Taking a break

I've not posted an update for a while. Main;y because I'm taking a self imposed break from Ashtanga right now. Before I go into detail on this, I was in Singapore recently and went to see J. Had a decent primary series practice with him considering I've cut down my practice to maybe once a week. He told me my current lack of motivation was common, and that just like a relationship, once the first bloom is over, we got to work on it. He was extremely encouraging and wasn't a all surprised about my condition.

Anyway I didn't go into detail with him about why I was demotivated, but I'll come clean here. This might sound controversial but I believe all the daily practice has been aging me..and fast. I lost quite a fair bit of body fat the last 2 years, and being in my early thirties, I believe the body no longer loses fat where I want it to lose. I noticed that unlike in my youth, when the fat would go from the hips and butt and jawline, now I lose my bust, my cheeks and under the eyes.

The past few weeks after cutting down a lot on my practice, I look a little more healthy and less skin and bones, but I also notice the weight distribution is coming back a little differently than before...mostly going directly to the hips..and not much to other places.

So...because I have always been vain about my looks..I need to back off and see what I can do to restore myself. It might sound silly to other people..but this weight loss and aging is really getting to me..and before I can come back to the practice..I need to deal with it.

Getting back to Basics..

I've not updated my blog for a loonnnggg while. So here's the latest on what I'm up to practice wise.

I've recently lost some interest in making progress in my poses..I think its gotto do with not having a permanent teacher to go to, my wrist injury and general laziness. Nevertheless, I've still been practising..and my recent focus has been on getting a few things right.

I realised that most people who had a strong practice usually had a great chaturanga..something I can't quite claim to have. I've never really spent a lot of time analysing my chaturanga, until I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that unlike those people with the "strong" practice, I don't usually have that nice 90 degree angle with the arms. Now I've heard conflicting advice from my teachers...some said bring the chest close to the floor, don't bother bout the arms..some have said keep the elbows right above the wrists etc.


I've been spending lots of time doing that, and I think it now looks reasonably 90 degrees (my arms)..and I think its working my abs a lot more. I hope that this extra effort will help with my bandha building...The one thing that is very helpful for me when lowering down is to concentrate on pushing forward slightly with my toes. This article was extremely helpful...

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/208