Yoga is not about touching your toes. It’s about what you learn on the way down. -Judith Laseter
(This is the first in a series I’m writing on common misconceptions about Yoga.)
“I’m not flexible enough to do Yoga.” or “I can’t touch my toes, there’s no way I can do Yoga.”
I hear that a lot. Honestly, it makes sense. The images we frequently see of people doing Yoga are more along the line of contortionism. People bending themselves into pretzel shapes, putting feet behind their heads, and appearing to tie themselves in knots.
For some people, that’s their Yoga. And I’m not about to knock it.
But not for everyone. While I think it might be fun to one day touch my toes to the back of my head, I also know that my knees probably won’t allow it, and my lowback is already balking at the thought.
The yoga I know and love is about being in your body. I use the term “being present” a lot. I was recently told that this term can be hard to understand. (Sometimes this poet’s heart gets lost in the beauty of words and phrases, and forget that other folks have no clue what the heck I’m talking about.)
‘Being present’ just means letting your awareness be right here, right now. Rather than reliving the past, thinking about things that have been, or planning for the future, thinking about what is still to come. Instead, you let yourself be. Notice what the body and mind have to say right now. What does walking feel like? What does standing feel like? Is the stomach gurgling? Are the cheeks smiling? When I lift my arms and reach up, what does that feel like? If there is pain, I reach a little less. If I spread my feet apart, bend one knee and straighten the other, how is the weight distributed between the legs? Can I make it more even? (Sometimes the answer is no.) Can I feel the weight traveling through the bones?
I don’t have to be super bendy to do any of that!
That being said, yes, practicing yoga on a regular basis helps you increase flexibility. We move toward the toes. Slowly but surely. We may never touch them. But we lengthen, we gently reach, and we make space for ourselves to get there.
Maybe.
Someday.
In the meantime, just enjoy the journey. Noticing the sensations in the body. Noticing how the breath is moving. Noticing the sensations after you come out of the pose/stretch/reach.
Notice. Learn. Expand.
Grow.
And that’s what this Yoga is all about.
All that talk, and then here I am, touching my toes. For what it’s worth, it took loooots of practice.
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