Yoga: Version U.0

Once I started taking a wide variety of classes and trying out different instructors, I was exposed to many different poses, techniques, and teaching styles.  I liked the challenge but sometimes the pace of the classes made me feel completely inept.  Not to mention the poses.  Many poses that I had never tried before seemed impossible to get into, especially with only two arms and two legs.

I remember the first time I really tried to do eagle pose.  Initially, every pose seems totally easy and completely doable:  Stand with your legs together. Check. Put your arms out to a "T". Check.  Bring your right knee up. Done. Cross your right ankle over your left knee, slightly softening the left knee.  Okay... Wrap your right leg around your left leg once.  Now wrap it around again.  Now wrap it around again.  And one more time...  What?  Now flap your arms and fly away!  Fly far, far away!! 

Of course, that's not really how to do eagle pose but that was my panicky, John Hughes moment.  I could never (and still cannot) hook that right foot behind my left leg.  But that's okay.  I mean, it was okay after my initial mental freak out.  You see, it's not that I couldn't ever do it.  Just that I couldn't do it right then.  I remember glancing around the studio and seeing that only about half of the other students were able to hook that foot behind their leg.  Noticing how everyone was in a different place was a very metaphorical experience.

What I love about practicing yoga is that it is so personal.  Even when I'm in the studio.  I don't push myself to do more than I can do. Pushing myself like that simply creates mental and physical stress, which defeats the whole purpose of practicing yoga, right?  So I just be where I am most happy.  More often than not, that place will vary each time I come to the mat.  But it is always my place and my practice.  And coincidentally, that's what makes me most happy.  Namaste!