Renate and three of her friends get together every Saturday morning for an Ashtanga Primary practice - I joined them recently for two practices and now have made a silent commitment to this new Saturday morning routine.
Renate and I practiced Ashtanga together religiously every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6am for about 8 years. It started as a commitment and support for our Ashtanga practice, and became a sacred and special ritual for us both.
I was the one who ended it when my lower back injury made every yoga practice excruciatingly painful. I had to stop practising to give my back a rest so it could begin to heal.
The injury was 3 years ago. Our last practice together was possibly 2 years ago. The years are passing by in a blur...
Anyway, its been a while since we practiced together. And it's been 6 months since I've seen her.
Renate's new yoga buddies (three of them are my ex-students) practice together at 7.30am on Saturday mornings. Renate leads the group in silence, simply making her way through the Ashtanga Primary sequence, missing out a few of the difficult poses. The others follow, doing what they can, modifying poses, taking short rests when they need to etc.
The women are strong individuals, but the group energy is relaxed.
Renate is still an amazing powerhouse of energy, her practice pace is a lot faster than mine, so its an energising start the weekend.
Last Wednesday I went to my second early morning (6.30am) led class at Kosta's studio.
I can go straight to work from the studio.
Kosta gave me a free card for 10 classes last week, to repay me for the bolsters and yoga blankets I lent (gave) to him all those years ago when he was starting up his own studio.
Funny - he used to come to my classes back then!
I'm loving Kosta's class...and I'm loving doing yoga with my old friends again.
A big block has shifted, there is an open space, wheels are creaking and rolling again, I am moving forward.
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