How Do You Motivate Yourself to Practice?

Following Monday's post, there were so many awesome comments from so many awesome people (yes, we're Ashtangis and we're all a little bit intense. Deal with it, thanks!), that I have been thinking more about the state of my practice. (Thinking about my practice? No shit, Sherlock!)

I mean... Now that I'm back in the Dam and coasting along at work (it's the calm before the next big storm), I'm trying to build a routine into this new apartment I've moved into too. And of course, when you talk about routine, the Ashtanga yoga practice figures pretty prominently, right? (HAHA.)

I've been trying a home practice out. I was totally inspired by my practice at the shala in London last month, so I figured I'd ride that wave back here. Unfortunately, the moment I came back to the Dam, I twisted my foot and then had to modify like crazy in order to keep practicing.

Needless to say, it has been quite the struggle. The foot is still not 100%. I can pretty much do most standing poses now, except Utthita Hasta Padangustasana while standing on the left foot (the arch still hurts a bit), and I can't do any lotus poses where the outer top part of the left foot needs to be stretched. UHP is starting to hurt less on the left foot, and I tried it with full extended right leg yesterday, but was WOBBLING LIKE CRAZY. It was like being a beginner all over again.

Practice has started to feel MORE AND MORE like a struggle these days. I guess it's a combination of practicing at home, practicing with a busted foot AND practicing in colder weather. The sun isn't up till 8am these days, so it's HARD to roll out of a toasty bed into the cold and dark living room.

My Sydney teacher used to say "Guruji said if you start your practice in the winter, you will have your practice for life."

It's so true!! The eff-ing freezing cold is such a deterrent.

Hence... You can see why I've been thinking about my practice, right? How to get myself motivated. I'm thinking it's something as simple as: I need to get me to a shala already.

The new-ish ashtanga shala that opened here a few months ago has morning Mysore classes, but as they only have them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I initially wasn't interested coz... Well... I LIKE MY ROUTINE! What am I supposed to do on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays? Yes, yes, practice at home right? ...At the time, it just didn't seem like the ideal scenario to break up shala and home practices on alternate days.

Now... this idea is more and more appealing, just coz I think I'm at the point now where I need a teacher to motivate me, aka: give me an ass-whooping. HA! Not really... But I miss getting adjustments. I miss the group energy. I miss having an experienced eagle-eye push you just that little bit further, taking you somewhere you never thought was possible before. It's hard to find that in a home practice - you either over-do it or not do enough. And at some point, I feel a little bit lost. I mean... Hello? I've been at Laghuvajrasana for like 10 months now? Sometimes, you are your own best teacher, but sometimes you need a little guidance.

You know how for some people motivation to get on the mat comes in the form of buying a new mat, new yoga clothes or towels or other kinds of paraphernalia? Whatever it takes to get you on that mat. But this time, my motivation to get me to the shala is the most random thing. A rain-suit.


Y'know. Beyond the raincoat, a rain-suit is made up of ugly rain pants and a poncho on top. The Dutch all have one to get around on their bikes in the rain. Sometimes they also carry an umbrella while cycling (this is where having only back-brakes on the pedals comes in handy - no hand-brakes to manouver!)

I have been resisting buying one, purely from an aesthetic point-of-view. They're ugly. Which is kinda stupid coz in the winter it rains even more here than it does in London, and the kind of rain I'm talking about is really like that French phrase: "Il pleut comme un vache qui pisse." (And if you've been to a cow farm, you'll know where that phrase comes from!)

Seriously... Look at this week's weather forecast:


The thought of having to cycle through the cold, dark rain at 6am to get to the shala is giving me the heebyjeebies. (No wonder morning mysore isn't a popular choice here at all!)

Now I also have to work up the nerve to get that FUGLY rain-suit.

The things we do for yoga.

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Excuses, Excuses... Including the Weather!

I've got a problem. I can't seem to find the motivation to get back into a regular Ashtanga practice.

ARRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!

I have no excuse. The new shala has now got morning Mysore classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Sunday mornings are self-practice with no teacher around. At least there's a space now for group practice, right? Haven't I been moaning about the difficulty of self-practice alone at home?!

But I just seem to find excuses NOT to wake up early... The World Cup provided a great excuse not to wake up early. But Kevin still found the time to do it. And he's a hardcore football fan. I'm not. (And it's not like I was watching THAT many matches either! Haha!)

The other reason has been my frequent bouts of insomnia - after only getting about 2 - 3 hours sleep a night, the last thing I want to do is roll out of bed at 6am and then roll out my mat. Now, in the past week and a half, I've realized that I've been stressing myself out at night with thoughts of "Got to get to bed early. Need to wake up early to practice tomorrow!"

...This consequently leads to me worrying about being able to fall asleep so that I'll get enough rest in order to make it to the mat the next day. So what happens? I end up NOT BEING ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP! I found that I'd keep looking at the time to ensure I'd still get at least 6 - 7hrs sleep at the minimum.

What an idiot.

I can't function with any less than 6 hours' sleep. The moment it starts looking like I'd only get about 5 hours sleep "if I fall asleep NOW", I'd give up, set the alarm for 2.5 hours later - thinking that I'd just skip practice and go straight to work. For some reason, once this happens, I manage to fall asleep just fine.

I AM CHRONIC.

It's like I'm subconsciously sabotaging my plans to get back on the mat. I wonder if it's coz I'm just dreading working my way through the Intermediate series?

I had grand plans to make it to the shala this morning. But the above scenario was exactly what happened. Then I thought "OK, I'll just go for the evening Mysore class. At least it's SOME practice." ...and then what happens?

A HUGE TORRENTIAL COLD-FRONT DOWNPOUR UNLEASHES ON AMSTERDAM.

I live in Amsterdam and I don't own an umbrella. Nor a raincoat. (yes, yes. It's high time I get one. It probably rains more often here than in London).

*SIGH*

Another planned practice thwarted.

As there is no shala practice tomorrow morning, I am going to *attempt* a home practice. I'm telling myself it's not a big deal (otherwise I'm gonna start clock-watching again). How frustrating. What the heck is my problem?!?

On a lighter note... A bunch of us were stuck at the office in the middle of the storm today. As it was letting up a little, we decided to just leg it home with rain-protection fashioned together from garbage bags (we cut holes where the head and arms go through an overturned bag). This is Amsterdam. Nobody gives a toss what they look like. HAHAHA!

At least she tried to look a little more fashionable, with a belt made of duct tape.



I ended up looking like I was ready to scrub up to enter the operating theatre. Yes, that's a scarf-slash-hoodie. I'm saving this "outfit" for another rainy day!

Summer Hair Part 2: The Moustache

Every November at our office is "Movember" month. Basically, it's a competition to see which guy can grow the most glorious moustache within a month. What would possess any guy to do this? Charity, of course!

...unless you're any of these guys.



Every guy gets sponsored by any of the girls in the office. The guy puts in R20 to be part of the competition, and his sponsor(s) chip in R2 for every day he stays in the competition (yes, some guys buckle under facial hair pressure and bow out). All money collected goes to a children's home to help them out for Christmas.

The final prize? The guy with the best tache wins a case of beer, sponsored by one of our alcohol clients, and the sponsor wins a spa voucher. I dunno who's going to judge and how they'll make the final decision, but it's fun to see most of the guys in the office sporting 5 o'clock shadows in an attempt to stay in the race. (Back home, they'll probably have to keep the competition running for at least 2 months in order for the Chinese boys to grow anything decent!)

Of course I've sponsored Kelly, and when the other producers heard that he joined the competition, they all wanted to back him too since he's such a hairy ang moh. He's already got a beard anyway so it's a matter of how much more gloriously Taleban he can get it (we're just trying to figure out how we're gonna split the spa voucher if he wins).

A few days ago, he decided to shape it into a "proper" moustache by shaving off most of the beard, and this is what he looks like now:


SHOCKING! He's growing it into a Hulk Hogan!


I'm not sure if I should hold his hand anymore when we're walking down the street. Maybe I should walk on the other side of the street, far away from him as well. Everyone had a good laugh at his hillbilly look.

There's a weekly round-up with pictures of each competing guy's tache. This is what they've put up for Kelly:



If you want to see the full office round up, click here.

South-Easter Wind wreaks HAVOC!

It's been an expensive past 24 hours.

The Black South-Easterly has been BLOWING like there's no tomorrow, with gale-force winds of up to 65km/h! I have never in my 1.5 years here experienced wind like we had yesterday. It's impossible to walk outside - you have to walk with your legs wide apart and body ducked low to prevent being blown away. Seriously.

We thought we'd go to the Glen and check out what the wind was doing to Camps Bay Beach and the Atlantic Ocean, and it was such an awesome sight! Took a video as well, but it's kinda low-res... if you look closely, you'll see the wind flicking the sand off the beach into the water, and further out you see mist sprays of water dancing off the ocean. It was such an awesome sight.
(Email subscribers need to download the attached link to see the youtube video)


There were some awesome sun-rays-through-the-clouds shots Kelly managed to get. (I had to hide behind a bush as I was getting blown over and we were next to a cliff. Scary Mary).





The amount of damage this wind has done is unbelievable - roofs have blown off, motorbikes and even trucks have blown over, cars have been crushed by falling debris, trees have fallen over, check out the local news report here.
(The South-East wind is also called the "Cape Doctor" coz it blows all the pollution from town out to sea).

We weren't spared either.

First of all - getting out of the car at the Glen to capture that video was probably a bad idea. As I was opening the car door (carefully with 2 hands, I might add), the wind caught it and swung the door open with such force that it now can't quite close properly. We've only just serviced the car and paid a hefty R5,000 for all the major fixing, and now have to go back 2 weeks later to get this door fixed. Bah.
Here's Kelly trying to close it, back at home:


The wind had also blown over AND dragged some garbage cans across our driveway. You'll see how far away they were dragged here:


Being the good citizen he is, Kelly hoisted them all back where they belonged.


The wind was howling all through the night, and this morning, we woke up to find water leaking through the ceiling. Since we've got a loft, part of the roof is hidden behind a trap door where all the piping and the geyser goes. Kelly stuck his head through the trap door to check and lo and behold, THERE'S A HOLE IN THE ROOF! Some roof tiles must've blown off last night.


Good thing all external structures are sorted by the Body Corporate (kinda like the Resident's Committee), and they're gonna send someone round to fix it. The problem is it's still raining in the meantime and will be until tomorrow!! I dunno how anyone's gonna be able to climb outside without getting blown off. You can't even put a pail out to catch the leaks coz they're running down the side of the walls (and staining them too), so I've got puddles of towels around the floor. The guys came to have a look and counted 28 roof tiles blew off. That's a big hole that can't be fixed till Friday, when the rain and wind finally stop.
These are the stained walls at the moment:


Our balcony's a right mess - all the chairs have collapsed and blown over.


The poor frankenstein lavender was just starting to come right again after taking a beating when the last cold front hit. It's still partially brown and green, but some flower buds were starting to grow again (check out the solo purple bud). This morning, more of its branches had ripped off AGAIN! Oh, my heavy potting soil that was tucked away in the balcony corner was also blown across to the other end of the balcony (the black trash bag in the shot above)... I dunno how that could've happened.


Kelly's motorbike was also blown over, laying against the wall.

It's been such a destructive and dismaying thing to wake up to this morning. When is Summer gonna come properly?!

Summer Hair

Since it feels like Summer's almost just about here, and trying to grow my hair out is getting boring, I decided to go lighter for a difference and here's my Ah Lian brown-blonde hair now.

Call me Golden Monkey.

The Lavender's either Dead or Dying

Just before I left for St. Francis Bay, Cape Town was going through a glorious few weeks of hot, sunny weather and it felt like Spring was pretty much here.

The lavender thought Spring was here to stay, so she decided to come out in full bloom. While I was away, the entire month of September went haywire and Winter came back in full force - complete with rainy days, howling wind and freezing cold temperatures. This is what I came back to find on the balcony:

A half-dead/ dying lavender plant.

The easiest thing to do would've been to turn around and blame Kelly for not watering the plants... however, all the other plants seemed to be doing OK. The Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and the Polygala were both green and blossoming... so I can only assume the lavender got frost bite...? Or maybe too much water from the constant rain...?



2/3 of the plant has turned brown, all the flowers have wilted, and even the green bits that are left are intermittently brown throughout the stalks. I don't know what to do now. Google searches say you must NEVER over-prune lavender to the base as they'll never grow again... So I've pruned as much as I think I can to try and save the plant, but it's not exactly looking very good. I've chopped off entire stalks that looked dead.


And the plant's in a very sorry, bald state now. :(


Guess I'll find out in a couple weeks if the entire thing's a goner... any comments/ suggestions from people with green thumbs are welcome!

Weather Widget Says...

This is what Cape Town winters look like. :(

Brrrr! Winter's here!

Just a week ago, it was warm and bright and sunny where even bergies could fall asleep by the beach half naked.

A week later, winter's properly hit Cape Town and all I'm craving is soup. Made a Barley & Lentil soup yesterday (yes, still lacto-vegan and going strong). Yum!



...and a Veggie Thai Red Curry today. It was absolutely dee-lish, but unfortunately I can't claim credit for it. Once again, it's Woolworths to the rescue with their vegan red curry in a can (with bamboo shoots & corn premixed) - just boil and add whatever else you want in it. Today, it's brussel sprouts and mange tout peas with brown rice and leftover couscous. :)

Cuckoo Cape Weather

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This is how infuriating the weather here can be. One moment it's bright, sunny skies and the next, it's storming like you'd never seen before (that's why it used to be called the Cape of Storms).

I now have an insurance claim to deal with on one of my shoots. Both pictures here are taken on the same day, just 7hrs apart. The foggy, misty one is on top of Table Mountain - where the fog is in the pic is usually a glorious backdrop of the city bowl and the ocean below it (it's so high up that your ears pop as you're driving up the mountain).

We had to find an alternative location an hour away and were checking the forecast every hour, which kept predicting sunny skies in the afternoon. We couldn't really believe it until it actually happened... and the weather turned in just half an hour.

It's Spring!

YAY! September 1st is the official 1st day of Spring!! Even though it was still cold and yucky and wet yesterday, today was gorgeous and the weather's starting to feel like it's turning... tourists will be here soon and I'll no doubt have more photos of that in a bit.

Cold Front = Misty Mountain

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The big huge mountain is usually where this big white misty patch is. Brrrr... it's a wet & chilly day.