Yesterday, I read an interesting blog post from Yogic Muse about finding the line between pushing yourself against your limits and not engaging in self-harm. Coincidentally, when I met with my yoga teacher today, she set a similar intention for our practice: focusing on ahimsa. Maria pointed out that ahimsa, the yogic principle of non-harming, starts with ourselves. I tend to be a "Type A" personality and sometimes push myself very hard, and can sometimes push myself too far with regard to the physical aspects of yoga.
As our practice went on, we started working on bhujapidasana. While I can get into this arm balance pose when I am practicing at home, it is not a graceful or flowing process. I sought Maria's advice on getting into the pose more smoothly and possibly some modifications. In any case, while attempting to get into the pose, I fell flat on my face! So embarrassing. Also, it hurt! It seems that in the midst of striving to achieve a difficult posture, I lost sight of our original intention - ahimsa - and my determination to do "better" actually caused me harm.
Maria took this teachable moment to point out the ways that ego can interfere with our practice, and that yoga can be about putting aside the ego. Through yoga, we can become aware of our bodies, and we can accept our bodies for what they can do today. Each day our body may be different, but when I practice yoga, I do so in the present moment, with whatever abilities or limitations I currently possess. Another yogic principle is santosha, or contentment - acceptance of what we have, or who we are.
So, for today, my intention is to practice with both ahimsa and santosha, both on and off the mat.
BTW, the photo above shows my amazing daughters practicing yoga at home with the help of their Yoga Pretzels deck. Love it! (and love them!)
Today's workout:
30 min. run (4.0 mi)
60 min. private session yoga
60 min. yoga @ home
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