Awakening

I've recently discovered that I've developed some bad physiological habits during the course of my yoga practice. I've been jamming my shoulders back and tucking my pelvis a bit too much (all of this is causing my chest to collapse a bit and my thighs to tighten). This discovery only reminds me that it's sometimes a bit too easy to get caught up in the "shoulds" of the anatomy of yoga rather than focus on what feels right and good in the body.

There's a hard way and an easy way in regards to using your body, and I've been pushing my body down the hard way path. I've finally awakened to the fact that there's an easier way to achieve that open chest, open hips, and light feeling -- no jamming and no tucking. It just goes to show you that even something as wonderful as a regular yoga practice can have some downsides (letting the ego get involved, going beyond your edge, becoming too concerned with poses themselves rather than how you feel in a pose, etc.).

Now that I'm aware of these tendencies, I find myself with a whole new level of body awareness. I'm even adding some extra restorative moves (which focus on my own physiology) into my daily practice. I love those moments when you awaken to long-standing holding patterns realizing that they no longer need to shape your reality -- or in my case my body.

And while I'm on the topic of awakening and transformation, I have to send some kudos out to blogger and energy coach Maryam Webster for the Nine Day Self Improvement Program she offers on her blog. The topics for each day are quite Zen and chock-full of wisdom. The program posts may have ended today, but I'm bookmarking the posts so that I can read them again. You can never get too much inspiration!

Namaste! 

Comments

[Maryam]

Hi Diane,
Wow, how nice to be mentioned in such a complementary manner! I'm glad you liked the Nine Days Program, you can never do this kind of thing too often, I agree. I've been practicing yoga for thirty years, since I was sixteen. Off again, on again but always, there is practice - right?

After I broke my back, I found my regular Hatha practice too much to bear. I don't know if you've heard about Balance Yoga, but it's at http://balancecenter.com in Palo Alto, California. Jean Couch, the head teacher of the studio got me walking after three years of lower body paralysis. For those needing to take it easy due to injuries, I highly recommend Balance as a daily practice and segue back into regular yogic asanas.

Lately, I've become an enthusiastic follower of Paul Grilley's "Yin Yoga" as I still have a lot of internal scar tissue from my earlier back surgery. Yin poses are nearly always floor based and held for a long time to stretch and massage the connective tissues - five minutes usually. In the beginning it can burn but after awhile, the deliciousness becomes addictive! And I'm finding my internal scar tissue breaking down and becoming soft and pliable again. More at: http://paulgrilley.com

Thanks for creating this blog - from one Yoga fanatic to another, I'll be reading you from now on!

Warm Blessings,
Maryam Webster

[Sama Karl]

Your first paragraph is SO right-on! My yoga practice deepened once I started to move away from an alignment-based, precision-obsessed practice to something more intuitive for my OWN body! Yoga should be practiced with the needs of our own body's structure and alignment, not because of someone else's idea of "perfect alignment." Move away from the aesthetics of a pose and ask yourself what the function of the pose is.