Feeling so much better. I think that last post can be attributed to exhaustion and starting the monthly no-inversions time. Glad that's over. Am on Day 2 of a Master Cleanse. Feel great. Overdid it at yoga Tues, so I took an Iyengar class yesterday with Larry Heliker. It was just the antidote I needed. Happy Mahalaya tomorrow, and enjoy Navaratri.

Woke up feeling exhausted and sick. No yoga practice (which is what I really needed but am not "allowed" to do in ashtanga), cancelled my session at the gym and TRIED in vain to stay in and work all day, to little avail. My brain was so foggy I could only think one word at a time. The only bright spot was picking my preschooler up after lunch -- I got to read him a story from one of those oversized books, the ones that require two hands to turn a page. Later, I had to miss dinner with the kids in favor of attending one of those deathly "back to school" nights at my 1st grader's school. Somehow they managed to squeeze twenty minutes of information into a solid four hours of yapping. I guess I should have skipped the vinyasas between "sides" at mysore class yesterday, huh? Jeesh, what a cranky pants!

I got the wrap back on Marichyasana D today! Shoulder and neck injuries had sidelined me from ashtanga for a while, but I got the adjustment from Sonya and was back in the wrapped pose this morning. Obviously, nothing to hang my hat on, but fun just the same. The adjustment into Marichi D was the topic of an article I "sold" to YogiTimes a few months ago, which I hope will run before my fave ashtanga teacher Sonya Cottle of Home Simply Yoga (and Yoga Works LA) goes off to India. Manju Jois put me into the wrapped pose at a workshop a long time ago -- but I was unable to do it myself at ALL for another six weeks of daily practice this winter. (This either shows you the lasting value of workshop adjustments or it doesn't.) Obviously, when I got it "back" last time by myself it was neat, but getting into it at ALL now, after rupturing a disc and pinching the nerves to my hands, is even sweeter. More good yoga news: my lesson plan for kids' yoga classes went over big (I just this week got "certified" to teach yoga to kids). This class is for a religious organization, so it's about the kind of self-trust that Noah needed to go out on his legendary limb. It's not just the animals (though they are lots of fun), it's about the emotions of the narrative. Fear and finding your balance and starting over - I was thinking of the Katrina survivors, obviously. Can't wait to try it out with the preschoolers and the Youth Group! Writing-wise, I'm working up the gumption to do a new version of a book proposal my agent loved the old way. That's hard, but we both think this other angle will sell better, so it's "Nose, meet grindstone" time. Bleh. Clearly, I need to be like Noah, but hey, that guy was a NUT. ;-)