Short and Sweet Home Practice

So somehow I missed both the 6 am and 9 am class yesterday. My heart was set on doing yoga, though, so I unrolled my mats on the kitchen floor and did a sequence from David Swenson. I am pretty sure this is the same guy Yoga John was telling me about. I found the sequence in Yoga Journal--ten poses from Ashtanga primary series. Taking a cue from Zen Muffin, I flipped on some tunes: a mix Ravi made me last year entitled Blizzard of 06. One of two discs, this one is mostly quiet, pretty songs on it: Sparklehorse, Joanna Newsome, Wolf Parade, Devendra Banheart etc. Rav also knew of my great affection for David Bowie, and fixed me with some treats at the end. It ended up being a really nice practice, short and sweet and concentrated. I felt very quivery in the beginning--when I folded forward into Padangusthasana, I nearly fell over. Richard Freeman was saying in class the other day how it takes 'billions' of years to get the breathing 'right'. I feel like I just never will---even in my own kitchen on my own time I struggle. So after a few sets of shakiness, I committed to at least trying to always inhale/exhale my way into the poses.

In the middle of Urdha Dhanurasana The Rapture's song "House of Jealous Lovers" came on, which pretty much describes Ravi and I's entire relationship. It is kind of a punk disco romp of a song, and I found myself bouncing ever so slightly. This actually helped maintain the presence of the pose, since I'm not able to hold the backbend for very long without wanting to collapse.

Ok time to put my waitress shoes on. I'll post the sequence later tonight. Yoga John is teaching his for-real last class tonight, and I'm missing it so I can serve drinks to the masses. Damn it!

Here's the sequence:
1. Padangusthasana/Big Toe Pose
2. Trikonasana/Triangle/Dreaded Place of Pain
3. Parsvakonasana/Side Angle
4. Tired of typing Sanskrit/Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe. This one was hard. Found a new tight spot in my big toe.
5. Seated Forward Bend
6. Marichyasana C
7. Boat Pose. This one is great fun, but also difficult. Having hard time keeping my arms parallel.
8. Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend
9. Upward Bow Pose
10. Shoulder stand/Halasana/half shoulder stand

It would have been pretty awesome if I could have timed the whole series to end exactly when "Under Pressure" finished playing. Talk about building up to something. When I become a yoga instructor, all my classes will be accompanied by David Bowie tunes and I'll probably wear tear-away pants to most classes.