2 Aug 2012

Sweat Festa - Japanese Summer

H's yellow watermelon, delicious!

I've spent the last three summers in the UK, lovely as it was, it is indeed wonderful to have a sultry summer in Yamagata.  I just love these tropical, hot, humid summers.

Wake  up at 5.30 and it's a cool 27 degrees Celsius.  By the time I finish practice at around 9 it's risen to 29.  Practice is a sweaty sweaty affair.  Feels great.  Always reminds me of a John Scott workshop I attended where he brought in a rose and talked about how it would wilt and die faster if we didn't give it fresh water, a lesson in the importance of sweating.  So, this morning, I changed my water.  Thoroughly.

Practice is returning to 'normal' slowly after my fly with my bicycle.  Did my first full primary, post-crash, on Sunday, it felt great.  Back still twinges a little in back bending but it doesn't seem to make it worse or better whether I do them or not.  Certainly no drop backs for me though.

Monday I practiced intermediate, minus kapotasana, it'll be a while longer before that comes back.  Again, a sweat dripping all over the place, hot and humid affair, but wonderful.  Rest of the week my personal mix of primary and intermediate and prep poses.  Just fine. Savasana has been divine with the morning sun filtering in through my bamboo blinds and the sound of cicada signalling the peak of summer.

By midday I"m sewing away in my sweatshop, 36 degrees, but it's amazing how little it's been bothering me, as I'm enjoying my sewing projects so much.  Home grown water melon for breaks, and although I hardly ever drink beer, have grown very partial to an ice cold glass at the end of the day.  Bad lady, but hey, it's summer.

When the heat does get too much, I take myself away to a waterfall or mountain lake to cool down and refresh.  It's hard to imagine this is the same place as the icy winter a few months ago.


2 comments:

  1. Yes, forget how hot it is there, we've been missing sumnmer in Japan, the night sounds, especially the cicaada (we used to live beside a paddy field and in frount of a little park, deafening at night). Didn't mind the heat on my day's off just when i had to dress up in a suit and head to work, drenched by the time I reached the top of the road. be nice for morning practice though, as you say. Mother in law says it's sweltering in their house because they've cut back on AC since the tsunami.

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  2. Yeah the sounds and the way the heat envelopes you, just love summers here, until like you say I have to put on a shirt and look respectable, if only they would loosen up a bit more in summer ; ) Glad to hear people are still conserving energy. It's so important.

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