"It can be a time when we are both less charmed by others and are less charming ourselves." I can not tell you how much this just helped me. I've been struggling with this very phenomenon and didn't really know why. I'm at about year two in an Ashtanga practice and am perhaps getting down to some of the harder bits of work. I feel decidedly "less charming"! But they went direct! So light at the end of the tunnel exists! Thanks for the post, enjoy Harry Potterville. Loo (student of Steve Dwelley)