Mysore, National Yoga Day and Haiti

The weekend was nice. Relaxed, cleaned the house, got another anatomy book to study for teacher training, finished one of my papers for teacher training. :)

This morning I was up at 4:45 and rolled out of bed and was out the door by 5:15. Headed to Mysore practice.
I was the 2nd student there this AM. I like it when it is nice and quiet. :)
I had to bring back my old orange Jade harmony mat; the travel mat from Jade is good, but not enough cushion for Ashtanga. Tops of my feet were getting bruised when I try to jump through because there is no cushsion.
So I pulled out my trusty older Jade Harmony mat- the thicker one that has been around for 3 years. It is flaking and such, but it did just fine.
I told myself if I keep up with Mysore practice once a week until my 31st Birthday on March 2nd then maybe (if I can afford it) I will finally buy that Manduka Pro mat. They sell them at the studio and I do not want to buy the mat unless I know I will get use out of it.
My harmony mat is fine for daily hatha- but if I intend to keep with a vinyasa/ashtanga practice I need a thicker heavy duty mat. My teacher is going to keep me accountable as well :)

I am in a much more upbeat mood when I go to Mysore classes; I have no clue why.

So practice was sweat inducing and pretty difficult. When Marsha assisted me in urdhva dhanurasana it was intense. I came out after 3 of them and told her I could remember when I could crank out 5 of these and not be THIS tired. But after 3 I was exhausted.
Seriously I am a believer in the "if you don't use it you lose it"

I mean I suppose if you do Ashtanga daily you are getting in all those crazy hard poses and build up endurance.
My endurance is just gone! But I am building it back up.
Don't get me wrong! I love doing yin at night, I love the Jivamukti DVD too. I also balanced such a raja based practice with nice long meditations the last 2 practices and it is a really good combo for me.
After practicing Ashtanga the last day of training a few weeks ago at Asheville Yoga Center; it sort of re-lit my fire and passion for it.
And reminded me that I have an amazing teacher close by that I should not pass up the opprotunity to practice with.

So that was practice today. Now lets see what I do when I get on my mat tomorrow at home :)
I am subbing a class tomorrow night atLotus at 6:30 I think it is a hatha heart focused class. I am going to teach vinyasa and work in a lot of chest openers.

Then on Friday night I am teaching the lovely group of ladies in Atlanta. Then Saturday is National Yoga Day. I am teaching Intro. to Vinyasa at Lotus for donations only going to the Humane Society!!! Plus these help towards my teacher training hours. So two great causes!!

I am also in the works of maybe doing a donation only class at Balance Yoga Atlanta one Saturday for donations to go to Haiti disaster fund. That might be happening next weekend? I'll let you know if that works out or not.

So lots of yoga stuff.
Today I am working from home. So time to get back to it! Hope you had a great weekend.