Happy New Year 2007

After a 10 day vacation on the East coast and in a time zone 3 hours ahead of my own, I woke up before my 6:15 am alarm sounded this morning. Refreshed and excited to return to the new schedule I started last month.

My morning routine has changed from what I originally planned. Now I take a shower first thing in the morning (at about 6:30 am), and then I practice yoga from 6:50 to 7:20 am, and meditate in a seated position from 7:20 to 7:30 am. That is working well for me. When I tried practicing poses shortly after waking, I ended up doing more mellow poses and sometimes drifting back to sleep in a supine pose. So after a shower and being awake for a half hour, it is easier to do a more active routine.

I've been having some pain in my right wrist for the last month or so, as a result of repetitive stress (using a computer mouse) and tendonitis. I have modified my practice by using fists instead of flat palms in Upward Facing Dog and Plank. I'm trying a therapy called Active Release, which involves a chiropractor aggressively massaging the muscles and tendons in my arms and wrists. The technique is painful, but I'm hoping it will help.

During my stay in NYC, I visited Om Yoga studio. That is the studio owned by Cyndi Lee, who taught a workshop class I took last year, and who wrote a book and CD/flash cards set that I have. The class was good. I forget the name of the teacher, but when the class was doing Upward Bow pose (a backbend), she offered her ankles for me to hold onto so that I could go up into the backbend without straining my hurt wrist. I really appreciated that!

I had a lot of fun in New York city. I was pleasantly surprised by the plenty of vegetarian/vegan/organic/macrobiotic restaurants there. My favorite of those I visited is Caravan of Dreams. So yummy! And they always have live music. I heard a pianist one time, and then a hand drum and guitar duo another time. The music was subtle enough to allow conversation, but enjoyable.

Happy New Year!!!