No-yoga day, Day 6

Today was my day of rest. Conveniently it seems, since there is about 2 feet of snow outside!
I won't name all my aches and pains. But I definitely have them. I'm looking forward to the other side of this phase, because once my body makes it past this threshold I will be able to really focus on progressing instead of holding back as much for physical reasons.

A lot of yoga poses are an issue of mind and body synching up. One of my favorite poses, Bakasana, is like that. Most people don't have a physical inability to achieve the pose, it is their mind that is the obstacle. This, and taking my mind to the right parts of my body to achieve a pose are what I encounter in my practice more often than actual physical obstacles.

When I first began teacher training back in the fall, I remember being informed that we would go through a lot of physical changes with all of the yoga, that there would be a point in which our bodies would break down and we would subsequently build them back up again. Still I was taken aback that things started to twinge after the first week. My shoulder. Or my elbow. Or my wrist. Or my back muscles putting me out for 4 days. A lot of things were indicative of poor alignment, and easily remedied themselves with that sort of attention. But there was also the point at which I was exhausted and had low stamina in every class I took for what seemed like forever (it was 2 weeks). Or when my body finally gave in and succumbed to that awful cold. Ick.

Noticing that I have aches and pains means that I have really been working my body in these astanga practices, and I realize that it is a lot more than I am used to collectively with my regular classes. It's a good thing, really, as long as I am attentive to them and support the transition that I am putting my body through. It's also an opportunity to really experience my limits, those 'edges' yoga teachers are always talking about. I can easily see the point I've been at for some time, how far I've been pushing myself, and how I tend to want to react when I reach an edge.

Yoga is about self study. Sometimes this means texts and philosophy to question and address your ideals and ethics and behavior and thoughts. Sometimes it means looking at what you eat, or your lifestyle and habits. It means facing obstacles, whether they are psychological, mental, or physical, and focusing on bringing all of those together in a cohesive, positive, compassionate and healthy self.