BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE

I forgot to mention yesterday that I was *kicked in the head* for the first time during yoga practice on Sunday (a common occurance as there are five rows of ten to 15 in close quarters, head to foot). The chick in front of me was jumping back from a sitting pose and I was in caturanga (plank pose), face up as is traditional and she PLANTED HER HEEL RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY FOREHEAD -- HARD. It hurt like hell but it was also in that spot right between my eyebrows -- you know, the center of consciousness... It certainly woke me up, probably in ways I have yet to comprehend. I had an immediate headache and the punter didn't seem to be very sorry so I made several "what the hell?" faces at her when she was looking back at me in Downward Dog (she did ask how I was afterwards and I gave her the astronaut's thumbs-up). After many poses the pain receeded and in the end I had a totally enjoyable practice next to The Model (a guy who looks like one -- in a good way -- and has almost the exact same physical practice I do except his feet don't drag when he jumps back and he doesn't use ujjayi breath (like Darth Vader) but sniffs (which is not correct). So of course I slowed and amplified my own breath, to set an example.... which means that in the end it was he who helped my practice). In fact I held my bum off the floor througout Guruji's long, slow count to ten (hitting nine several times) in Utplutith (uprooting pose in which you're in lotus and holding yourself off the floor - kind of an arm balance in which your arms get really tired and can't hold you up and you give up and let your butt touch the floor). It was a first for me, to stay up through Guruji's count. And, knowing India, probably a last. For awhile anyway.