Taking Ownership

Today I was reading an article about Sadie Nardini and the resulting discussion of it on the blog "It's All Yoga, Baby". Basically, the article and discussion centered on whether it is appropriate or authentic for a modern yogi to adapt, change and claim a method of yoga as their "own". Whether yoga is constantly evolving and changing, or whether there is a true and ancient way of practicing yoga.

As usual, I believe the answer lies somewhere in between.

However, for the purposes of my own practice - I have been practicing Ashtanga yoga at home recently. I find the repetition comforting and methodical. I have been using David Swenson's Primary Series DVD to guide me through the practice. Although I rarely even glance at the screen, I find his voice soothing, appreciate the reminders of the sequence and am inspired by his hints for moving further in the practice.

Unfortunately, though, this sometimes becomes a crutch - I feel the need to break out of the same series of poses again and again and take ownership of my practice by doing something new. This can be kind of scary - what gives me the right to alter something that seems to be working? But, even though I am not deviating in my practice everyday, I am going to start doing some new vinyasa flows outside of the traditional Ashtanga sequence. Since I am still not fully comfortable in choosing my own asanas, I am using the home practice guides in past issues of Yoga Journal magazines to help me create my own practice. So even though these are baby steps, this is my small way of stepping forward and making my own claim on yoga for myself.

Today's workout:
45 min. easy run (4.6 mi)
60 min. yoga