It's a Glorious Monday Morning

Walked outside this morning and abruptly turned back around and grabbed a jacket. It was freaking chilly outside! I LOVE IT!

Had a nice cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte (out of a packet but it's still yummy) to warm me up just a tad and to also knock the cobwebs away from my still sleepy mind. Then it was time to grab the yoga mat.

I don't remember where I read it or when, but I distinctly remember reading somewhere that practicing Ashtanga is like being a moving train. Some days I feel like this and some days I don't. Today happened to be one of them. Albeit, a slow moving train.

Since the practice is an ordered sequence, there is no guess work in what comes after the pose you just completed. There is no guess work on how many breaths you take. Your body moves with the breath to the sequence that was laid out years and years ago. It becomes almost like a dance (if one is watching from the outside). You're lost in the rhythm of the flow and ebb of the breath and movements of the body.

This morning I unrolled my mat in a slightly different place, still the living room, but it was angled east and west verses north and south. I had dogs on both sides of me and a cat begging for attention. I concentrated on the breath as I began inhaling and exhaling. I engaged the moola bandha (short time because I can never seem to keep it engaged:/) and raised my arms over head to begin Surya A. That one began slow because my uterus had to remember that it may get a little squished and that it shouldn't hurt me in the process. Took about two Surys for it to become comfortable with the movements again after my not practicing for a few days.

The first sequence of Surys flew by until I realized that I was sitting down into Utkatasana. This sequence was almost like my train hit a TALL mountain range. There were some ups and downs along the way. I was trying to find my breath, I tend to lose it here since becoming further along in my pregnancy. I finally found a rhythm that worked as I stepped into number three of the five that I was completing. I had to extend my breath count in Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, as well as, Virabhadrasana I. For some reason, it is hard to move through Surya B from UMS to Vira for me. I'm not sure if it is the speeding up of the sequence because your supposed to use one breath count or the fact that I don't completely have my breath under control when I move into this sequence.

I try to make my breath steady but it tends to get ragged and rough during that portion of the sequence. Alas, I made it through the sequence though :). It made me happy to make it through 5 of each sequence this morning.

I hope the weather stays cool but then again I'm in the south and nothing is ever this wonderful so early in the year :/. I shall enjoy it while it's here though.