. India hot. I drove home from work at about 10:45 in the morning. The car thermometer read 100 degrees. I know they're not the most accurate things in the world but, really. 100 degrees? That occurs on the planet Mercury and in Uganda and places like that, not here. We've got this huge ocean right next to us with a current water temperature of 63 degrees F. Despite that okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1083559300539566252004-05-02T21:41:00.000-07:002004-05-02T22:05:10.890-07:00In this last month, most of my practices have been either improv classes or second series class. I've only had a couple of classes in the last three to four weeks in which I did a first series practice. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm just accustomed to the exact opposite: mostly doing first series, with the occasional chance to do a weekend improv class. At any time in the past, If okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1083260588886711382004-04-29T10:39:00.000-07:002004-04-29T21:37:51.623-07:00The EZBoard ashtanga message board appears to have changed its web address when they did their recent server switch. a couple of the folks who wrote comments here gavethe following URLs as the new functioning addresses. Significant screw up if you ask me.
http://p196.ezboard.com/byoga84291
http://b26.ezboard.com/byoga84291
okrgrnoreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1083215384588423102004-04-28T22:09:00.000-07:002004-04-29T11:33:00.763-07:00I looked at my "hit count" for this page earlier today. I was getting nearly twice as many hits as usual. They were coming from a pretty wide array of sites as well. I figured out why when I tried to open the EZBoard site for my daily reading. That site has been down all day because they are making a server switch. I guess since the EZBoarders have lost their usual source for daily ashtanga okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1082698252805675162004-04-22T22:30:00.000-07:002004-04-22T22:38:48.340-07:00I am only going to get in one practice this week. Monday was a moon day, so the studio was closed. Tuesday, I didn't get out of work until way too late. Wednesday, I had a meeting to go to in the LA area that began at 11:00. I was able to do mysore at 7:00 then scoot up and get to the meeting just a few minutes late. Driving for two hours, then sitting in a meeting for three and a half hoursokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1082340587363957712004-04-18T18:25:00.000-07:002004-04-18T19:13:50.060-07:00I've inadvertently outed myself. One of the teachers who fills in while Tim is out of town taught class today. She has read this blog because I got nailed a few times when I was slacking. She saw me futzing and wiggling around in Krounchasana, trying to get my hip just so before moving head toward knee. "Hey John, hurry up or you'll miss it" she announced while giving me one of her smiles okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1082006054336930502004-04-14T22:14:00.000-07:002004-04-14T23:00:48.153-07:00Tonight's practice was a little different than most. I worked last night. I got some sleep but not as much as I would have liked. Somewhere along the line today, I started to develop a headache. It wasn't severe, it was just there in the background. It got a little better after some motrin and a nap but it was still hanging around. I was worried about how it might affect practice tonight okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1081747089871216772004-04-11T20:24:00.000-07:002004-04-11T22:33:18.123-07:00As weeks of yoga go, this last week was a mix of great opportunities and unexpected challenges. I managed to practice every day other than Monday, the moon day. Thursday I went to morning mysore class after I got off of work. I had originally planned on doing all of first and what second series poses I've been given so far, my usual mysore class approach. I ended up choosing to just do the okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1081384850074694672004-04-07T17:40:00.000-07:002004-04-07T19:50:50.403-07:00A bad, bad thing happened in practice today. Fitting, in that the events that preceded it all seemed to be going so well. Just two days ago, I wasn't even thinking that I would be able to practice today at all. I was going through my schedule for the week and saw a chance to make a couple of small changes that let me get to Mysore class this morning. so I jumped on it. That would give me okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1081312767577390782004-04-06T21:39:00.000-07:002004-04-06T21:59:40.936-07:00Practice today, the evening led first series, was so uneventful that I can't come up with anything remotely interesting to write about it. Since I blathered on for as long as I did yesterday, I figured today I would take a break and instead submit some humor sent to us in an e-mail by a dear friend who has just returned from Mysore. That's her in Trikonasana and here again, the second hottie okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1081209863889087392004-04-05T17:04:00.000-07:002004-04-09T19:16:44.233-07:00I sort of feel obliged to post today. It's a moon day, so no practice. I'm on call on a fairly unbusy day, so far that is. I practiced yesterday. So, no good reason not to make some kind of a contribution. One of the useful features of this blog is the ability to check from time to time to see how often people are coming to the site. I have no way of knowing what individual is coming of okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1081024313661899702004-04-03T12:31:00.000-08:002004-04-03T15:45:05.640-08:00Yesterday, I had something of a Russian roulette type dilemma. I was hoping to make it to a 5:30 PM class but didn't get away from work until 4:45. A Friday evening commute could take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. You never know how long it might be until you hit the last 10 miles of the ride, where the back up tends to occur. If I knew I couldn't make the 5:30 Intro okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1080857683198014992004-04-01T14:14:00.000-08:002004-04-03T21:39:33.296-08:00Today was a full on back-popping day. Not the quiet, settling in kind of pops that happen when you stretch your back just the right way. These were the ones audible a few mats away. The ones that cause the person adjusting you to suddenly hesitate as they try as suss out if that was a good pop or if they just partially severed your spinal cord. The first one came as I was being twisted, Lindaokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1080789069514827272004-03-31T17:55:00.000-08:002004-03-31T20:57:09.983-08:00Our teacher has been out of town for the last two weeks. We had all thought he would be back by yesterday, certainly by today. When I walked in to the shala this morning, he wasn't there leading pranayama. "Hmmm," I thought, "that's weird." I know the pranayama group expected him to be there because they had put down a blanket for him to sit on. I'm not really regular enough to know if he okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1080284474341974082004-03-25T23:01:00.000-08:002004-03-25T23:12:41.043-08:00Earlier this week, it wasn't looking too good for me in terms of getting time on the mat. But, as sometimes happens, the yoga gods smiled and opportunities arose. In the past, I wouldn't practice in the mornings on days when I was scheduled to be in the clinic. The schedule for those days starts at 9:00, so I could never get in much of a practice and still make it to work. While I was layingokrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1079937781672732622004-03-21T22:43:00.000-08:002004-03-21T22:51:13.140-08:00Today was the first practice day after Friday's vernal equinox (it occurred on Friday the 19th here on the west coast) and yesterday's new moon. I worked last night, so I went to the Sunday morning led first series class. The class wasn't as crowded as usual, probably due in part to our teacher being out of town this week. I had a fairly easy night of call, I was in bed by 1:30AM, so I wasn't okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1079680136942302022004-03-18T23:08:00.000-08:002004-03-19T22:51:31.590-08:00I've managed to set up a week in which I get to do mysore practice almost every day. Well, Tuesday through Friday anyway. Weird thing is, I don't remember setting it up when I did my schedule a few months ago. I must have though because I took portions of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as vacation. I took two hours of vacation off tomorrow so I could practice at 7:00 and get to work to start okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1079325547799511782004-03-14T20:39:00.000-08:002004-03-18T21:17:13.860-08:00I managed to insert a small site tweak over there on the red sidebar. I saw this module for the current moon phase on another blog. It seemed to be just the thing to put in a site like this. If you click on the link within the module, it will take you to a site has a set of free HTML codes for modules that you can just insert in your web page. I thought it would be a simple cut and paste of okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5309953.post-1078634891502806212004-03-06T19:22:00.000-08:002004-03-14T21:11:19.483-08:00So, another three or four weeks have sneaked by. At least I'm still practicing, when and where possible. Mostly, it has been one first series class or another. I have had three or four mysore classes and last night I went to the Intro to Second Series class. The usual potpourri.
My son did well after his surgery. I was expecting him to have a lot of post-operative discomfort. I remember okrgrnoreply@blogger.com0