“Practice is the effort to attain steadiness in the suspended state.” ~ The Yoga Sutras
Practice. I often remind myself yoga is a PRACTICE not a mastery. When you look in a yoga magazine or even a yogi’s instagram (including myself) you will only see the peak pose. The highlight reel of our practice. Not often does it show the boring strengthening sequences or the work it takes to get “up” to a pose. The sweat, the humility, the cuss words, the self judgement, the pain….
Why is this? Is the practice perceived as “boring?” Is it not worth it to share unless we have “perfected” the pose? Are we not “enough” until we hit that pose? Is the work it takes to get there not worth advertising?
For me, working up to inversions, like pincha, are one of those daily practices with the dirt, the grit and the rawness we don’t often share. Inversions and arm balances require incredible core strength as well as accessory muscle strength. In order to achieve this one must practice every day. Knowing full well that you may never hit that perfect pose, yet striving and practicing nonetheless.
Yoga is a practice of life. You show up day after day to face that one person on the mat: yourself. Some days it’s joyous and in sync and others it’s a mess and you wonder even why you’re trying. This is life. This is yoga. So I invite you my friends to show it all; the good, the bad, the raw, the authentic. We find true connection in the authenticity of our humility.