Shot a minute ago, from the northwest window, at the moment… 

upon waking up, i do three very slow plough poses (warning: do not execute without having taken formal lessons from a certified ashtanga yoga teacher) on one’s back, go to forward bend, then invert slowly go to a soft shoulderstand to ease feet over the head for plough pose) staying long & breathing long in each– minutes long because i’m half-asleep when i do those, they’re for decompressing my lower back. As you might know by now, i have an over-arched back which creates a bubble of space in the lower back when lying on one’s back; i acquired it in high school, long story. The pose you see in the header of this site—  that’s slowly getting out of the plough pose.

   As a background:   i learned  to devise a daily mini, small regimen for personal needs after taking formal lessons. Try to get to know what your body needs.

 “Decompressing” for me is the procedure to slowly pull out the knife stuck at my lower back, metaphorically speaking, that is; that is to say, upon waking up, it feels like there’s a tiny open wound there but your mind knows it’s just nerve endings pinched by discs that need to be decompressed. Then, as a concession to cardio & core, or to raise my heart rate a little, i do combined crunch-dead-bugs, 30-30-40, one set alternating with the plough pose.  Then, i’m off to breakfast. But if i’m being a good girl, I’ll do 27 poses. Like…  maybe now. Good morning.