Utthita Parsvakonasana, still

Today the regular Mysore dude was replaced by Jamie, another Mysore instructor who has a much more 'hands-on' philosophy about it. He helped me open up my lower back in downward dog and even though I really focused on doing the plank/updog/downdog transitions with rolling-over-toes my back feels much better than usual today. And I'm still, yes still, working on utthita parsvakonasana. I can only reach the floor if my knee is bent too much, and can't quite reach if my knee is at 90 degrees. Are my arms too short? Anyway Jamie is more about the knee-at-proper-angle approach whereas Brett is more about the reach-the-floor approach but I can definitely tell I'm getting closer to making the two approaches meet.

I had a lovely chat yesterday with an amazing mentor in my (work-)life and she's really helped me to think about taking the zen of yoga to work with me. I thought about that a lot today, and even though it was a stressful day I felt like it really helped.