Flow like honey

Thursday 15th November 2007

Dammit I feel good – perhaps I’ll start every post with that statement.
But if I’m going to post every day I’d have to practice every day to feel this good.

I had an interrupted sleep last night (dog was frisky and full of energy all night) and was wide awake at unmentionable hours but it made no difference to practice this morning.
I flowed like honey.
As early as the Surya Namaskars my perception of my body disappeared and I moved like a gentle spoon swirling through a big jar of honey. I didn’t impose this visualisation upon my body, the feeling just emerged and as I acknowledged it’s feelingtone, my body took it on even more moving through the viscous space with a delicious lusciousness…transitions in and out of poses, vinyasas, they all became as smooth as silk, not completely effortless like water flowing but delicious like honey flowing. And that elusive malleable quality was there today so it was a gorgeous practice to be doing.

I was enjoying being in every pose, even the challenging ones, so there was no shying away from all the uncomfortable moments. When they came up (Parivritta Parsvakonasana, Virabhadrasana A and in EVERY seated pose thanks to my lumbar) I felt myself staring them straight back in the eye, not backing off or backing down or running away. I stayed there unafraid and with the inner strength to face the discomfort with integrity.
What’s fascinating is that this is also emerging in my daily life, in my relationships, and especially at work. A strength of character borne of integrity and a commitment to Truth. By Truth I don’t mean not lying, but Truth in the BIG sense of the word, that Truth which is universal and which resonates with our absolute core. Iyengar speaks poetically (in Light on Life) of our conscience as being the nasty prick of pain when we don’t listen to our soul.

But back to practice, since all the nerves in my lower back and right hip joint are on full alert in the seated forward bends, these fundamental poses are quite a challenge right now. I know these things come and go - one day my lower back problems will pass and another block will emerge somewhere – but the lower back is my practice obsession right now.
Today I stayed in all the seated poses longer than usual – from Paschimottanasana through to Marichy C...every one. No escape. Long deep Ujjiya breathing and fully present with every sensation as it arose. It’s a bit too easy to whip through these seated poses without giving them proper attention, eager to get to the gutsy ones, especially when you’ve been dong them for so many years. but they have so much to reveal if you stay to explore.
After the standard 5 breaths I sensed myself wanting to move on (as one should after 5 breaths) but I stayed a couple of extra breaths just to see if I was running away from something. So much more comes up after an enforced stay in a pose…it’s a good thing to do occasionally.
So by the time I got to the looming Marichy D-Supta K hill, I’d almost drained my bank of energy and detmination.
Bad girl here – I jumped straight to Baddha Konasana
Bad girl again – I threw in Parivritta Upavista Konasana and Parivritta Janu Sirsasana after Upavista Konasana. The justification was that my spine just really needed some serious wringing out.
Another day, another practice.