In my personal yoga practice, I am always eager to overcome my fears or trepidation about unfamiliar poses. It is a process that makes me challenge my conceptions of what my body can or can't do. It is also humbling to realize that MY body in a pose will look very different from David's or Amy's. I am well aware of the fact that the yoga mat is the place where you come to "as you are". And so, quite often, my perfectionistic desires find their way to the mat as well. On Thursday morning, I kept trembling and falling..and falling....and..falling some more as I practiced a new arm balance. Finally, I collapsed onto the mat with a huge smile on my face because I had just been reminded that an integral part of ANY venture into new-ness is incomplete without a few (or many) stumbles, grumbles and moments of insight and triumph.
