It used to be that if I missed a few practices my flexibility would shrink back and I'd have to work back into it... anymore, my flexibility is still fairly good but my strength and stamina suffer dramatically when I'm not practicing regularly. Today, however, for whatever reason, my flexibility, though fairly normal suffered in strange areas and my strength wasn't so bad. Practice started with that distant remembrance of trying to get my head to my knees without my hamstrings screaming in agony... 4 or 5 in I was getting to the point of the "ah" feeling that is the norm instead but I can always tell when I start off with the screams that my practice isn't going to be as deep. Today one of my favorite teachers was subbing, she's a student of Tim's and sticks to the series... taking things out in shorter classes but she doesn't veer from the order or the asanas... and I was happy today when after the Prasarita Padottanasana set she called out Samokanasana (side splits) because I, generally, enjoy what follows -- Hanumanasana. In attempting Samokanasana, my mind wandered to one of my recent posts... about buying a mat. I have a regular sized black mat now and whenever I do this asana I think to myself that with my next mat, I should get the long one. I am nearly 6' tall and I don't need it for the majority of the practice but for side splits I could go so much further with it than without... using the floor, my feet slip and with no traction I feel out of control.. perhaps this is a bandha issue.. .but when I practice on carpet, I can definitely move far more into it. Sometimes I use the wall on one side and that definitely helps to keep both my feet from slipping and I can generally control the other one for at least a few breaths.... but I don't really want the longer mat... it takes up more space in the room and it can be, at times, hard to find a space with just a regular mat. The remaining standing postures were decent... nothing to blog about, getting my head to my knee in Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana was near impossible whereas normally it's a piece of cake for me. Those screaming hamstrings were the preview of that difficulty. I was grateful that my teacher skipping vinyasas between sides today and realized that I have much more strength doing them between asanas.. much more likely to land with some softness than if I'm getting tired in the arms doing them after every side... it's all about stamina. The wierdest experience for me tonight, however, was in Mari D... a pose which I've been able to do basically since the day I started Ashtanga bound with hands clasped and that I can fairly easily do hand to wrist now, using my other hand over my calf to deepen the stretch... so I was pretty surprised when my teacher came over to give me a nice deep stretch which I so rarely get (since most people need help binding) and my back just cinched up... it wasn't going anywhere.. I've NEVER been tight there before so it was a very odd feeling for me.. we both kinda mumbled "Humm" ...

Later in the afternoon my two neighbors and I were discussing yoga ... my new neighbor said she used to practice Ashtanga before moving here and has been waiting til the move was over to get back into it.... my other neighbor wants to try it out... so we were playing around...I was getting the kids to do backbends, lotus, lifting their lotus (Amazing!), handstands, headstands, etc. I was playing around and one little girl asked me if I could drop back.. since I was on grass I tried it... the first time I actually did it but was moving so fast that I couldn't hold my weight, slid to my head and then pushed up again... the second time... well, here's a way to really injure yourself... I was standing with my bare feet on the grass, I bent back, into the backbend just fine not falling on my head but I was pushing into my feet which then slipped on the grass and the only way to save myself was by coming out bending at the knees which promptly SLAMMED into the edge of the concrete... you should see the huge black and blue bruise and bump that has emerged... I don't even think Arnica is going to help and it hurts like hell. I'm hoping it won't be so tight tomorrow that lotus is impossible... we'll see. It was fun and what it proved to me is that I can drop back... it truly is fear holding me back.