Strange days...

Last night I slept like a baby for nearly ten hours after reading more of the Tree of Yoga and struggling with Sanskrit vowel symbols. I awoke just before eight this morning after the most random dream. I was back in the UK and some guy I used to know asked me if I would write him a cheesy Celine Dion type lurve ballad- now this was weird because in real life he is the last person you would expect to listen to that kind of schmaltz and I am the last person you would expect to write it. Anyway, it seemed to be important to him so I sat down with a pen and paper and got to work... I struggled and struggled- I wanted to make it rhyme but having some creative pride I wanted it to be different and not contrived. Anyway, I was stuck and so, BETTE MIDLER, Queen of the cheesy ballad herself ('Wind Beneath My Wings' et al) turned up to give me a hand... She sat opposite me, legs crossed, red hair falling over artfully painted and chewed lips, chattering nineteen to the dozen about how to write love songs... "Honey," she said, "I know how you feel, sure we've all been cynical, I've been cynical too, but you gotta remember that one day you can walk into someones life and be the MOST important thing to ever happen to them..." and we talked for a bit, my song started to flow, and just as I was finishing the second verse, humming the melody and thinking about royalty cheques I awoke feeling slightly bemused. I mean if I'm receiving spiritual guidance from Bette Midler I've definitely spent way too long in Brighton... Well Krishna has many guises I guess...
I needed a coffee and a think after that one so I lay down for a while, loving my cup of Percol. No Shala practice as its Saturday, so I got up and did a self practice for an hour and a half. Today I really took into account what I was reading in the Tree of Yoga- I was careful to balance out the postures for Yama's sake- for integrity- one side of the body not bullying the other and rather than giving in to the temptation to breathe around the asana, I tried to focus on the breath as 'King', allowing my body to be a frame for that. I started with some Hatha Sun Salutations, and when my body had opened up enough, jumped into the Ashtanga ones with a new lightness today. Ashtanga really does create that cleansing heat that relates to the saucha in Niyama- I've started to pray at the start of a practice- a little prayer to Krishna that any energy I have hanging around or in me thats maybe not useful should be taken and recycled, transmuted into something that is of use and moves forward... And sometimes I ask Krishna to give any necessary adjustments too so in a way the practice is surrendered and I don't think of it in terms of whether or not I'm going 'further' today then yesterday. Because another thing I'm learning is that the physical patterns relate to the mental patterns and so you have to have patience- one day you can do something, the other you can't and sometimes it seems to go in circles but why should the process of Yoga development be so linear? I remember once I was in a Gary Carter Yoga workshop and he pointed out that the body and joints did not move in a linear way but often tend towards the circular and I guess this relates too. Its a nice little visualization to imagine misty blue hands adjusting you within your zone. I've also had quite a lot of pain the past couple of days but when I've taken the time to approach the practice in this way it doesn't hurt. I was worried I'd hurt myself, but I'm not doing any asana practice here that I wasn't doing regularly at home but I do have time to think about things I didn't when I was at home and I think thats it.
It was a beautiful practice today and then I had a long hot honey shower-gel shower, gave myself an almond oil face massage and headed into town. I've found a good internet cafe here that you don't have to queue for, tucked away in an old building above the market. The market just out of the KR circle which is all cobbled streets and green trees over the stalls, it has a bit of a Saint Malo vibe about it and I'm very fond of it. Bumped into Maviya from the fabric shop, in fact I keep bumping into him. I'm going to head to the Art Gallery and check out some local art. My next Iyengar book to read is 'The Art of Yoga' where he discusses the Yogi as artist which I'm looking forward to. Iyengar used to hang around with Vanda Scaravelli in Florence so it should be a good one...