Ganesha

Over here there's been some discussion of Ganesha, who looks spooky at 6:20 am. I'm pretty sure that this is the Ganesha in question. Once upon a time that was my Mysore-style room, too. Ah for the days.

See also this for the room in action.

The lighting in the morning, as I remember it, is about half-light, so the whole room takes on a dusky sort of orange-brown color, and it's really warm in there, about 80 degrees, probably.

There is both excitement and frustration in those memories, and for multiple reasons. San Francisco then, Indianapolis now. Different. Enough of that. But also, the frustrating-yet-productive encounter with dropping back/standing up in order to have some Intermediate. You know, if you read enough of this, that I find the backbend to be a very fickle thing and that recently I found myself believing that I'll probably grab my feet in Kapotasana before I drop back and stand up from a backbend.

Even on days when I'm emotionally wrought, if I do enough practice to reach Kapotasana, it progresses. Slow and steady. But backbends are ALL over the map. Some days they are gigantic and arms-straight and some days they are "head barely off floor" and they seem to vary at will, regardless of how much or little practice I do. They make my cats look consistent by comparison.

Maybe if I had a regular Mysore-style practice with a teacher, the backbends would settle in and eventually "permit" Intermediate (traditionally speaking). The wheel is the only pose, in my whole current collection, both traditional and not, that varies to this degree. Sure, some days my twists aren't as deep or my right hip gets tight and half-lotus is tough, but when I get to the end of a practice and reach the backbends, it's like "Hey come on over and Spin the Wheel! Place your bets!"

Anyway, enough whining about that.