January 05th, 2015

Day 6

Timer on, and it’s 11 minutes into Day 7…oooh…the test is happening today for my ability to pull this off as I move into rehearsals for the two productions I’m directing, in addition to teaching, and rehearsing the shows I’m going to be in this summer…we shall see, we shall see…

As an actor, I have been trained to have the whole day warm-up, the hour warm-up, the half-hour warm-up, the 15 minute warm-up, the 10-minute warm-up, the 5 minute warm-up, and so on, and today, I had to execute that training because I was busy all day today up until 11:30PM when I started my 69 Journey Series…

Now, the first day, it took me 2 hours.  The second day it took 2 hours.  The third-fifth day it took 1.5 hours, so…getting it down to a half hour was going to take some true focus and speed…

I thought, “Well, if I don’t have rest poses between each, then I might be able to achieve it…”  That almost worked, but towards the end I shortened the Kapalabhati breaths to 36 (my age and the age of my dad when I was born…symbolic enough), so I’ve decided if this happens again, I’ll just shorten all of the breaths to 36 Kapalabhatis and take rest poses when I really need them because this sprinted yoga version goes against everything yoga is supposed to stand for.  Though, I must say, I was pretty impressed that I got all the way to Garudasana before I had to shorten the Kapalabhatis…That’s more than half-way through…and the stronger I get, the more possible it will be to do them quicker. 

Interestingly, I noticed several days ago that my right nostril was plugged; the neti pot wasn’t working on that side, but yesterday I really focused on the Kapalabhati breaths, and the neti pot worked better on that nostril yesterday.  And…because I had to do the sprint version of this series, I really sped up the Kapalabhatis, and, guess what?  Yup, you guessed it, the neti pot worked perfectly on that nostril today… 

The nostril problems got me to wondering what all of this neti pot/kapalabhati breaths are doing for all of the allergy problems I’ve been having for the past year.  I lost my voice last year and when to a throat, nose, and ear specialist and he diagnosed me with Acid Reflex Disorder and then I came back 2 months later to see how I was doing and he said I had really bad allergies that weren’t helping my Acid Reflex Disorder…so he put me on two different allergy medicines.  I have been resting my voice for the first time in a long time on this winter break and slowly singing daily to try and really repair it, and it seems to working. 

I hope the neti pot and this journey is also healing my voice because it seems a little too symbolic that my voice started to disappear and I started having severe heartburn after my dad died.  Three years ago I told a different doctor about my heartburn and that I thought that it was because my heart was broken, and she laughed at me and told me that I was silly and I should deal with it or that I would get cancer…  I liked my diagnosis better…

I suppose I will stop here for tonight even though I still have 2 minutes according to the time, but…I’m tired and I’m out of things to say…

The Asanas/Poses

Part 1 – Standing or lying

            Neutral – Chakra 2 – Svadhisthana (Navel Chakra or Hara) – Orange

·      Hero’s Pose – Virasana

·      Butterfly – Baddha Konasana

Forward Bend – Chakra 5 – Visuddha (Throat Chakra) – Sky Blue

·      Child’s Pose – Supta Vajrasana (or Balasana…more on this another time…)

Back Bend– Chakra 3 – Manipura – Solar plexus - yellow

·      Flying Cow – Januhastasana/Bidalasana/Gavasana

·      Camel – Ustrasana

·      Sphinx – Salamba Bhujangasana

·      Cobra – Bhujangasana

·      Upward Facing Dog – Urdhva Mukha Svanasana

·      Bow – Dhanurasana

·      Supported Fish – Samarthita Matsyasana

Twist – Chakra 4 – Anahata – Heart Chakra - Green

·      Spinal Twist – Jathara Parivritti (straight leg twist on the ground)

Part Two – Standing

Neutral – Chakra 1 – Muladhara – Base Chakra - Red

·      Warrior 2 – Virabhadrasana II – Warrior 2

Forward Bend – Chakra 1 – Muladhara – Base Chakra – Red

·      Standing Forward Bend – Uttanasana

Back Bend – Chakra 1 – Muladhara – Base Chakra – Red

·      Warrior 1 – Virabhadrasana I

Part Three – Standing Balances

Neutral – Chakra 6 – Ajna – Third Eye or Brow Chakra – Indigo

·      Tree Pose – Vrksasana

·      Standing Big Toe Pose – Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana

Forward Bend – Chakra 6 – Ajna – Third Eye or Brow Chakra – Indigo

·      Eagle - Garudasana

·      Warrior 3 – Virabhadrasana III

Back Bend – Chakra 6 – Ajna – Third Eye or Brow Chakra – Indigo

·      Dancer – Natarajasana –

Side Bend – Chakra 6 – Ajna – Third Eye or Brow Chakra – Indigo

·      Half Moon – Ardha Chandrasana

Part 4 – Inverted

Neutral – Chakra 7 – Sahasrara – Crown Chakra - Lavender

·      Headstand – Salamba Sirshasana

Back Bend– Chakra 3 – Manipura – Solar Plexus - Yellow

·      Supported Back Bend – Samarthita Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

·      Wheel – Urdhva Dhanurasana

·      Dolphin – Makurasana

Neutral – Chakra 7 – Sahasrara – Crown Chakra - Lavender

·      Headstand – Salamba Sirshasana

Part 5 – Rest Pose

Forward Bend – Chakra 5 – Visuddha – Throat Chakra – Sky Blue

·      Child’s Pose – Supta Vajrasana (or…again…Balasana…my mystery, for now…).

Part 6 – Mudra (Gesture)

·      Yoga Mudra – Crown of the Head with Padmasana – Lotus Pose.

Part 7 – Shatkarma (more on this name, later, because…if I were Scottish…the first part of this word is literal).

·      Neti –

·      Dhauti –

·      Basti –

·      Nauli Kriya –

·      Kapalabhati –

·      Tratak –