Why are my collarbones on so tight?

This morning I had an email from Sanskrit Scholar. She was reminding me that Volleyball Guy is off to the Philippines for a 5 week adventure, and that Monday is our last Mysore class with him until he gets back. I'll be there.

More home practice today. Most notable: bakasana and eka pada bakasana transitions are coming along nicely. I am able to pull my feet up more than ever in bakasana, and as soon as I get to the tipping point, I sort of roll into the kickback. It's nice when things kind of come together on these things. As far as eka pada bakasana goes, I am starting to get my left leg up there pretty well, but I am still kind of stymied about where to put my right knee. I know my right arm is bent and that the knee fits in there somewhere, but I am struggling with how my shin lies along my tricep. Or if it does at all. Oops, just took a look at Arjuna, and he seems to have his knee in his armpit, and his arm outside his shin. So no support on the shin, I guess.

I have to tell a bit about my current state re: bandhas. At least that's what I think I am dealing with. Back in my gym days, I would have said I am learning something about my core strength and coordination. Bandhas always seem so much more elusive and mysterious. Anyhow, I half-woke in a dream the other night (lucid dreaming, I guess) and I was "flying"--not the usual flying dream though. I was conscious of the fact that I was lying on my side and that I was in bed, but I was curled a little in the mid-section, and I think my bandhas were super-engaged. And it was equivalent to flying, at least by the rules of dream-logic. A different kind of flying. Okay, maybe I shouldn't be allowed to practice alone, huh?

So for the past couple of days, since the dream, I have been really...uh, I don't know how to explain this. It's like I am tight in my abs--or my core--or my bandhas--almost all the time. I don't know why, and I don't know to what effect, but it is quite interesting. It's like I am learning something that defies logic or explanation. Learning something physical, I guess.

And on a less ethereal note: I was suddenly scared as hell when I transitioned from kurmasana to supta kurmsana today. Didn't see it coming at all, and then there I was, terrified. Right at the part where I flip my arms over to make the bind. My collarbones got some rest over the weekend, and then they were great for a couple of days--but I think they may be a little tired now. I backed off a bit, because I don't want to crank on them like I did a couple of weeks ago.

In garbha pindasana, I noticed that flexing and unflexing my calves as I pushed my arms through helped keep my calves from cramping--I got both arms all the way through, but then once I was there, well, I was kind of all stuck and in pain. I mean, it's funny to think of, that a human would do such a thing. So I am finding my first significant Ashtanga pains (aside from the injured knee). Interesting, too, to try to work through it all--how to accept a certain amount of pain, and not court it or exacerbate it or ignore it or run away from it. I think I am getting along just fine with garbha p, but my calves are a little sore/bruised, and I'm going to have to practice some patience.

My publisher has been in touch and will start typesetting next month. Dealing with poetry always makes me kind of strangely intuitive and dreamy (or perhaps just plain old strange), but I am figuring that between poetry and the dreams and a month of home practice coming up, I ought to be having some cool new experiences.