Migrating for the winter ; new practice room

So the cold.... bit of a bugger.

Despite the central heating turned all the way up and a Space heater, I haven't been able to get my practice room hot enough, don't think I've managed to get a sweat on for a couple of weeks now. After yet another failed attempt to get my arms though for Garbha Pindasana on Sunday I decided enough was enough and that it was time to migrate.

So my Chinchilla, Nietzsche', has his own room upstairs. We've had to put down carpet tiles so he doesn't eat the floorboards as well as cardboard all around the room so he doesn't eat the Skirting boards and the door. I tend to go up every evening and let him out for a couple of hours to run around. It's probably the warmest room in the house.

Sunday I shifted some things around, gave the room a good clean and vacuum and it's now my new Shala and Meditation room. A nice bonus is that the window faces East, sooner or later I'll get to salute the sun for real.

There in the top right corner you can see Nietzche's cage.

He tends to be half awake this time in the morning, doesn't seem bothered by my practice. Come to think of it when I first started practicing Ashtanga it was in the same room as him at the old flat, so just like old times.

Apart from the cold, practice has been good over the holidays. I had extra time in the mornings so have been doing an extended practice. I've enjoyed the 'new' routine so much that I've stuck with it throughout the week.

Basically it's a mixed up version of Primary and Intermediate with 3rd shuffled in. Sury's and Standing are as per usual except that after Ardha baddha Padmasana I work on the Dighasana to Natarajasana routine from 3rd and then go into Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana as prep for Hanumanasana. I've shifted Dropbacks to the beginning of the practice rather than the end so after Hanuman I do the hands behind the back variations in Tadasana while backbending followed by dropbacks and coming back up. Shifting them here I've made backbending more of a focus for the practice for the next few months (tended to neglect them up until now).

The dropbacks prep me for the Ustrasana Laghu and Kapo and maybe Supta Vajrasana. As a counter to all those backbends I switch to pretty much standard Primary beginning at Paschimottanasana. the only difference being that I slip in Krounchasana after Tirieng MEP Paschi, Maha Mudra and some serious Uddiyana before Janu A and Viranchyasana after Janu C.

I cut the Marichi's out for now continuing on through the Primary series hip openers. I move Kurmasana to after Upavistra and work through the 2nd and 3rd series LBH asanas ending this sequence with Supta Kurmasana. Then it's back to the Marichi's followed by the different Matsyendrasana's and into the 2nd series arm balances (on Sunday and my day off I add those from 3rd). I finish up with Gomukhasana , Supta Urdhva pada Vajrasana and normal finishing.

Sounds complicated writing it out like that but it kinda made sense once I decided to shift the dropbacks to the beginning. They led nicely into Kapo and it's prep and it made sense to go into the forward bends of Primary which lead into hip openers preparing you for all the LBH. The twists reset everything and I've always found them very meditative and calming, nicely rested your ready for all the arm balances. It's all familiar and intuitive so I don't have to think about it too much. The whole practice is taking me about 90 minutes (120 on my day off with the extra arm balances and taking it a little slower). I like it because I can just do the same balanced practice everyday.

I Had a go at making some videos in the new room. Difficult because of the shape of the room. Ended up with some different angles though which is interesting. On the video below there's a Dropback, shot from behind. These had been going well (straight up no rocking) but here I'm trying to address the splayed feet issue which is messing it up again. A Kapo and solo Supta Vajrasana, again shot from behind. There's a cheating Navasana to Handstand (still relying too much on momentum) and the latest Purna Matsuyendrasana (struggled a bit doing this with the long pants on, easier with shorts I find, without anything restricting the knees.

Video's a little long so might take a little while to show up on the Iphone.