The local shala has been recording some of our practice for their social media. I don’t mind as it gives me a better idea of where I am.
Still landing too far back even with assistance. Still can’t get back the bend I’ve lost in my upper back. I do have some control once I’m coming up, but need reminding to keep my head back.
It all counts, even if it doesn’t happen. 5 months post covid and 3.5 months after chicken pox I’m still struggling to summon the energy to do my full practice more than once or twice a week and as for the dropbacks, if I manage to stand up once it’s a miracle, I just can’t seem to get back that control I had before all the illness.
H said at our study group that even thinking about yoga counts as doing yoga,not sure about that. There is a self induced pressure to knock out our full practice every day, but that can easily lead to burn out and injury. As we get older it seems we have to be more pragmatic about what our practice on any given day is, especially when you factor in work, family and life in general. It’s been good to hear H and L address this and takes some of the pressure off to perform.
Louise did a workshop in Essex recently and addressed the dissatisfaction and disappointment we sometimes feel with our practice.
“Do not be disheartened….Of course it is going to be a struggle. Everything worth having always is. Nothing is straight forward. There are times when you feel like giving up and feel disheartened. If we fall, we just get up again. No effort is ever wasted. No effort is ever lost and no harm is ever done. When we plant a seed in the soil, we should water the seed properly. Otherwise the seed will be destroyed. This is not the case in yoga. Whatever is done produces the proper result, in good measure, at the proper time. Nothing is lost. The foundation is always within us.” – Louise Newton
The Journey of my practice 