ALREADY ONE YEAR!!

Today is my Ashtanga b-day.

It has been one year that I have decided to dedicate all my practices to the Ashtanga Yoga.

No more Vinyasa Flow, no more Hatha, only Ashtanga Yoga.

Last year at this time I was in Goa practicing with John Scott and discovering the full vinyasa practice of the Ashtanga yoga.

I was doing drop back and even tried to do a Pincha Mayursana. 

Was not able to do Janu Shirshana C from the left leg, and not twisting at all in Marychasana D, at that time I was 100% sure that this asana will be out of my reach forever, because of my knee problem.

Was not able to do Parshvakonasana with the back foot flat on the floor, therefore was not working properly the hips opening that it supposed to happen.

Was not able to hold Shirshasana for more than 10 breaths, and Urdhva Shirshasana was really heavy for me, could only hold it at that time for a "big" 2 breathes. But this has been really improved during John Scott workshop, at the end of the course I was able to lift my head from the floor in Shirshasana.

If I have to compare my practice from last year and this year it is a completely different one. Last year I was in the emergency of doing more and more with a "so so" practice and this year I am more stable.

Physically I have also changed a lot.

I first gained weight, at least 6 kilos and this for the first 8 months..... then slowly the fat start reducing and muscles replace it.

My upper body is bigger, waist smaller and thighs are melting.

My food habit has changed a lot, I eat more and more green, less and less dairy product and most of the time eating 2 meals per day.

My menstruations are connected with the moon, it varies from new moon to full moon.

My mind has improved. More stability, less stress, feeling rooted.

From April 2016 to April 2017 I have been practicing with:

- John Scott (3 weeks)

- Sarawasti Jois (2 months)

- Sharat Jois (10 weeks to be precise!)

- Iain Grysak (2 months)

So approximately 7 months with a teacher and 5 months on my own.

Shiva - In whom all things lie, pervasiveness - Embodiment of grace

John Scott

No need to say that he is an amazing teacher. I learned the vinyasa counting, even though it is far from perfect as I get lost in the counting. He was the first one to bring me in a full supta Kurmasana with my legs behind my head, lifting up keeping my legs behind my head and jumping back from it (well the jump back still need to be improve).

John Scott give everything to his students and more. He is humble and generous, I really loved him.

Sarawasti Jois

My first meeting with the "tradition". The first class was a led class in the main shala as it was on June, out of the Sharat season. I got emotional during the opening mantra because I was really impressed to be in the main shala, it was something to me and I was not prepare to that flow of emotions coming out....

David Roche was there. He was really nice, humble and I really like his adjustments. A very strong man.

Because of my knees problem (meniscus and ligaments) Sarawasti allowed me to practice with variation therefore I was doing the full Primary Series.

One day I received the worst adjustment ever from her daughter which consisted of pushing my upper body down, actually I should say pressurising my upper body down, slightly below my cervicales which drive me to the chiropractor (Rob Lamport is the best in Mysore) the day after. My neck was completely blocked, could not turn it on the right or left side, could not even drink properly.....

So when she came back to adjust me another day I politely declined.

Sharat Jois

After John Scott and Sarawasti it was natural for me to attend Mysore classes under the guidance of Sharat. No fear. I thought skies is the limit, just go for it.

First day..... I realised that maybe I should have not.... probably I don't have that level.... what am I doing here???? What was I thinking???

Then the famous "next", it was for me..... of course front row, 10 cms from his chair (throne).....

Marychasana D came, he quickly looked at me and said "you stop there", closing series.

Then started my real practice. No variation at all....

On the second week I passed Marychasana D on my own, was very happy, I never thought I would have this asana one day in my life.

Then Supta Kurmasana came on the menu..... and for the next 10 months my practice stopped there.

Iain Grysak

One of the most beautiful thing when you are practicing in the main shala is that you will probably meet one of the great Ashtangi such as Ajay Tokas, Kino MacGregor or Iain Grysak.

At that time I was not sure if I should go to Bali and to practice with him, I was a huge fan of his articles and find him very interesting.

Until the day I met him doing the line up to the main shala. For me I took it as a sign, green light, I have to practice with him!

And so did I. And so did I come back to him, I am currently practicing with him and will continue to practice with him as soon as I have free time, Ubud will become my second home.

As promised for the first month Iain stopped my practice at Supta Kurmasana..... I started to hate this asana, to hate that practice, to hate everyone in the shala, why me, why no others, they can not grab neither and still they are doing the full series, why I should stop to Supta Kurmasana, this asana is useless....

Wow! Did not even know that so much anger was living inside of me. It was my first lesson of the year, I was in need of slowing down, acknowledge myself and bring my monster ego down.....

Now I am doing the full series and I am completely satisfied with it. I am not chasing any new asana because I acknowledge that my practice is far from perfect, every day I noticed which part has to be improved and as I said in my previous post, I am perfectly fine where I am, I have absolutely no emergency of touching the backbends, there is so much to do in order to enhance my Primary Series practice that I don't need more.

***

So it has been 12 months and for me it looks like yesterday I was in Goa with John Scott.... 

Time flies. If you have to do something, whatever it is, you should do it now because postponing everything does not help anyone.

- Namaste -