I'm trying to decide if I should call in sick tomorrow. I have a pimple in my eyelid, aka a stye. It doesn't bug me at all but people have been looking at me like I have leprosy. It's kind of funny to see their reaction to this apparently revolting looking little pimple. I can see them looking at it, rather than me. There's an initial pulling back on their part, accompanied by a suppressed look of disgust. I guess they figure I must be infectious or something. I think calling in sick is definitely overkill, since I'm not feeling bad in any way. I am only considering it because of the reactions I have been getting today. I don't want to make my patients uncomfortable having me take care of them. If I call in sick though, I'm going to be putting out who ever gets called in to cover for me. Even worse, I'm on 24 hour call tomorrow, so the coverage is even trickier. I can't see doing it. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. If even I am revolted, then maybe I'll call in sick.

Our teacher is currently making a transition from our old studio location to a brand new one. Unfortunately, the new location isn't going to be ready to use for several months. Since the lease on the old location expired at the end of march, we having been holding classes in a conference room at the Encinitas Best Western Hotel. Except, the conference room was pre-booked for meetings on a few weekends. On those days, we use an alternative meeting room up by the pool. That room doubles as the morning brunch buffet room though. So, we end up having our weekend classes after the brunch is over. So, this weekend, my classes were at 1:30 PM. Kind of a weird time to be doing yoga. I had to make some strategic choices about whether or not I should eat before class, and if so, when. Class attendance is way down on those days compared to what it was at the old studio. The Saturday Improv and the two Sunday classes were typically the most crowded ones of the entire week. The Sunday 1st series class would often run 35-40 students and the second series class usually had at least 20. The improv class was also getting up to around 30 people. For this Saturday's Improv class at the poolside Cabana Room, we had around 12 people. For Sunday's 1st series, 12 people; for 2nd series, we had five.

Normally I wouldn't really care that much that we only had five people, but it really worked against me this time. For only the second time ever in my yoga career, I farted out loud in class. I was going into Yoga Nidrasana when the silence was shattered. This wasn't a subtle, short little squeaker, no, this was a obvious BLAAAT! There's no way to finess that when there's only five of us there. Weird thing was, I had no hint that anything gastrointestinal was impending. One second completely normal, next moment, "OMFG, how did THAT happen?" All I could think was "How can I get out of here?" As I Chakrasana'd out of the pose, I was seriously thinking maybe I should start practicing at a new studio, then I wouldn't have to face any of those people again. My only saving grace was that it was benign, sort of the opposite of an SBD. Yes, I know, way too much info. Recently, I seriously considered as a topic in this blog a discussion of how the only way that I knew I had any bandhas at all was that I never accidentally farted in class. That must be what caused it. Just the thought jinxed me.

Since we started out with only five people, the teacher offered to let us do it mysore style instead of a led second if we wanted. The general consensus was to do it led, but the person next to me asked if we could do Viparita Chakrasana after we finished the backbends. So, I got in my second go round with that. I didn't try to do it on my own, I just did it with the teacher. I felt pretty good about it though. My confidence in this pose is coming back a little.

I was able to go to mysore class today. I had originally held the day in case I needed to help my wife with her treatments. She has completed her therapy but I had forgotten that I had this day set aside. When I checked my schedule for this week, there it was, a free day. I'm glad I was able to go. I was able to do the second series stuff again today (without the sound effects). The back bending stuff is markedly improved from a week ago. It really pays to go regularly. When I did Kapotasana, I was able to get my hands to the floor before lowering my head down. I didn't get that much deeper on my own, but when Tim adjusted me, he was able to get my hands up a little past midway on my feet with no sense of strain within my shoulders.

Karandavasana still needs work. I can't figure out how to flex my hips and bring my knees toward my chest without having my butt drop down. Once the battle to keep my rear end up is lost, I try to move forward and let the knees come in to the armpits. I just don't have it. I might get so far as to have the knees collide with the arms just above the elbows, but I've never come close to making a landing. For now, it's mainly been a game to see how far into the lowering down I can get before I lose control.

My backbending was a little less melodramatic today than on Friday. I didn't have an assist at all. My landings were better. Instead of sounding like it was raining elephants, today was more like wildebeests. No hint of being able to make the 'tac' move back over from backbend into down dog, unfortunately. I know I need to arch my back and try to lift my head up and back but the message has yet to be passed on to my shoulders and back. My 10 year old son is the only one in our family who can do this, though he cheats a little by starting back over with one leg at a time. Today, I thought I'd watch one of Tim's students who does this really well. She was on the mat next to me. The move she makes is clear, but I can't replicate it. Even if I could get enough arch going to get the feet started up and back, it doesn't feel like my back muscles would hold up when they had to take over the support of the body weight. The last portion of Viparita Chakrasana is Vrshikasana. With all of the recent practices I've gotten in lately, my handstanding is starting to become a little more stable. I was able to approximate this pose and hold it today, on my own--a first for me.

Okay, I've gotta quit. I'm starting to make a lot of mistakes and am nodding off at times. I doubt I'll be calling in sick. Much as I'd love to get in another mysore class, I'm gonna have to make due with a self-practice in the studio after I get off of work Wednesday morning.