Day 33: Easier

Had a very good practice today, although I mucked it up with my mind by being impatient and afraid I was going to be late to the dharma center for 7:00 teachings. There was a teacher I've never had before, subbing in. Her name was Susie, a very cute, very slim blonde who usually teaches in Kirkland. She was pretty good, a different style than I'm used to, but she is very kind. Sometimes I had trouble hearing her, and other times her loud talking was almost like frantic shouting and had me a bit perturbed. Got one leg all the way down in final stretching!

We had a dessert bake-off today at work so I made an exception to my usual no-sugar-before-yoga-practice rule and binged on wee pieces of Nanaimo bars, coconut cake, rhubarb/orange custard tart, and apple crisp! Especially Nanaimo bars. Mmm. I could definitely tell in practice that that sugar is not a good idea. Had a jittery weakish feeling in my chest and was lightheaded at times. Luckily I only needed to rest out a set of Balancing Stick--second set this time!

I went straight from the yoga studio to the dharma center with a quick stop-off at Jamba Juice for a Sunrise Strawberry for dinner. Which bothered my digestive system. Maybe I drank it too fast? I'm almost tempted to stop eating a meal in the evening; this happens a lot. The monastics do it, why can't I?! (Answer: because I don't meditate for hours each day. My mind is chaotic and full of the eight worldly concerns. But I digress.) Luckily, I got there about seven minutes before the teachings started. I had pulled on my jeans and a sweatshirt over my sweaty self/underthings. I'm sure I looked nasty, but tried to put it out of my mind as I made an announcement about upcoming events. Hope I didn't scare anyone off!

This wasn't planned, but I ended up taking my dharma teacher and her student to the airport for their flight immediately after the teachings. My wet stanky yoga shorts were in the back seat (I immediately thought of this when I was agreeing to give them a ride) and when I pulled up to load up the luggage, I jumped out but Venerable was already in the backseat, grabbing my shorts to get them out of her way! Oh I felt so bad! "Did you go swimming?" she asked, as I was apologizing and taking them from her. "No. Hot yoga." Ah. Now I see the wisdom of keeping some sort of order in the car. We won't even talk about the empty Revive VitaminWater bottles and the empty almond bag on the floor in the backseat. Oh help.

Yesterday at the potluck after teachings, I was talking to a dharma friend about my teacher training. I've told a lot of people here and there in the course of things about my teacher training. His reaction was one of the most enthusiastic! Now I wish I'd asked him more about his experience with yoga instead of blabbing on about my training.