Last few days have been fiery practices. It's warmed up in the mornings to a balmy 49 or 50 degrees, and there are more people filling the shala. This means more heat, which is good. There's nothing worse practicing for an hour or an hour-and-a-half, and realizing your fingertips and toes are still stiff and frozen.

I cranked through practice on Monday in an attempt to keep a steady, moving clip. When I hit backbends, I had enough juice, and was feeling open enough, to try to come to standing. It almost worked, too---I felt the motion shift from back and shoulders into legs.

Unfortunately, while I was curling upward, I tried to look up, which is a no-no, and fell back onto my mat. I figured I might have to slam a few times to figure out what not to do, so thank god it didn't hurt. Made for some pretty dramatic thumps in the shala, though.

I reckon it's coming, and soon, probably before India.

I went to a going-away dinner last night for Max, a guy from our studio. He's moving to Boulder, Colorado tomorrow. I felt gross at dinner, and when I hit my bed at 10:00 or so, the gross feeling had escalated into full-blown sickness. As I write this early Thursday morning, I feel like utter shite.

Thankfully, I feel bad enough to know that I am not going to practice. Any less sick-feeling, and I might have tried to push. Which would be stupid.

I'm still going to pranayama, though. Tim's in Mexico for a few days, so Sequioa will be leading today, and as it's Thursday, that means pranayama-lite, as Tim calls it, which means the first few sequences of pranayama will be followed by kirtan singing.

Sequoia can actually sing, too, as I've mentioned before, and she plays the harmonium. Mark brings his tabla, and it actually gets pretty fun.

Surprisingly, Tim showed up yesterday at the studio. "I thought you were gone?" I said. "I am gone---after pranayama," he said.

Of course, I knew what that meant---we sat down, and Tim said, "We're switching up the schedule---today, pranayama-lite followed by singing. If you don't like it, tough. It's my way or the high-way." The last said with a smile, of course.

After a morning of pranayama, kirtan, and asana, you really feel like you get the whole ball of wax for a yoga practice.