Make the Poses Work for You
Our October Mantra in the Be You Hub is Be Imperfect. The mantra came out of my inspirations from reading Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfections. I lean towards perfectionist tendencies and much of my self work, mothering work, and leadership work is to let that shit go.
I’ve been at the trying for a long time and sometimes I can do it and sometimes I’m less successful. This month I paired the mantra with a focus on Spinal Extension and more specifically backbends. I’ve well documented that backbends are my pose category nemesis. Here we are mid-way through the month and I started playing my old tune of I can’t do this.
I was not looking forward to getting on the mat to teach this morning. But this is my profession and I teach whether I feel inspired or not. That’s the job. And as I was giving myself that internal pep talk the light bulb switched on.
What do I do in mothering when the kids won’t eat what I’ve served? I don’t say starve. I don’t say it’s this or nothing. I tried that. It didn’t make anything better for anyone. I make sure they know they have options. If you aren’t eating this then you are free to make yourself something else or just eat the stuff on the plate you do want and leave the rest. I’m not militant. I value their healthy relationship with food much more than I value whether or not they eat exactly what I cooked.
And I sometimes forget when I am caught up in perfectionism cycles, that this of course applies to yoga asana too. If I’m not loving what is offered in the pose then what can I change, remove, enhance, approach differently to make it work? I have that freedom. You have that freedom. And that led me to two quotes that spoke to me to open class.
“I used to have this philosophy of ‘fake it till you make it.’ And now, I just own it.”
- Juadline Cassidy
“It’s not healthy to keep a ‘game face’ on all the time… It’s OK to have a meltdown. As leaders, the best example we can set is how to recover.”
-Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin
I own how my body moves. I own how my heart feels. I own how my mind responds. And it’s ok to show up and say hey we are going to do this thing that I’m not feeling 100 percent today. We are going to do this thing that is hard for me right now. Maybe its also hard for you right now or maybe it’s not, but I’ll show the vulnerability now and the adjustments now so we all know to use them when the time comes.
Today’s peak pose was Upward Facing Bow. I opened the class in a yin yoga hold of seated straddle. I’ve learned over time how trauma shows up for me in tense quads. The straddle position signals me to let go, be imperfect, be a little softer with ego and see what arises.
In upward facing bow, Urdhva Dhanurasana, also often called wheel pose, we played with yoga blocks under the hands to free room in the shoulders. And I mentioned the allowance that has let me embrace more freedom and expansiveness in this pose - take your feet a little wider. Turn your feet, knees, and hips out a bit. Try it. If it feels right, try it again. If it doesn’t try something else.
We don’t have to be stuck with just one way to get into a pose. BKS Iyengar’s Light on Yoga guides much of my general alignment instructions, but I am not tethered to the instructions in a way I used to strive for. His body is nothing like mine. What works for him sometimes works for me, but not always. It’s my job as a practitioner and as a teacher to constantly remind me/us to stay in flux.
That’s where I’m aiming for Be Imperfect. And by the end of the 60 minute practice together I was altogether more energized and excited about what else is to come in backbending and other asana adventures throughout the month. Keep shape shifting my friends.