Kate Taylor's Yoga Site

Monday's practice was a pleasant surprise. I went to the shala feeling great and looking forward to practicing Bhuja Pindasana, the pose that Saraswati had given me right before I hurt my back. I can get up into the balancing part of the pose with some effort and rest my chin on the mat, but getting out is quite a trick - one which I am still trying to figure out.

Saraswati came over and helped me into it and tried to help me out of the pose. I fell backwards trying to get my legs back around to Bakasana, and she gestured for me to do my vinyasa and then jump forward again. I thought she was going to try and help me get it. When I was squatting with my legs up near my shoulders at the top of the mat she told me to sit down. I was confused beacuse I was not sure what sitting down had to do with the pose. I looked confused and she told me to sit down again. This time I did sit and she proceeded to push and pull me into Kurmasana...and then Supta Kurmasana. She was giving me my next two poses before I knew it!

Since I started practicing the primary series, these two poses have been my biggest fear. They look hard and I have trouble forward bending with any sort of straddle, so I have been worried I would never get past these two. Now that I am here I am less afraid. I am really beginning to understand and see how the poses earlier in the sequence prepare you for later poses. Working towrds getting my head on the mat in Prasarita Padottanasana, for example, has been opening up the connective tissue that needs to be long and flexible in these two poses.

I love this practice more and more each day and am really starting to understand what Guruji means when he says "practice, and all is coming." Not only am I getting more physically advanced in my practice, but I am building more equanimity towards my fears and doubts. Thi time, when I was given my new poses, it felt different. Because it was unexpected, I didn't feel the relief and prideful sense of accomplishment that went with Bhuja Pindasana. I felt a much quieter, more humble joy.