Where Does Time Go?

This evening, I came home from work and busted out a spontaneous act of Primary series. I haven't practiced Ashtanga in... oh fuck it, who's counting how many weeks now.

I've averaged ONE vinyasa class a week in the past few weeks. LAME-O.

I'm trying to find my new routine in this town. Life takes on a whole different perspective when you think you're living in a place temporarily versus living there for... well... not quite forever (I don't think?) but at least for the next few years (I think?)

Work has been hectic (was in Manchester last week - in and out in 24 hours. BAM!) ...Thank goodness the Portland, Oregon trip this week got dropped, but I'm still going to London town next week.

And now that I've changed gears in my head to "growing roots in Amsterdam", I'm kicking my ass out of the house in an effort to be more social and actually make friends. From my last few posts, you'd think I'm quite the social butterfly. Let me be the first to admit the first few trips out of cosy Beige Heaven was a draaaaaaaaaag. I'm quite happy pottering around on my own and living in my head. And on this blog. Haha.

But well... If I'm gonna be here a while, I better damn well get out there and make an effort. Right? (Which kind of explains why I've been quiet here. Something's gotta give!!)

So evenings and weekends have been uncharacteristically social. I've been out practically every night in the past week. Mid last week, a bunch of workmates decided to go bar-hopping, and I got home at 1am. And then decided to bust out a spontaneous practice on my mat after that. Not quite the full Ashtanga series, but I finished at 2am! HAHAHA! (Liz: didn't you practice super late into the wee hours before too? ...but yours was a "proper" practice. I was just doing what I liked. Heh.)

At this point in life, I figure: it's the best time of year to be in Amsterdam, I might as well make the most of it... so life has taken precedence over getting on my mat. Surprisingly, I'm not beating myself up over it coz I guess I've practiced long enough to know that it goes in cycles... I'm tipping over on the other end of the scale (Yeah, this could be figuratively and quite literally too! Felt a belly-roll in Parsvakonasana tonight! EEK!) And at some point I'm trusting that I'll go back to finding that balance in weaving my asana practice seamlessly back into living life. I'm still living the yoga, it's just much less about asana at this point! (I'm such a DORK.)

Oh. With all this socializing, I'm not even gonna get into the minefield that is making friends (like really: platonic friends) with a straight, single guy. It's such a mind-fuck coz some how I don't think that platonic friendships work with straight, single guys if they know you're single too. It's just so loaded. These are times when a girl just needs a gay-boyfriend (More fun + zero awkward loadedness). But wait - this is a whole different post altogether.

Noticeable points in today's practice: I've lost the bind in Supta Kurmasana. My fingertips brushed against each other, but the harder I tried to reach, the further away they got. Then I made a mental note to JUST LET GO and let it be. It will come back again when it does.

After backbends, I decided to try dropbacks. The first two were rubbish - I ended up dropping down to my knees (Don't ask me how trying to dropback lands you in the opposite direction!) ...Again, mental note not to rush it since it's been a while since I last dropped back. I just thought of slowly opening up the space between each vertabra and just doing hangbacks halfway... and on the third try, I dropped down to the floor.

Standing back up again is completely lost. I kept falling to my knees and it was the weirdest sensation coz it was like my entire body had forgotten what to do with itself in order to haul itself back up. I kept thinking "Navel to the sky!" which usually helps me lift back up again... But I just fell onto my knees!

Lost count how many dropbacks I did in order to stand back up again... But I did them over and over again, maybe about 10 just coz I felt like it. It was kind of cool observing myself from a distance - I had no goal to reach. I was just trying it to see where I ended up, with lots of breaks in between each. I still ended up on my knees every single time. (Also made a mental note that I had to keep on the Primary series for a while till I get my stamina back AND dropback/stand up again before going back to Intermediate.)

After practice, I made dinner, looked at the clock and was like... WTF? 11.30pm?!

Late night yoga probably isn't a good idea in building some kind of life+practice routine... but going out till late also isn't a good idea in building some kind of life+practice routine (if I'm thinking of getting back into a morning practice).

Oh well. Just got to keep up the practice and I guess all is coming. Oh look, I have a dinner-party invitation tomorrow night (Yes, I'm the other "Plus One". Both "Plus Ones" are girls. PHEW!)... Guess an evening practice is out of the question now! ;p