being normal

like mentioned before, i went away for a few days to celebrate my birthday. how going away usually works out for me is that i keep up with my running; if the trip lasts longer than around four days or the circumstances it otherwise enable in a hassle-free manner, i do my yoga practice as well. this is because   fitting an ashtanga practice in requires a bit of planning (as i usually don't do it in the mornings because of running) as well as privacy, both of which can sometimes clash with the hectic and spontaneous holiday schedule.

this trip was no exception to this. i went running as usual, but yoga was something i did not even try to push into the days, partly because i didn't want to stress about timing it and partly because i was just proper lazy. i figured since i have only three days to spend in one of the more interesting cities of the US of A, i maybe wouldn't want to spend my time planning the visit around my yoga schedule - even i am not that obsessive about my routines. so i consciously made the decision not to practice in four days and was aware that i would feel the consequences - and boy oh boy did i indeed.

now, i don't know if it was the two 12-hr bus drives or the 17-hr sleep i had on monday thanks to the intense nausea i was experiencing during the latter one, but yesterday when i got back into yoga it felt as if i had never done it in my life. i was so stiff and it was so uncomfortable, especially in the beginning, that i considered just dropping it for a few times during the first five to ten asanas; but then i decided to just get through the primary series and do it as light and carefully as my poor stick stiff limbs and back required. so i didn't push it, didn't even try to get deep into the asanas; instead i focused on the bandhas and breathing and towards the end felt much better, but still felt a bit off overall.

this morning i still felt really stiff, to the extent that my lower back and the back of my thighs were aching; i guess the joint effect of being still for too long during the previous days and then getting back  into the practice, even if lightly. but then i did my practice and it was great, everything felt so much more loose and open as the day before; and towards the end of it i felt normal again. 

but what is actually interesting, and sort of the point of this whole rambling, is that afterwards it occurred to me that what i now consider normal is actually feeling pretty good; definitely above average. it is as if practicing ashtanga has raised the bar of how i am used to feeling; i have to feel good to feel normal. and this, i think, is absolutely fantastic, because i don't want to feel like anything else. during the past two years or so when i have practiced yoga regularly three to five times a week (before that it was a bit more sporadic) i have increasingly noticed the positive effect it has on me on both physical and mental level; and i can only imagine that the longer i practice, the more significant this impact will grow to be. needless to say, i don't have anything against this.

and i have to say, as much as i love running and could absolutely not do without it - the next time i'm going away, yoga should be fitted into the schedule as well. just because it is part of what is good.