Enjoying Where You Are

 I have seen it so many times in classes, students comparing themselves to others.  Classes are called no judgement zones.  Meaning no judgement on others everyone is at their own stage on the yoga journey. Comparing happens though. I am not talking about other students  I am talking about judging ourselves. Maybe it is because of the popular yogi pictures or it may be peoples natural competitive nature. Whatever the reason, it happen. Many times people will be in down dog, and instead of gazing toward their feet they are turning their heads to sneak a look at the rest of the class. So what I want to do is challenge you to just enjoy where you are. Whether you are new to yoga and just learning warrior 1 or if you are standing on your head with your feet resting on your shoulders  stop, slow down, and explore the pose. Breathe and feel how your body is in whatever pose you do. 

Often we get caught up in how difficult the pose is. We try to see how far we can get our leg up and around our body. Or we get so hung up on thinking contorting our bodies into knots is what is important. I call it the pretzel syndrome. ( not meaning to insult anyone!)There is nothing wrong with being flexible and being able to wind your leg around yourself.  It is a good thing to be flexible, it is also very important to your health. The problem is when people think they should automatically be able to do that even if they are stiff as a board. That is when injuries occur. ALWAYS, and i stress, ALWAYS ease into a pose. Flexibility will come. There is no time table and everyone is different.   

For example if you are in warrior 1 how dose your knee feel? Is your knee in line with your ankle? Explore your body in that pose. Being in a rush will keep you from really learning the pose and getting the benefits from it. Sometimes that causes the person to not be in the correct position. Breathe enjoy the adventure of finding you.