NIP IT IN THE BUD
I started doing yoga when I was a teenager, doing headstands against the wall, my mom yelling at me for getting footprints on the wall, then taking classes and taking advantage of my natural flexibility and athletic strength.
Present time… Now I am older and yoga has been a revealing tool to show me the subtle changes taking place. You never know how tight you are until you take the posture that reflects resistance.
Matter follows Energy. In the body, you may feel the sensation that you are favoring one side, or that there is heaviness in one leg versus the other leg. From the outside everything appears just fine. However, You are feeling the energy body which is subtle, valid and invisible to the outside. This is an energetic signpost of where the physical body will be headed if you don’t address it. If you begin to pay attention to the subtle changes in your body you will save yourself from serious chronic problems and deformities in the future.
There is a big difference doing yoga when you are young if you were very flexible and athletic. We see that so often in Yoga Videos and commercials, but as we age the changes in the body start to sneak up and could easily go unnoticed if it was not for a steady daily practice of yoga.
In your car you notice tiny noises that will eventually get bigger if you don’t take it to the mechanic. Your body has its’ warning signs as well. Once it is to the level of pain, it has already gone through a stage that you may have overlooked, an imbalance, tightness, or a slight misalignment.
Your daily practice will find those subtler disharmonies and correct them back into balance. Releasing trapped energy will often times address an ache or a stiffness, which could develop into something more challenging to figure out as time goes on.
While you practice take notice of changes. Awareness of changes in both directions, (subtle or not so subtle) seriously. When you have a chronic pain and you begin to practice take notice of the very little changes in the right direction. This too is a signpost showing you that you are heading in the right direction.
Here are some ways of taking notice of the changes sneaking up.
Pachimottanasana: Notice if one leg is stronger to the ground then the other. Feeling resistance in the beginning of the stretch doesn’t mean that it has to remain there. Notice your shoulders releasing and any difference between each side of your body..
Twists: Notice one side compared to the other. One shoulder compared to the other. Is one side able to twist deeper then another? Feel both buttocks sharing the same weight as you lift and begin your twist.
Standing poses:
Is one hip more open then the other? Are you aware of how to work the tighter side in a way that brings greater balance to the pose? As you mature in your practice you will become more sensitive to the slightest changes you are feeling on many levels that will bring to your practice a graceful body in balance, flexibility and elegance throughout your life.
©shelley piser 2009
