Over the past few months I have had a few minor injuries that have plagued the progress of my yoga practice: hurt back after finally coming up from backbends and tweaked shoulder after binding with my legs behind my shoulders. Being hurt can be discouraging and frustrating because you feel like you are making progress and getting "it" and then "it" (whatever that may be) goes away.
My goal now has been to let go of my ego and do what I can. Even though sometimes the asanas (poses) seem to be the end goal (i.e. "which pose are you on?"), ashtanga and yoga in general are not about the poses, they are about the practice and what you do and feel on the mat.
My teacher in Houston, who can be moody sometimes, surprised me the other day when he told me at the end of one of my practices, Look how you are back to where you started even though you were injured a few months ago. If you had given up and stopped practicing, you would have had to go all the way back to the beginning.
So the moral of the story: keep up your practice and do what you can. Slowly but surely all will still be coming.
1 comment:
Some really great advice. While I don't currently practice yoga (though I'm getting rather decided on finding somewhere to learn), I think you and your teacher's words helped me remember that while I feel frustrated with my college classes right now, I'm getting closer and closer to the degree, and it's not necessarily about the end result, but experiences along the way.
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