Yoga!

Went to my first yoga session in about 5 years today. Early morning, 7.30, so I had to get up early, which wasn't so bad, really. It was part of a course of three sessions, a sort of 'taster' put on by my employers. The guy who took the session was good, quite different from the sort of yoga I've done before, (hatha, lots of breathing at a meditative pace) more active. The guy teaches astanga (faster) but fortunately not at the frenetic pace of some astanga classes I've seen. Boy, was I tired at the end of it, and sadly, with a whole day at work to go to afterwards. I wish I could say that doing yoga this morning gave me more energy for the day, but no. It's school holidays too, so extra busy and demanding.
     I'm hoping to revive my practice, and do a regular session every day. There's a useful book by a New Zealand yoga teacher called "Forty days of yoga: breaking down the barriers to home practice" (by Kara-Leah Grant), which looks at the ways we procrastinate about home practice. She makes some very pertinent points, one being that many people think they have to attend formal teaching sessions to get progress, when really they would progress as much by regular home practice. It's the regularity, not the teaching, that makes practice perfect, although of course you do need instruction to begin with and to refresh yourself and give you new perspectives as you proceed. Some of the lessons in the book have a wider application too; why do we procrastinate about so many things?  For myself, it's just sheer laziness. I really have no good excuse for not doing stuff, just that 'Oh, can't be bothered today, maybe tomorrow" feelings. So it's on with those unattractive words, self-discipline.
     I have not posted a picture of me in downward dog.