Ah practice... what I love about practice is that it always gives you exactly what you need if you open yourself up to it. Today's practice was lighthearted and fun... whereas yesterday was intense and deeply introspective, today was sorta light from the heart. I started early and wondered if I could pull off the same heat as yesterday... the room isn't all the way heated when I start early so I figured I'd have to generate a lot more tapas on my own. I concentrated a lot more on breathing. I knew I needed to do this if I was gonna do Laghu Vajrasana again. Practice was good actually. I got a killer adjustment in Trianga Mukha today... I got an Exorcism adjustment in Mari D today... Tim said "Are you in pain?" I said "No but when I can see you and you're sitting behind me it's like Exorcism." He said "Let's just make sure you don't have any green stuff coming out..then we'll be safe." Tim was in a joking mood today which probably contributed to the lightheartedness of the practice. I asked A about keeping my legs behind my head in Supta K. I got bound on my own again but then he put my legs over my head... he told me I need to put more effort on pushing the shoulders back and just not worry about the legs. As I mentioned, when I try to "engage" the legs to keep them back, they go up and then they are over my head (I have long legs). I'm going to try that next time. Pasasana rocked again today putting something under my heels. I'm just about ready to start doing it regularly I think. When Tim came over to help me in Bhekasana I told him that this is the only pose that still bothers me.. the push and pull through the chest is really difficult and I really hold back now... his response "Are you telling me to go away?" LOL... a good fun jovial mood makes practice a lot easier for all intents and purposes.

So I know all my readers are dying to know how Laghu went today. Well first I tried to go back with my legs on my ankles as Kiran mentioned yesterday... I got all the way down but couldn't get back up. I think, starting off that way, I didn't have enough lift through my hips. My largest problem, however, appears to be that once I get back there I get this gnarly cramp in my left calf. Seriously I was in pain. What is interesting is I can distinctly remember getting those during swim meetings... I have vivid memories of crying by the side of the pool in pain and I got DQ'd in a breaststroke match once because my calf cramped up and my kick was illegal because of it. So I got up from the first attempt and tried to get the pain to go away... then I tried it again, this time using my hands to help feel the insideof my thighs and pushing forward more before going back. I was *almost* at the ground while holding it and then flailed a little to come back up.... I really have to use some leverage to get back up but I didnt slam backward at least.

Backbends were okay today. My back is feeling REALLY REALLY good over the past couple days, really open and happy. I did my 6 and when Tim came to help me he was counting "1, 2.." and I came up on 2 only I guess he wasn't ready (duh, waiting for 3) and so it was a close call but I pulled it off. When he mentioned it was only 2 I told him that sometimes I can't count but really I just felt like I could push forward at that moment so I did. During dropbacks he did the same thing where he holds the backs of my thighs instead of further up like he used to. I can't figure out if this is to help me or if I've just reverted to my pre-one handed adjustment days. What I do know is that with all the effort I'm using to push into my legs and engage my quads for both Laghu and all my backbends, by the time I get to standing up my quads have little juice left in them.

As I'm laying in savasana I hear Tim telling Tiff about how they actually did a study to determine if Kansas is flatter than a pancake... they measured the slopes of each or something... and, as it turns out, Kansas really is flatter than a pancake (and apparently TIffany was this morning too). Fascinating things you learn in practice...

For some reason, my arms are killing me today... and, of course, given the continuous cramp in my calf since Laghu, I'm in agony wearing my new 3" heels I got last night in the mail but they look cute nonetheless. What makes you cramp? Am I missing something in my diet?

Next week SF and Guruji and Neti and Cameron and I think Jenna... LAPROXDOC will be there... fun fun fun fun!