starting out and getting there.
the week had an auspicious enough begining: regular classes with marisa, margi, and sarah; encouragement from su ann; and despite the hectic pace of getting ready for a long trip overseas, the calming feeling of daily practice at OM. but of course, each day brings new challenges to our idea of balance, and i have quickly turned mine on it's ear.
with a noon saturday departure, i knew i would not have time to make it in to the studio, then back home and on to the airport. i had also been considering over the last week how i was going to meet the challenges of daily asana practice with a 24 hour travel frenzy looming. how does one do yoga in coach on a 14 hour non-stop flight? maybe the breaks in between? in my seat, to the possible horror of my fellow passengers? the solutions turned out to be somewhere between mundane, ridiculous, and impossible. but it was really fun...
saturday morning i did my asana with cyndi lee's intermediate level dvd. it was a most welcome break from my goodbye party, the pre-vacation crush at work, and the scramble to have everything (or at least as much as possible) in place before my departure. i came out of shivasana sweaty, relaxed, completely calm, with an ear to ear smile. my cats were deeply interested.
a flight to tokyo is always arduous. it's approximately fourteen hours non-stop, give or take depending on headwinds, which this time were strong at well over 100mph, according to the map read out. the plane was crowded, and my hopes for finding a small spot somewhere in one of the aisles for a short asana practice were dashed by the number of people waiting to use the space to queue for the restroom and stretch themselves. i consoled myself with a short burt of warrior 1 - warrior 2 - reverse warrior - triangle pose. i felt much much better.
the layover in tokyo is supposed to be several hours, but our plane is late, again the headwinds, so i only have half an hour between deplaning and getting to my next flight. i decided to again use this opportunity to get a little practice in; i have no mat, not dvd, no blocks, no blanket.... no matter. narita airport is spacious and not so crowded, so i picked out a nice empty spot to do sun salutations, seated forward bends, and twists. luckily, the airport is carpeted so i'm not doing this on tile. my calves for some reason are particularly sore after the flight and they get some very welcome relief, especially by paddling my feet in down dog. to my great amusement as i was switching from warrior one to warrior two, an aiport cart went slowly by with driver and passengers staring at me while their cart belted out a high pitched tune of 'it's a small world'. and they think i'm weird...
after this, off to my next flight, a 6 hour jaunt from tokyo to bangkok. despite my initial feeling of joy and freshness following my narita airport workout, the plane begins to make me cranky: i'm tired of being boxed in, tired of the lights (significantly brighter), not particularly sleepy, and on and on... some maitri breath helps, but only just. i arrive in bangkok late, 1 a.m. by the time i get to my guest house and pass out. still tommorrow i must get another jet, this one to koh samui, and island in the thai gulf and then finally a ferry and a long hike to koh phangan, my first destination.
with a noon saturday departure, i knew i would not have time to make it in to the studio, then back home and on to the airport. i had also been considering over the last week how i was going to meet the challenges of daily asana practice with a 24 hour travel frenzy looming. how does one do yoga in coach on a 14 hour non-stop flight? maybe the breaks in between? in my seat, to the possible horror of my fellow passengers? the solutions turned out to be somewhere between mundane, ridiculous, and impossible. but it was really fun...
saturday morning i did my asana with cyndi lee's intermediate level dvd. it was a most welcome break from my goodbye party, the pre-vacation crush at work, and the scramble to have everything (or at least as much as possible) in place before my departure. i came out of shivasana sweaty, relaxed, completely calm, with an ear to ear smile. my cats were deeply interested.
a flight to tokyo is always arduous. it's approximately fourteen hours non-stop, give or take depending on headwinds, which this time were strong at well over 100mph, according to the map read out. the plane was crowded, and my hopes for finding a small spot somewhere in one of the aisles for a short asana practice were dashed by the number of people waiting to use the space to queue for the restroom and stretch themselves. i consoled myself with a short burt of warrior 1 - warrior 2 - reverse warrior - triangle pose. i felt much much better.
the layover in tokyo is supposed to be several hours, but our plane is late, again the headwinds, so i only have half an hour between deplaning and getting to my next flight. i decided to again use this opportunity to get a little practice in; i have no mat, not dvd, no blocks, no blanket.... no matter. narita airport is spacious and not so crowded, so i picked out a nice empty spot to do sun salutations, seated forward bends, and twists. luckily, the airport is carpeted so i'm not doing this on tile. my calves for some reason are particularly sore after the flight and they get some very welcome relief, especially by paddling my feet in down dog. to my great amusement as i was switching from warrior one to warrior two, an aiport cart went slowly by with driver and passengers staring at me while their cart belted out a high pitched tune of 'it's a small world'. and they think i'm weird...
after this, off to my next flight, a 6 hour jaunt from tokyo to bangkok. despite my initial feeling of joy and freshness following my narita airport workout, the plane begins to make me cranky: i'm tired of being boxed in, tired of the lights (significantly brighter), not particularly sleepy, and on and on... some maitri breath helps, but only just. i arrive in bangkok late, 1 a.m. by the time i get to my guest house and pass out. still tommorrow i must get another jet, this one to koh samui, and island in the thai gulf and then finally a ferry and a long hike to koh phangan, my first destination.
posted by brett at 9:32 PM
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