Hello friends! It's been forever since my last post. Where has my favorite month of Feb gone? Anyway, life rolls on and so does yoga, of course.
I wanted to say congratulations to the lovely and dedicated yogi Teri G for getting into handstand during Monday's 10:30 class. After her graceful inversion, she proudly shared that handstand was on her bucket list. Very cool to cross that off.
Handstand, or adho mukha vrksasana in sanskrit, is a pose that I refer to as high guts, but low tech. This pose consistently stirs up feelings of fear in many yogis. We're upside down, so far yet so close to the ground and relying on our puny arms to keep us from crashing onto our heads! If, however, we have a consistent practice that includes sun salutations, therefore lots of down dogs and planks, then most likely we have the physical strength required for handstand. It's quite often our mind that keeps us from getting into the pose not our body. Yoga is a wonderful way to identify and possibly overcome our fears. How nice to acheive such an accomplishment in a safe environment as your mat. So, bravo Teri!
Do you have a bucket list? Whether your list includes yoga poses or not, a yoga practice can enbolden us to be brave in the world. Our practice on the mat is a metaphor for how we live our lives and how we approach everything. Trying new poses on the mat is a great way to be courageous in a relatively low-risk way, a great way to increase our risk-tolerance. With this increased risk-tolerance, maybe we can try that new career, go back to school or have that sensitive conversation we were dreading (see my dilemma a few posts back...). Be brave in your practice and take that into the world and maybe cross some stuff off your list. Namaste, be brave and see you in class!
