Day One, Mysore Practice

So, today was the first day of practice, my first Mysore style practice, actually IN Mysore.

As we had been given a 9am start time it felt quite late, so I was still up early so that I had time to eat some fruit and have a couple of cups of tea...no caffeine, no prana as the saying goes.

Teresa and I walked up to the shala and as I live very close we were there in a few minutes and Saraswathi was on the balcony and she looked down at us and said 'come up' so even though it was only 8.35am we walked up the stairs to the shala, into the pratice room and to the ladies changing room, as we came out of the changing room to look for space to lay our mats Saraswathi, whilst mid assist to another student said 'You two come tomorrow 4.30?' we must have looked completely dumbfounded so she repeated it, to which we just nodded 'yes' - so that is the story of how we got our time changed to the coveted (or not) 4.30am slot!!!

Most people get moved up an hour or so but I think Saraswathi remembered Teresa so I'm blaming her for having to now get up at 3.30 or earlier every morning!!!

Now, for my non yogi friends and family reading this I will post this so that you have a vague idea of what the next few paragraphs mean.....You work through the sequence, and in Mysore style if you can't do one of the postures you stop there and keep practicing it until you can. Hence the phrase 'practice and all is coming'

photo courtesy of http://www.ashtangayogaleeds.com/

So, after that bombshell I lay my mat out and start to practice. Even though I have been practicing at home for a few months now and taking the wonderful Ian Davies (Orange Yoga) led classes I was still so nervous - what if I forget the sequence? what if I fall over or forget an asana? so many worries, the only answer was to just BREATHE and go for it.
Some point into my second Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutation A) my muscle memory kicked in and I thought 'I've got this' and then I just focused in on breath, whilst trying to do my best, and not go too fast or too hard (I want to be able to walk tomorrow of course)

Later down the line I had an assist from one of the assistants in Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Big toe grab balance posture) which was fab as I could go higher with the leg and they held me!
Then it got to my nemesis, Arda Baddha Padma Pashimottasana (half lotus bound forward fold) see post on worrying and waiting.....and i did what I could, which is not the full bind on the right side and - hey presto! I got away with it! Apparently this is not a 'gateway' pose so you don't get stopped here. I managed all the forward folds Janu Sirsasana, even C which is fondly known as 'toe cruncher' and finally with what must have been a look of bewilderment, Saraswathi asks me 'what you know to?' I said Marichyasana B.....I had to show her - and she said 'ok, tomorrow I will help you with this one' and I went into the side room to do closing sequence.

So happy! and my knee so far is ok, a major breakthrough. I'm so pleased as this is how far I would get all MONTH, so this is such a good feeling. Of course tomorrow getting up to practice at 4.30am could be another story so I will post back to let you know!

After practice a well deserved coconut to replenish the water and electrolytes and plenty of yummy food, see instagram for details of that!

Then on to chanting, which was a quick on as the last day of the month....

So far, so amazing, honestly I could not be happier - I think I'm gonna like it here!

namaste