8.30.15

urdhva mukha svanasana

8.1.15

eka pada viparita dandasana

when you were little did you ever hang upside down off a chair or a couch and pretend the ceiling was the floor and everything connected to the ceiling was actually just sitting on the floor?  and everything on the floor was upside down, because the floor was the ceiling?

yeah, i still do that.

"Each time I see the Upside-Down Man
Standing in the water,
I look at him and start to laugh,
Although I shouldn't oughtter.
For maybe in another world
Another time
Another town,
Maybe HE is right side up
And I am upside down."

~s. silverstein

2.2.15

 

bhekasana 

i have flirted with this pose for so long... mostly from across the room because every time i tried to get into it i was immediately rejected.  it is so hard.  looking at it you would expect that if one had the knee and quad flexibility one could basically lever their torso up by pressing on their feet.

this is incorrect.

it is a million times harder than that.  although you do need some serious openness on the front of your legs you also have to spend a considerable amount of time opening your shoulders in order to get your hands wrapped around the front of your feet.  of course it's a backbend so i spent a lot of time opening my back.  the thing i completely underestimated in all my previous attempts was the amount of back strength it takes to lift the chest high enough to even be able to use the feet as levers.  but at last - frog pose is mine! xx

1.15.15

 

silhouette

12.23.14

 

ustrasana

my heart is so full and happy right now. 

2.6.14

"practice and all is coming."
~pattabhi jois

throwing it back to one year ago (almost) today when i took a photo of this pose, kapotasana.  click below to check the progress.  practice, practice, practice; change will follow.  namaste bitches, xx.

1.3.14

kapyasana

this is just a reminder: enjoy where you are in life, you won't be there long.

12.17.13

                                              rightside up

"we are all just the main characters in the story we tell ourselves.  if we cast ourselves as the victim we will continue to be victimized.  if we say that we are fine and nothing is wrong, we will continue to accept wrongness.  only when we're able to perceive what's happening without any narration or casting, only when we have true perception, will we change our story.  this is the place that objective decisions come from.  where nothing is done because that's what the story necessitates and everything is done because it's right and good." from my journal

obviously i've been thinking alot lately about perception. 

11.3.13

cathedral rock vortex

it takes so much discipline to maintain a strong practice through life's various dramas, especially when you're a wanderer, with no solid community to depend on for support; no studio, no accountability in the form of a teacher or friends.  lately, especially after being injured, i've been going through the motions more often than not.  i've been hanging in there, but my hearts not really in it.   all the things that come with that; sluggishness, restlessness, weakness, distraction, have started to creep in.  i had a teacher who used to say, "come to yoga everyday, skip a day, skip two -fine but then come back.  after two days off your matt, the wheels start to fall off."  i don't think my wheels have fallen off yet.... but they're definitely losing air.

10.19.13

getting my backbend back

"it must not be just your mind or even your body that is doing the asana.  you must be in it.  you must do the asana with your soul.  how can you do an asana with your soul?  we can only do it with the organ of the body that is closest to the soul - the heart.  so a virtuous asana is done from the heart and not from the head.  then you are not just doing it, but you are in it.  many people try to think their way into an asana, you must instead feel your way into it through love and devotion."

- bks iyengar

2.3.13

dwi pada viparita dandasanathis is lauren.... my beautiful inapporpriate yogi scorpio besty.  no one is as funny as we are. gauranteed.