Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thanks...

Thank you all for your Birthday wishes. Yogamum and Clare, I can read you through RSS but I do not think I can comment on your posts anymore, but know that I keep reading your blogs and I enjoy them very much.
Yesterday I cooked all day long, all vegetarian food and mostly vegan. My and my sister’s friends came over. Not so many people since it was a week night and I still know few people here. We were eight people and it was a great night. My vegan birthday cake turned out to be heavenly! This morning I woke up at nine and did my practice. It was a good practice except the backbends, too much food at dinner do not agree with backdrops in the morning ☺ but it was birthday, so it is okey.
I am moving into my friends apartment on Sunday! Then I will begin meeting with my friend at Cihangir Yoga in the mornings to do self practice. She practices Gravity and Grace. It will be motivating to be practicing with a friend. I always feel more energetic, motivated, focused…

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The 30s, here they are...

Well, here it is, I turn 30 today… I am hoping this decade will bring more clarity to my life.
I woke up at 5:45 am and did my practice. There were a lot of emotions boiling up, I burst into tears twice!? Hoping, hoping, wishing that I will be more confident now on, so that I will shed no more tears of frustration for those who can not except me as I am…
The other day, I discovered Ganesh at the FaceBook and last night I received a warm message from him. I miss Anu and Ganesh very much, ohh Anu’s food was so good.. I am already envies of all those people who are in Mysore… what to do , where to go…
Well, Happy birhtday to me! I am cooking for my own mini party... I already screwed up the Vegan ice cream :) well, hopefully other things will turn out okay...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

UnDemocracy or what else?

Heyyyy! I cannot read Wordpress blogs!! I just wanted to read few Ashtangi blogs but what I came across to was this message in Turkish and English “Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of T.C. Fatih 2.Civil Court of First Instance” What the f…? Now I cannot read Mindbending , Driste , Graciously , all those Word press blogs I used to read! I hate this undemocratic mentality in this country! Welcome to my world ☹ I have no clue why the hell they would block Wordpress in Turkey. One more reason why I cannot feel at home here…
Well, I was in a better mood before trying to see what is up with other bloggers I like to read…
My practice was okay this week in spite of the extreme heat. I wake up at 5:45 am before it gets hotter, but I still sweat a lot. I subbed a gentle class today, and tomorrow after teaching my gentle class, I will sub Eric’s Ashtanga Led class. I am a bit nervous about the Ashtanga class, hopefully I will not do something funny such as getting nervous during the chant and freezing or something…
Well, I feel bad that I cannot read your blogs anymore…

Monday, August 20, 2007

Second series, Schengen and Juicing...

During yesterday’s class, Eric did second series led until Pincha Payurasana, well he also had us play around with Mayurasana, and Nakrasana Nakrasana was the scariest for me. But I realized that going up to Pincha Payurasana, was not painful as it had been for me, especially during the TT. I guess my efforts of elbows slightly open Chaturanga began paying off and so I am getting stronger ☺
After the class, I was talking to Eric and he told me that I can actually practice up to Pincha Payurasana at the moment. I, of course, protested because my heels do not come down exactly during Pasasana; however, he said that he knows many ashtanga teachers who would let me move on… Anyways, least week I practiced until Salabasana B, including it… I wonder what Nancy Gilgoff will let me do. I am still waiting for my passport to see if I go the Visa. They UPS it back to you which is kind of a pain… and just as I was writing these lines my passport came!!!! And they gave me Visa to cover my both trips, to Berlin and Italy! Yuppieee!!! Yes I am happy!!!
Okey, what else, as I was speaking of practice, I am very sore today. I don’t know if it is yesterday’s practice or the fact that it was so hot last night that I put the fan on and opened the window and probably all that on top of my sweating body was not the best. Also, I am doing a juice fast today; for this reason, I stopped my practice after Navasana . I know this is lazy of me but in this heat I get too dizzy, so I thought since also I am very sore, I can give myself a little break… uhh I feel really weak now... but it will all be good for my body, rite?

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Yoga Matrix

Hey! This afternoon I got my yoga goodies that I have ordered from Amazon! I was afraid they would not make it to their destination since that has been the pattern for my orders from the US Amazon, but this time I worked hard on them, kept sending the determined energy for them making it home and it worked! And I was so excited, I don’t remember squeaking like that for a long time when I opened the already opened package (I guess Turkish customs opens the packages… or some curious postman who did not like what I gotten)! I have gotten Yoga Matrix: The Body As a Gateway to Freedom CD collection by Richard Freeman and Moola Bandha: The Master Key by Swami Buddhananda. I have already listened to the first CD of the Yoga Matrix, it consists of 6 CDs, and I loved it. I cannot wait to listen to the others! Richard Freeman's perception is very immense. I actually felt a great relief when I heard him say that when one comes across a paradox between this and that style, then the yoga begins working, so do not give up!... this had been my situation lately...

Ups and downs, and a lazy blogger...

I am being very lazy about blogging. I don’t know why? I have so much to write about actually… I have been going through ups and downs… I learned that my house will not be ready by the end of the year, so I began panicking and making many travel plans to avoid being cramped in my parent’s house longer… Then I decided to sublet a friend’s house who has a nice place in a nice area, but still keeping the travel plans, maybe not staying for 6 months in India but couple of months or so :)
How is practice? I feel like my practice kind of sucks. I am not getting any stronger, so I asked about this to Eric and he told me that I need to separate my elbows from my torso a bit during chaturangas... I was kind of taking strength by resting on my arms, I had no idea I was cheating... so I began practicing by separating my elbow, but it is so difficult, as if I am just a beginner... My shoulders, my arms, they are all sore… Now, my initial opinion of Mysore classes became a reality! I guess I mentioned this before, in the beginning I had no idea what Mysore classes meant, and I thought those classes in the schedule at Yoga Place were for people who were sore or injured… silly me… anyway… Therefore, my practice is given me hard time. Ohhh, I guess it is trying to tell me something, such as I need to do much more hard work to get where I want to...
Teaching is not going bad. There are few people who enjoy my teaching quite a lot. Actually, they are those three people whom I thought they were a bit awkward… See, you never know who will embrace you, or I never know... But the thing is they cannot believe I practice ashtanga, because I teach them a gentle class, I guess more of a Tias way. Does this mean that I am not being true to my own practice? I always go over what I am teaching that day… but what I question is, is it treachery to teach something else while owning another practice??? Well, maybe the adjustment clinic workshop with Nancy Gilgoff, which I will hopefully go to in September will help me. Yes, I applied for my visa to Germany yesterday and I feel that they will give me the Visa. God, they are though on us Turks… I got really frustrated and stressed about this Schengen Visa. They ask for so many things from one for a Visa while my sister, who was born in the US, does not need to do anything, she can just pick up and go wherever she wants to in Europe. Such discrimination… I actually had two missing documents, for one they made me go and get inhabitants document for my whole family from a Government office which was thankfully not so far. But why do they need such a thing about my whole family for a Visa I have no idea… The other thing was that the invitation letter from the yoga studio in Berlin was not valid; they were suppose to get a document from a Police Station in Germany… but the lady who was looking at my documents were nice enough to accept the letter that they have faxed from the studio… So, now I am waiting for my passport and then I can get my ticket for the flight to Berlin! If I do not get a visa, I will be only pissed for the 60 Euros, which they have taken for Visa fee, otherwise it means I was not meant to go to this workshop. But if I go, I hope to get as much as I can from Nancy. I hope it will set me straight at least regarding my own practice, especially after the TT, which confused me. I seem to be getting over that confusion though…
I am also planning to go to Italy at the end of October to do an Osho therapy group, Primal , so my sister will stop telling me that I should do that group every other day! I hope it will benefit me more than just getting my sister off my back because soon enough, she will be telling me to do something else like a mantra, it will not be a long term relief, thus I better get something more from doing this. ☺ .
Actually, beside all this sarcasm, I am sure this group will be very helpful for me. I decided that I should do it last January, when I was in Pune after doing Alchemy of Breath group. Ohh I cannot wait to go back to Pune! Hopefully after all these, around end of November, I will get myself to India!!!