If yoga isn't a sport...

...then why am I referring to my sports injury book? A great book, by the way: Listen to Your Pain: The Active Person's Guide to Understanding, Identifying, and Treating Pain and Injury.

So the **doink** in my knee yesterday was not as insignificant as I wished. According to the book, I might have a lateral collateral ligament tear. The good news is that it heals pretty easily. Amusingly, the book points out: "You can become prone to this injury by having overstretched ligaments on the outside of your knee. This frequently happens to people who practice yoga and spend a lot of time in the lotus position."

Home practice this morning revolved around testing out the knee pain (physical practice) and putting it in perspective (psychological practice). When I got up this morning, I expected to have some problems with ardha baddha padmottanasana and ardha baddha padma paschimottanasana, but I was naive in thinking those would be the only poses affected. Janu A and C (especially C!) were sketchy, as were Marichy A, B, and of course, D. I practiced D with my feet folded under, and there may be a bit of a silver lining, as it felt helpful to really practice the twist of the pose a bit. Usually the pressure of the lotus legs inhibits really deep twisting.

Bhujapidasana was fun. I didn't forget how to pull my feet through without touching the floor. Nor did I forget crashing down on my head yesterday. I grabbed one of My Gift from the Universe's sweatshirts (maybe it is actually helpful that she leaves her clothes around the house for use by other family members...not) and formed it into a little crash pad for my head. Worked like a charm.

And in the realm of giveth and taketh away, I found that though I was hobbled with a new injury, I was gifted with a breakthrough in jump throughs. No idea what happened, but my rather craftsmanlike jump throughs were suddenly particularly airy and effortless.

And to finish up: Last night was my second Rolfing session. Apparently Rolfing cannot instantaneously cure lateral collateral ligament tears. But here's the cool part: I get to Philosophy Monk's office. There is no exchange of information regarding physical status, any ailments, etc. He sits at his desk and has me walk away from him, turn, and walk back toward him. I get on the table and he makes a beeline for the right knee. Dude! How'd he do that? Last night was a lot of work on my shins, knees, ankles, and feet. I have no idea if my structure has been realigned, but I do know it felt unbelievably good. Now I just need to skip high heels for a few days.