The AHA Principles – Honoring the Body

When we begin practicing yoga, it is easy to get caught up in the idea of doing the picture- perfect pose. Our competitive minds make us think that if we don’t bend far enough, or aren’t able to touch our toes, or look a certain way in our poses it’s just not good enough.  But yoga is NOT a competitive sport!  And a picture-perfect pose is not the end-goal (if you happen to achieve that along the way, then it’s just an added bonus.)

In the previous blog post, we spoke about having full awareness while doing yoga poses.  By using our breath to stay in the present moment we can really discover a lot about ourselves.  However, this awareness does us little good if we then choose to ignore the signals our bodies provide.  Thus, the next step is to HONOR this information.

I always instruct students to really pay attention to their first point of resistance in each pose – I like to call this “the edge”.  Once we find “the edge”, we just hold, breathe and observe.  What are our bodies telling us at this point?   If the body is saying “this hurts!” or “I don’t feel balanced/steady”, then we should back off a bit, make adjustments and/or add support to the part of the body requiring it.

Using accessories to support the body is a great way to not only experience a pose but also allow the mind to be present in each pose.  For example, imagine we are on our hands and knees doing the Cat-Cow movement – in Cat-Cow, we flex and extend our spines while grounding through our hands and knees (for more information on doing Cat-Cow, please visit www.anyonecandoyoga.com and download the FREE chapters of our yoga guide).

For many of us, the wrists may begin to feel pressure in this pose since we are supporting a good amount of our weight on our hands.  We can easily support our wrists to alleviate any pressure.  But if we choose to “tough it out” and ignore the message our wrists are conveying …

1. We could potentially hurt ourselves
2. We will feel discouraged and may not want to stick to our practice
3. Our minds will be occupied by the thoughts of our sore wrists instead of being present with the movement of the spine and our breathing.

By bringing support under our wrists to alleviate the pressure, we would eliminate the distraction of discomfort and be able to stay present with the pose to gain its full benefit.

The moral of the story… HONOR your body!  Don’t resist or dismiss the sensations that come up.  Our egos may say “tough it out”, or “I bent further yesterday, why can’t I do the same today?”  The tendency is to follow the ego, to compare and to push further despite what we feel.

We think of ourselves as weak if we “give in” to our sensations of discomfort or pain. But nothing is farther from the truth. Being honest and honoring where we are at this time takes courage!  Giving in to our egos only keeps us in pain and prevents us from truly enjoying the benefits of our practice.  The idea is to challenge the body, not to punish it!

So let’s put those egos aside and instead HONOR our bodies wherever they may be in this moment.  Then, not only can we gain great benefit from our yoga practice, but we can truly enjoy it!

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Check out this video clip on “Honoring the Body” from Anyone Can Do YOGA’s Yoga Essentials-Fundamentals DVD.  For more information about the DVD or to purchase, visit the Anyone Can do YOGA Shop.