| I was reading through an article in a yoga magazine | | | | I found though, that to start to move back into that |
| today, and it sparked some 'ah-ha's' on some yoga | | | | strength that I knew I once had, I had to start |
| issues I have been wrestling with. And in my practice | | | | where I was. This meant choosing certain poses to |
| today, not only did I rediscover the way my hips | | | | start to build some strength and flexibility, that were |
| should be aligned, but I reconnected with a sense of | | | | not in a sequence set in stone. I had an advantage in |
| body strength and balance that I though I had lost. | | | | that I had done yoga a lot, and so had a range of |
| As a bit of background, I used to do yoga very | | | | experience to draw on. But for anyone just starting |
| regularly - 2 classes a day, sometimes more (though | | | | out, finding a good beginners class, with an |
| I was never able to overcome my body's late-night, | | | | understanding teacher, is a great place to begin. From |
| late-morning programming to make it to very early | | | | there, perhaps talk to the teacher, who may be able |
| classes!). I was very fit, very flexible, and extremely | | | | to advise on what to concentrate. Or book in some |
| dedicated. I would work on asanas at home, and | | | | private lessons to get a personalized program you |
| many of my friends were equally dedicated. Then, I | | | | can work on at home. |
| gradually moved away from both those friends, and | | | | Working on yoga at home is important, even if you |
| that yoga-centered lifestyle. | | | | only do it for 15 minutes or half an hour a day. |
| When I took up yoga again, it was very much as a | | | | Because I felt exhausted, I left the standing poses |
| beginner. I had lost that core strength I once had, | | | | alone. I made sure to warm up, using some |
| my flexibility had gone AWOL (absent-without-leave, | | | | generalized Oki yoga poses I knew, and then |
| to coin a military term!), and I could not do many of | | | | concentrated on opening my hips and building some |
| the poses I once did rather effortlessly. And yet, I | | | | abdominal and core strength. And I did it all lying on |
| still remembered that I could do them! It has been | | | | my futon bed! That way I couldn't put off doing |
| intensely frustrating, to say the least. I found myself | | | | something by thinking 'later, when I get up!'. |
| really trying to do the 'finished' pose, even though I | | | | One thing that I found was critical in making |
| realize now that the plane that my body was in, was | | | | reasonable progress, was what I think of as doing |
| way out of alignment. | | | | yoga from the inside out. You'll know if you've done |
| But the turning point for me began, in a way, by | | | | yoga for a while, that once you 'get' a pose, there is |
| abandoning any set sequence that I had learned. I | | | | a real effortlessness. It's like there is this conduit of |
| used to be heavily into ashtanga yoga, and that has | | | | energy that just lifts you up, elongates you, no |
| a very strict sequence of poses. You start with a | | | | matter how awkward it may seem from the outside. |
| 'warm-up' pose, like suryanamaskara (the Sun | | | | And yet, the way we often approach yoga, when |
| Salutation), and then move into the standing poses | | | | we're not 'there' is like going to the gym. Or like I |
| such as padangusthasana (Foot to Fingers Forward | | | | mentioned before - we try and assume the 'perfect' |
| Bend), pada hastasana (another standing forward | | | | pose. But because we haven't 'unlocked' out stiff |
| bend), trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose), and | | | | bodies, or become strong yet (or both), we just miss |
| others. | | | | it completely. |
| My problem centered around the fact that between | | | | Once I had stopped trying to fit my body into an |
| 'then' (when I was flexible), and 'now', I had broken | | | | ideal of an asana I held in my mind, and did the best I |
| my ankle in 3 places, had surgery on it, and managed | | | | could without sacrificing any alignment, even if my |
| to twist my hip when I broke the ankle. Despite it | | | | legs were way in the air when they should be flat on |
| being 3 years since recovering from that injury, parts | | | | the floor, or my hands were on my thigh instead of |
| of my foot were just not very strong, and I had | | | | on my ankle, things started to flow. But the real key, |
| difficulty balancing as a result. As well as being stiff, | | | | was where I placed my awareness. I noticed where |
| those parts of my body just felt almost numb. Not | | | | it was tight, just picked the 'biggest' tightness, and |
| the kind of numb where there is nerve damage. But | | | | sat my consciousness smack bang in the middle. |
| the kind of numb that is a result of energy (and | | | | Then I very gently breathed out, through that |
| blood), not flowing freely. If you've ever | | | | tightness, and felt the sense of radiating energy |
| 'rediscovered' parts of your body by doing any type | | | | arcing through it, from the inside out. Instead of |
| of exercise that involved consciously connecting with | | | | pushing my limbs, I pushed my consciousness. |
| the parts of your body being used, you'll know what | | | | Sometimes I didn't move at all, just held that pose. |
| I mean. | | | | Sometimes I felt this wonderful release, that heralded |
| That sense of reconnection is very powerful. And | | | | a new layer to explore. But these ah-ha moments, |
| given the way we often go about things, somewhat | | | | these explorations, this reconnection, has allowed a |
| distracted, perhaps worrying or simply thinking all the | | | | very rapid healing of long standing areas of |
| time - about the past, the future, the groceries... it | | | | misalignment in my body. |
| doesn't take an injury to actually feel disconnected | | | | And the wonderful thing about ah-ha moments, is |
| from your body. Because yoga is about using | | | | how they often generate more, until a new approach |
| consciousness and breath within movement, it is a | | | | to one's own practice becomes blazingly clear. |
| beautiful way to literally 'rediscover' yourself. | | | | |