Tomorrow is my 6-month yogiversary. On March 1, 2015 I re-committed myself to a regular practice, and have been on my mat on average five-six days a week. That's about 143 workouts! Totally crazy.
Here is the thing: You all know how much I love it. The good days are beyond amazing, and it's incredible to achieve something I haven't been able to do before. But what I'm learning is that it's not about the good days. It's about showing up when you don't feel like it, when yesterday's practice sucked, when you are discouraged because you want to be further along in your journey. It's about learning to accept and honour your body's pace. I have had many conversations with my hips: "Come on, open up for me, you can do it!" Or with my core: "Be stronger! Be stronger now!" Or with my body as a whole when falling over from handstand for the thousandth time: "Balance, damn it!" (I'm not very zen when I work out sometimes.)
I wish I was kidding, but I'm not.
I want to push my body into the poses I want to do with the sheer power of my will. Mind over matter, right? If you want it enough, it will happen!
Wrong. Or, to be more accurate: Not so fast. You cannot force your body to do something it's not ready for. If you do, it will result in an injury. In due course, it will happen - but it takes time.
What yoga is teaching me above all is patience. Which is a hard lesson to learn, but one that makes life so much easier! Just imagine: Being stuck in traffic, and not getting antsy. Having to listen to a long-winded older relative tell you the same story for the 100th time, and not rolling your eyes behind their back. Wanting to achieve something, and being willing to put in the long, tedious hours of work.
Patience is a nifty quality to have.
Like every month, I want to share a few tidbits from my practice. To start, here are a few new poses I have learnt:
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| Spiderman pose - so much fun! |
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| Floating camel pose |
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| Funky flying lizard pose |
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| Standing backbend - backbends are hard. |
Then there is the old favourite: Crow pose. Nina is telling me a story while I fly.
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| Crow pose, always |
Here are some progress shots - some more subtle than others:
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| Trying to get my crotch to the ground, one millimeter at a time. |
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| Side plank with lifted leg, aka Starfish plank |
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| Fallen angel pose |
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| Low lunge with backbend - one day I want to be able to grab my ankles. #goals |
I also still work on my handstand game, which is testing my patience like nothing else does. I want to balance so badly, and it's taking sooooo long. My dream is to press up like Kino one day:
This is where I'm at:
Yeah, not quite the same haha!
Here is the flying pigeon I have been working on:
Hopefully, it will soon look like this (skip to 1:50 min if you don't want to see the prep):
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