Long time...

...no blog. Actually (and more importantly) long time, no practice. Not since last Thursday, which was the culmination of my week of practicing alone--both at Volleyball Guy's and at home.

Saturday was the big move. The Cop called his friend, who we'll call...um, The Maniac, to help move all the really big heavy things, like the refrigerator and beds, etc. I did the shuttling of lighter objects. Believe it or not, the move was done with just three cardboard boxes and three laundry baskets. As I've mentioned, The Cop had been slowly moving things from one house to the next over the past month. I'm not a great fan of wrapping glasses in paper and putting them in boxes, then carrying them somewhere and unwrapping them, and (if you are my mother) washing them to get, I guess, newsprint off of them, and then putting them in a new cabinet. Nuh uh. I decided they'd be just fine in layers in the laundry basket, with dishtowels kind of scrunched in to reduce breakage. Whatever glasses made it to the new house this way were declared winners and put in the cabinet. Darwinian? Yes, I suppose. Slacker? Oh yeah. This is the real reason why I didn't want The Cop's parents to help us move last weekend. They would have made us move like responsible adults.

So we spent the weekend at the new house and everything seems to be coming along nicely. This morning I used the yoga room. Formerly the dining area. But I had bigger plans than a diningroom. It looks out over the back yard through three picture windows. One day I will post photos. For now, it is a room "filled" with a Buddha, a space heater, the Manduka, a bunch of yoga and zen books, plants, candles and incense. Oh, and a chandelier. Right in the middle of the room. Which means navasana requires I move the mat to a corner of the room or risk kicking the chandelier. Home improvement will include removal of the chandelier.

I got up this morning, lit two candles and a stick of incense, turned on the heater, and got back to practicing. It was lovely. I was distracted, of course, by the fact that I was in a new environment. But handstands (away from the chandelier!) rocked. I got up there, stuck it, and just counted a leisurely five breaths. The same thing happened for the next two handstands. Not so great on the fourth, but the fifth was as good as the others. I learned inversions from a terrific Anusara teacher (say what you will about Anusara folks, they are very good at teaching inversions). He always had me flex my feet. But lately, as I've been floating up into handstand, I am finding that my toes point. And I feel incredibly light. I imagine this is about bandhas, but I have no idea how it's working, really. I don't want to overthink it.

My Gift adjusted me in supta konasana. My shoulders felt vaguely sore, but the few days off for moving seem to have healed them up nicely. And they are still looser than ever--my binds in the marichys feel very supple through the shoulders, whereas my shoulder girdle used to feel like it was made of cast iron.

I had a handy plant spray bottle by me, so I slicked up and managed to get both arms all the way through for garbha pindasana. May I say...OW? I assume the pain in my calves, caused by my bony arms, will subside once my padmasana is more open. If this is not true, someone should tell me now. If there is something else I should be doing, aside from being brave and waiting, I don't know what it is.

So yes, I could have gone to Mysore this morning. But I wanted to stay up late (10 PM!) to see My Gift for a few minutes when she got home from work last night. Plus I had address change forms to fill out online. And I was really really was excited to try out the new space. I think I'm going to love it there. I went out in the back yard this morning and suddenly thought about how I could plant morning glories to cover the fence. Only to find out, a little later, that morning glories are banned in Arizona. They are classified as a "noxious weed." Now I have to check my conscience and see if I will still plant them. Life is good, I guess, if this is my problem.