4.19.14

 

garudasana

i'm sort of slacking on the yoga-ness of the blog lately.  i am still, in my life, practicing yoga.  but we've moved back to the states, i haven't been teaching and i'm feeling uninspirational.  i'm learning a lesson lately, having nothing to do with asana and having everything to do with acceptance.

i'm learning about accepting life's unexpected trials, accepting another imperfect person's imperfections, accepting my own.  i'm learning about not struggling to change what i can't change.  i'm learning about allowing.  these are hard for me.  as a perfectionist and a control-freak i subconsciously (or consciously) feel like my actions can dictate outcomes.  but sometimes, especially when it comes to other people and their behaviors, they can't.  sometimes it's best to just realize that control is a complete illusion.

it's liberating, also scary, this acceptance trip.  it requires courage, trust, love and faith even as it tests those virtues.  when you're a fighter and a survivor the instinct to struggle and overcome is as vital as oxygen.  but to evolve you have to lay aside these instincts - rooted as they are in fear and restriction - and you have to allow.  so that's what i've been working on lately; allowing.  accepting. and loving.

but here's a yoga pose anyway, for good measure.  namaste bitches, xx.

"To find ease and a feeling of freedom in the pose, it might help to think about the myths behind Garudasana's name. Garuda, though often translated as "eagle," is actually a mythical bird in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. As the vehicle of the god Vishnu, Garuda is said to be the king of birds. In Tibetan traditions, the garudas are considered a magical species; they are often described as "outrageous" because of their extraordinary ability to fly and fly and fly... and never land. They never have to land because they never get tired. And they never get tired because they ride the wind.
In Garudasana your body might feel awkward and constricted, but you can still ride the wind like an eagle. "Riding the wind" means riding the flow or energy of any situation or any challenging pose. Not to be confused with going with the flow or getting bowled over by circumstances, riding the energy of a situation means remaining open to what is occurring and finding a way to become stable, spacious, and steady within that situation, without resistance. When you resist, you're more likely to get tired and give up. In Garudasana, resistance will likely cause you to tense up and lose your balance. But when you stay open to possibilities, even when faced with obstacles, you may find that your energy renews itself endlessly." 
-yoga journal