Day off

No, not a day off from practice. A day off from work! Which means it was hard to get up at 4:30 AM, but who cares? I can take a nap later on. How nice to practice, then come home and make tea and blog--with no thought for getting myself to work.

Very, very warm at Volleyball Guy's this morning. Sanskrit Scholar, The British Director, Returning Guy, Chanting Man, and a guest visit by Black Star. I call her that because there are three or four women who always come to Saturday led, who Volleyball Guy calls the All Blacks. Because they generally wear black. I guess Volleyball Guy's naming system is about as sophisticated as mine ;-) Anyhow, Black Star is the star of the All Blacks. You should see this woman do ardha baddha padmottanasana. With her hands in namaste behind her back on the way down, unwaveringly thoughout the pose, and all the way back to standing. It is a thing of beauty.

Practice was good--a little sore in the knee, but nothing that couldn't be gotten around by going a little easy. Handstands between navasava were terrific. I am really learning the balancing point. Volleyball Guy looked over when I was doing them and said, "You don't need me anymore!" "I'm sure you're relieved," I replied. He thought that was funny.

Despite my paranoid musings last week, kurmasana is coming along quite nicely. I can get my shoulders on the floor, and I can feel that my heels will be coming up off the floor pretty soon. The real news, though, was supta kurmasana. Today I crossed my right foot over the left quite easily. No, they're not behind my head--they're on the floor. And no, the bind is not happening yet (Sanskrit Scholar reached over and put a strap between my hands to help me out), but there's the sense that all is in fact coming, supta kurmasana-wise. Eventually.

And as I took a bunch of extra breaths in supta kurmasana, I noticed the sting of salty rivulets in my eyes. I wondered if I was sweating or crying. And it was interesting, because it didn't matter, either way. I just was exactly where I was, and what was happening was just exactly what was happening. I was free of discrimination--at least for a few moments there. I know everyone talks about the physical practice, but the real magic is the inner work. And I had a nice, salty taste of it.