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I caught up with a friend today and it reminded me of the struggle a lot of us have with expectations.

Continuing on the topic of postures I love, we move onto the forward bend. During my first week of living with a sprained ankle, seated forward bends – mainly paschimottanasana was a posture I threw myself into and embraced as it was pretty much one of the few asanas I could still do to my full ability. And now with my ankle on the mend, I’m back to enjoying standing forward bends too.

The headstand, sirsasana is one of my favourite positions and it’s probably one of the most popular and well-known asanas in yoga. There are plenty of people who come to yoga classes eager to learn this pose and although, sirsasana isn’t as tough as it looks, it’s best if you first build up your strength and have sufficient practice before attempting this asana.

It starts with a sneeze or two that increases to 5, then 10, then more. A runny or stuffy nose then kicks in followed by watering eyes. It’s the classic symptoms of hayfever. Hayfever is so widespread that the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey reported hayfever as the most common health condition suffered by young people aged 15 to 24.

Sanskrit is an ancient language originating from in India. In yoga, Sanskrit plays a significant role. All the ancient yogic texts are written in Sanskrit.

So a few days ago at the Australian Open, Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznestova played for a record breaking four hours and 44 minutes, the longest tennis match in history for women at a Grand Slam.

I thought we’d diverge off the usual yoga topics for just a moment to discuss a woman whose influence and scope is worldwide. People quote her, idolise her and buy products, read books and watch movies based entirely on her opinions on them. It is of course, Oprah!

If yoga is anything, I guess it is showing up to the yoga centre and doing it. Or, perhaps not even that – just showing up to yourself, and doing your asanas at home.

On the weekend I did something that you’d assume would be relatively drama free. I went bush walking. I think the combination of my lankiness and tendency to trip over my own feet combined with a rouge stone or branch caused me to slip over. Now, I am resting, icing, compressing and elevating my foot due to a sprained ankle.

I was contemplating yoga celebrity the other day (not bitching) and I came across this little gem.

A friend from the yoga centre who has been helping me find yoga quotes for the blog dug this one out for me after my last post.

Surya namaskara is a sequence of yoga asanas, better known as the salute to the sun. In virtually any yoga class you attend you can be assured you will practise surya namaskara or at least some of its core postures.