So That's What Those Muscles Do

Well, I'm sore and stiff in most of my upper body. especially my neck. I guess not doing any of those harder poses for such a long time has led to atrophy. I don't remember neck stiffness before. It's along the sides and back, most noticeable as i lift my head to look up. Every action involving the upper body is now a conscious one. Awareness has been achieved. I thought that was supposed to be a good thing.

I checked my OR schedule yesterday evening before leaving work. Today was a day I was scheduled to assist other folks in my department with their cases. Luckily, I didn't have to be available until 9:45. Even with the longer commute, I would still have plenty of time to do a full practice, especially if I got there early and started while the pranayama group was still going. I envisioned making an attempt at all of first and as much of second as I could do, finishing with the full backbending regimen. However. There's typically a "however" when it comes to my practices. I was parked in front of the studio getting my stuff ready to go. "Let me just check with the OR to make sure the schedule I read last night was correct," I thought, in my best worst case scenario mode. Good thing, as someone made a command decision overnight and changed the order of cases, moving the one I needed to be there for up to the first OR slot at 8:30. There I was, dressed and raring to sweat at 6:30. I had a 45 minute commute to factor in. I could go up and jam in as much practice as possible in an hour and then bail out and join the rest of the lemmings on the freeway, or I could just leave then and take my time going in. I decided not to have a stress-out practice and drove off for work. I had a good vibe going too. I knew there was going to ba a lot of people, lots of heat, I was in a place practice-wise where doing everything was finally becoming a possibility again. Next time, next time.

There's an outside chance at evening practice but that's rarely happening anymore, not since the studio moved to Leucadia. I have to done with work by at least 4;30 and that seems to happen less and less often these days.

I read a book on my flight back from NYC. I'd seen it first on one of the ashtanga blogs and saw it in the airport kiosk, so I picked it up. It didn't have to be great, just readable. Plus, it's always interesting to see what other people find interesting. The main guy in the book was described as a Beta male. Most people have probably heard of Alpha males, the lead dog in a pack, the warrior, take charge, kick ass and take no names kinda guy. The beta guys are not that. They're the ones who don't charge off to meet any challenges. they peruse he possible outcomes, figure out what has the least risk and take the safest course. I had to laugh at myself when reading that book because I'm a Beta prototype I think. It paid off today, calling in to check when I had already confirmed the schedule just last night. Well, I guess I would be a beta male, but I forget half of the time to worry about what could happen. There was a test at the end of the book, kind of like one of those quizzes that they give in magazines (I was going to say women's magazines, but now all of the metro mags have them as well.) to figure out what kind of person you are. "Answer these ten questions to find out if you're a tiger in bed or if you're a cuckold in waiting." This quiz was to help you see if you were an alpha male or a beta male, or even worse, way down on the scale, an omega male. I looked over the first couple of questions and said to myself, "this isn't very scientific. I'm not even going to bother with it." I mean, what's it going to tell me that I don't already know about myself.

Grr. I'm getting old. I came up with several concepts of things to post on while I drove in today. Now, after having my attention diverted by doing that first case, I can't remember anything I wanted to write about.

Come on Motrin, time to kick in.