July Highlights

Fell off the blogging bandwagon, in part due to a failure to maintain my self practice. I've found it so easy to lose the morning practice routine. A 15 minute lie-in would eventually lead to a reluctance to get on the mat, with the excuse that a rushed practice is not an ideal practice. Soon 15 minute lie-ins became a regular morning habit, and so went my morning yoga habit.

I took to relying on classes for my practice. Sometimes it is a rush to get to class, giving opportunities for excuses to creep in. With a scattered mind, even during classes, the practices have felt laboured. Still, there were times when I remembered the breaths and forgot my expectations - these were the times when my practices have felt light and joyous. These, though, have been few and far between.

Highlight for July has been the arrival of Manchester United in KL for a friendly match against a Malaysia Selection. I managed to get tickets for the match, and even got a Meet The Fans pass. Of course, I took leave off work to meet the players up close. As the queue got longer, it became embarrassingly obvious that I was the oldest fan. Well, there were other older "fans"; but these were parents accompanying their children. My excuse for not bringing mine was that they were not really fans - they had only heard of Van der Sar (see this post) and Christiano Ronaldo (who hasn't?).

But I did bring them to the match - partly to let them see there are so many other people even more fanatical about Manchester United than me. As it turned out, the stadium was packed with a sea of fans wearing red. The atmosphere was charged with excitement. It was a great match, with Manchester drawing first blood with goals from Rooney and Nani. Then, when Malaysia scored with a fantastic goal, the stadium went feverish with everyone chanting "Malaysia, Malaysia". And, the whole stadium almost went into a frenzy when Malaysia equalised. It became a very open game; with Malaysia trying for an upset win, and Manchester trying to restore their advantage. It was almost story-like that the match was settled with the winning goal from Michael Owen near the end of the match.

My kids now felt some connection with Manchester United - they now know more players, notably Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen. Although I did make a special effort to mention Paul Scholes and the way he reads the game, etc, but I think I tried too hard and lost them in the process.

August is now fast approaching. My next highlight will happen at the end of August, for I will be making a two week trip to Mysore! It will be exactly a year from when I made my first trip last year. I can't wait.

Back To Practice

Quick update on my visit to the cardiologist. Stress test is fine except that my base BP is on borderline hypertensive. Medication is recommended, although he did say it's not needed now - but early treatment is preferred to late. However, my doctor wanted to monitor the BP a few more times before I take the plunge to medication. Apparently, she felt the cardiologist tend to take the more aggressive stance, while she is the conservative one. So, I guess I'm still in a limbo.

Life continues and I'm back into my yoga practice. My first couple of practices were careful and slow. I'm pleased and pleasantly surprised that I haven't lost too much flexibility; and with each additional practice I'm reaching my pre-injured state. Stamina, though, has taken a hit. Vinyasas felt heavy!! But so nice to be back with the practice - the breaths, the movements, the sweat (it's been super hot in KL these few weeks) and the final releasing of everything at savasana!

Final test of my getting back in action later tonight. Have futsal this evening. Am so inspired - anyone saw Man Utd's third goal in the 2nd leg of the Champion's League semifinal? Counter attack to the perfection!!

Getting Back

Went to the gym to get my battered body back into action, The fond memories of the gym came back as I entered the gym. This was the place where I have spent a lot time doing rehab exercises after the surgery on my shoulder. I haven't even started yoga then. But the awareness in healing my body started in this place.

Anyway, started on the treadmill. The back felt fine even at jogging pace. Then tested range of motion with light weights. Felt really good after the session. I think it may be good to set some time aside for strength and cardio work, besides the yoga. I find sometimes with ashtanga, where for me the sequence is repetitive, there is a tendency of overworking certain joint movements. Perhaps, sacrificing some practice days with gym days has its benefits.

Time, though, is a constraint. At times I'm tempted to just practice daily in my eagerness to advance further in the primary series. That's when I find the discipline to practice detachment hard. This may all be a moot point. I have an appointment to do a stress test with a cardiologist as part of my medical check up. With my family's history of high blood pressure and diabetes, I may well have to do a regular cardio regime. Question will be whether I need to go on medication ...

Practice This Week

The weekend at Port Dickson was restful and nice. No yoga. Just family time at the beach. Food there is so cheap, compared with KL's prices. Hainanese cooks still exist in some restaurants, and they make the best chicken chop with fries! The beach is all right. But you can't beat the east coast of Malaysia for quality of beach and clear seas.

Could not fit in practice this morning as I woke up late. But, managed to fit in a quick practice after work. Today's practice was sweaty as it was about to rain when I started. Somehow, rainy days make the air so humid. Am thankful for the cotton rugs I bought from Mysore as I was starting to slip and slide on the mat. As I woke up this morning with a stiff neck, I skipped shoulder and headstand during finishing. The abbreviated practice today felt great as I felt more energised than I normally would. Tomorrow is moon day, so no practice - which I'm quite happy about. Looking forward to class on Friday evening, although it might be a full vinyasa led class as last Fridays and Sundays of the month are full vinyasa days at the studio I go to!

Practice Notes - 5 March 2009

Am excited as I experienced something different in my jump back during practice today. I wanted to see how my jump back will be affected if I extend my inhale during the lift up. At the end of the asana, I prolonged the inhale during the look up part as well as the exhale as I put my hands down in preparation for the lift. I then started the lift and then concentrated on a slow and extended inhale as I continue lifting as high as I can in the span of the inhale. The result felt like a much higher lift back. Wished I had a camera to see the difference. Sometimes one feels a lot of difference in the movement but visually it is only a tiny difference.

Anyway, this may be peculiar only to me; or just peculiar to today's practice. The impact on savasana was terrible - instead of emptying my mind, I was thinking of documenting my practice. Bad man! The rest of the practice felt nice - it has been very humid in KL lately and it was like practicing in a sauna! Which made today's practice all the more surprising as I was trying to hold back and concentrate on the breath. Sometimes when you don't expect much, the practice can surprise you.

Marichyasana D Progress - 26 Feb 2009

Documenting my progress in Marichyasana D. I still cannot bind on my own in Marichyasana D. But it's getting there. A lot of improvement since the Mysore trip. This is also attributed to renewed commitment to put in a more regular practice.



Just reviewing the video clip; I'm noticing my lower back collapsing at the end of my upward dog. Now wondering how I can improve on this.

Practice Notes

Nothing much to blog about except that I'm quietly enjoying my practice - not trying too hard to achieve anything, but just enjoying the movements and breaths within the confines of my mat.

I managed to bind (with help of course) on both sides of Marichyasana D last Sunday. The last two mornings I was tempted to move past Marichyasana D this morning during my self practice. But for the time being, I think I'll stop there until I can bind by myself.

That said, I've moved past that in led classes. In fact last Sunday's led class comprised primary up to Navasana and then the first few poses of second - up to Kapotasana! I don't even know if that is the right spelling - well, Kapo it is for now. Those second series poses take so much out of me!! But, amazingly, the backbends during finishing sequence felt comfortable. My usual "machine gun" breaths during the backbends was replaced by normal sounding breaths and I could even play around with shifting weight between my hands and feet.

Tiring though it is, I can see benefits in doing those first few poses of second series. Someone mentioned doing those poses is very energising. I'm probably a long way from being there as 3 hours after the class, my energy level went flat and I was dead to the world. Lucky the class was on a Sunday!

First Practice Of The Year

Had the first practice in 2009 today, which was led primary at the studio I go to in KL. Felt nice to be back - I haven't been to the studio for 3 weeks. There were lots of hellos and happy new years amongst the practitioners who go there. Even the studio had a new feel to it, with newly painted walls and the absence of mirrors.

Took it easy as I have not practice for 2 weeks. As expected, Marichyasana D's progress took a step back, especially on the left side. Surprisingly, the Pasaritas were not affected. Anyway, it felt great to be on the mat again and to see all the familiar faces. Also, great to see my teacher, Manoj, looking fresh from his holiday in India.

Thinking of starting a daily practice this year. Will see how this pans out.

Upward Plank

I noticed in my earlier video upload that I was rushing through my upward dog. It kind of looked like a plank with my neck arched back. So I wanted to see how it would look if I took a longer inhale during upward dog.



Ok. It looked a bit different but that was a looong inhale (for me). Not sure if I could keep that up during normal practice though.

Hot and Humid in Kuala Lumpur

These past few days in Kuala Lumpur have been HOT! With its humidity, practicing this morning was like practicing in a sauna. By the end of the third sun salutation A, sweat puddles were forming where my palms meet the mat. It is fortunate indeed for the yoga community in Kuala Lumpur that I was practicing by myself. There was real fear that if I did not use a cotton rug over my mat, my palms will slip from under me and my face will be flattened (some would speculate improved).

Anyway I was prepared for an easy practice, it being the first day after a moon day. However, with the heat, I found I was going quite deep (for my standards). Marichyasana D is coming along. I could bend my left arm around my right knee and the right hand could find my left thigh (or maybe it was the left side of my shorts). Left side is still faraway but my right arm could bend a bit and can reach my left foot so that's encouraging.

At this stage of my practice, I'm also trying to focus on my back bends. Normally I would just do 3 back bends. These days I'm adding one more after taking a breather. For this last one I would try to walk the hands in. Haven't succeeded yet. All I managed was to lift my hands a centimeter off the mat and come back down.

By the way, is the dristhi for upward dog the nose tip or the third eye space? I was searching Yoga Mala but could not find the answer.

Testing Video Upload

Sorry. Just got to try uploading a video - to make the blogging experience complete. Also chance for me to see myself in action. Haha - now I can see how stiff I am - my version of upward dog is basically a plank with my head tilted back!

My First Practice After Mysore - 18 Sept

It's been 5 days since my last practice in Mysore. So I unrolled my mat for a rare self practice at home. I felt lethargic so I decided to focus on deep slow breathes, rather than getting deep. Besides Malaysia is a lot more humid and hotter than Mysore. As I was doing sun salutations A, I wondered whether I should do 3 instead of 5. I decided to do what I did in Mysore - which is 5 sun A and 3 sun B.

Throughout my practice, I kept the memory of Mysore in my mind. That had somehow helped me get through my practice. In fact, I felt more energy in the middle of my practice and managed to get quite deep in the asanas. I still can't bind in Marichyasana D but I feel I'm progressing in the right direction. Practice, practice and all is coming!

And I still remember Sharath's conference - you do what you can in this lifetime, and continue what you don't finish in your next lifetimes. Also, he mentioned Santosha - be happy and content with what you have (in material things and in other things, such as luxury of time to practice and your own physical limits).

With that, I think I've brought back something from Mysore that I can use anytime.