Night n Day

It took most of the last two weeks but my practice again felt heavenly today. Truly. Heavenly. Strong lifts, good steady energy, fun to see a few new faces in the room, beautiful linking vinyasas, heat, supple mind, deep forward bends in standing poses. Lightness reared its head breifly a few times. So nice to glimpse it. Take it a bit slower, feel that one might one day perceive Prana more clearly.

What a relief - particularly after I read through Russell's http://www.mysoremusings.com and got a really sick feeling about the type of person one might be to be dependent on ashtanga. I really asked myself if it was a dependence, an addiction of some sort. Aired that with a few friends who have relatively advanced practices here - there was some shock. I don't use the word lightly. There was. We all reflected I think. Many of us had been struggling with some retrograde palnetary stuff the last few weeks - someone mentions Mars. Anyway, I think it is over. Nasty emotions, doubts and low energy can take a back seat.

My right knee is improving as well - had some focused massage over the weekend from my great masseuse HH. She really worked on the Hamstring which was siezing up and making the whole right side of me begin to tighten. When I started astanga a little over 18 months ago it was for problems on the left side. Now tightness is on the right.

Spoke to KS today and she said that both she and our teacher here had remarked last year that they felt I was really 'going at' the practice. Maybe I was. Perhaps I was lucky not to injure myself more seriously and earlier. A littel brush with the knee thing has given me a chance to reflect, in particular and more widely, about my practice. It isnt going to disappear. It is good even if there is no progress in asanas for a while. The spiritual peace is there. It remains centering. This is the aim- health and wellbeing. This function itself is healthy. Nothing else need cloud the picture. Ashtanga people can often be slightly obsessive, compulsive, addictive types from what I have seen. Luckily we arent all hopeless drunks hanging on by a thread.

Tomorrow back to (part time) work. Over the next few weeks need to find other similar as this is temporary at http://www.alphadomus.co.nz. I hope to combine part time work with other income to see me through to September when India beckons. By then I might have a structure for afterwards.

Yesterday did some homework for VN in the morning and then went for a stroll on Ocean Beach. It was pristine weather, 25C, no wind, scant cloud cover. Walked an hour or so down the beach and had a few hundred metres of it to myslf. Read for a while, dosed, watched surfers play in the small glassy surf. Felt some good peace.