this weekend we are focusing on externally rotated standing poses. after another quite strong 3 hour long practice, we went ahead and did some sanskrit pronunciation (which i am quite grateful for, now i can at least recognize the 8-10 names we went over in class and even say them if i think about it long enough). after that, back we were to the mat working on some common externally rotated poses. the ones we focused on were virabhadrasana 2 (warrior 2), utthita trikonasana (extended triangle), utthita parvakonasana (extended side-angle) and vrksasana (tree pose).
now i should preface this next story with a disclaimer we were given by natasha last weekend. every class we will be doing what she calls "looking at bodies" if while we practice she sees someone in the class doing something she thinks could be corrected, and everyone will benefit from experiencing that adjustment, she will during a practice ask all but one person to get out of the pose and come over to see what she is talking about. this is not meant to embarrass anyone but rather to help us correct an action in your own yoga and to help us learn how to effectively correct someone else in their own practice.
needless to say, yesterday was my first experience being "looked at." we were practicing virabhadrasana 2 (which i also have to preface by saying: i have very tight hips, hamstrings, etc. etc. this makes externally rotated poses a challenge for me since mainly what you are working in them are your hip flexors and your hamstrings). so 41 people are gathered around my mat while i hold virabhadrasana 2 . (not the easiest or most comfy of poses to start with). after a few slight adjustments with my heel alignment and then natasha directing me to lengthen my stance (which of course makes it harder and a more productive stretch) i had a beautiful vira 2 pose. while usually something like that would give me anxiety and make me feel bad for her even seeing something off in my pose in the first place, instead i felt so empowered and happy to be in that room at that time.
later in the day, while talking about the philosophy and history of yoga we touched on the thought of everyone having a dharma, a life's purpose, which they must figure out and fulfill. in order to explain this better natasha talked about the bhagavad gita (and while i haven't read it, i will give a general play by play) - the gita is a conversation between lord krishna and arjuna taking place on the battlefield at the start of the kurukshetra war where arjuna is supposed to lead his troops into battle, but has some doubts. krishna explains to him in this moment frozen in time - that this is his destiny. he must take this action and let go of the possible results. there is no way to know what will actually happen so all that you can do, is take the action in the moment. while this is an extremely elementary breaking down of the story, i found that it really moved me. everyone in this society is always worried with the possible outcomes and "what ifs" of every situation (myself included) but in the end, whatever is going to happen is going to happen - you need to take the actions meant for you to take and not worry about what might or might not come of it. i hope this speaks to some of you out there as well.
"little by little, all is coming"
xxx
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