Yoga musings

Some of you may know that after years of (very) sporadic yoga practice, I’ve now been practicing twice a day for the past three months. The integration of this into my life has changed a lot of things that I don’t have the time to go into here. But I wanted to explore a couple ideas.

First, one of the most fantastic things about the physical aspect of yoga is how quickly one can see improvement. I am very proud of how far I’ve come in such short time. I am now able to accomplish poses that seemed quite difficult at first. Examples:

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana: Extended Hand-To-Big-Toe pose


Tolasana: Scale pose


Virabhadrasana III: Warrior III pose


Ardha Chandrasana: Half moon pose


At the same time, I try to remind myself that yoga is not about achieving perfect form, but about being in your body and accepting what’s happening. These quotes are good reminders:

“Once you have begun to master the postures ... beware of excessive pride or ambition.”-Tara Fraser

“Becoming obsessive about practicing is to be avoided because that can be another form of grasping or attachment.”-Liz Lark

And this is great to keep in mind:

“My ashtanga practice has stagnated, backpedaled, inched forward, slid back, and blossomed so many times that I have jettisoned the idea of ‘progress’ so dear to my Western conditioning.”-Lois Nesbitt

And while I feel great right now about many of the beginning asanas, I am stymied by some of the more complex ones:

Ttibhasana: Firefly pose


Kurmasana: Turtle pose


It’s not hard to get discouraged when seeing poses that look beyond your ability, and to think, “Why would I want to pose like a turtle, anyway?” But then I read this quote, and find it to be a really nice idea:

“While performing asanas, the student’s body assumes numerous forms of life found in creation ... from the lowliest insect to the most perfect sage--and he learns that in all these breathes the same universal spirit.”-B.K.S. Iyengar

The important thing is to keep practicing, and my biggest focus right now is just that: to focus. While doing yoga, my mind has a tendency to skip around to upcoming events, past encounters, and what I’ll have for dinner. So, my mantra: Breathe, accept the thought, let it go, come back to the breath. Repeat. Lots. :)