Its all yoga, all the time for me! Throughout my day - doing bodywork, teaching yoga, running a business, working in the garden, relaxing with friends and puppies in this beautiful state of New Mexico - my life is infused with yoga. I love the deeper awareness of my body, mind, soul that it brings me; love the deeper connection it enables me to experience with the world around it; and REALLY love that I am able to share this beauty with others.

I know its not always possible to connect with other yogis, that we all need extra inspiration in our own practices, and sometimes even a little kick in the butt to get into that yoga zone. I hope this blog will help you with that (and me, too!) as I share pieces of my classes, practices and inspiration with you.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Why work so hard in yoga? Thai Yoga Massage and your yoga practice...

Ok.  I have a confession... I'm always looking for the easy way out in my practice.  That's not to say I don't see the benefit of working hard and the safety that can come from muscular engagement in alot of poses but really is life all about hard work?

One of the things I see in my students all the time (and, of course, feel in my own body) is this need to work hard.  As if it doesn't count unless we are giving 163%.  But yoga is also about finding ease.  Patanjali talks about a steady, stable comfortable posture in the Yoga Sutras.  He also talks about using pain for purification but why do we seem to go out of our way for the pain but not the comfort?
This is why I look for the easy way out.  The easy way requires some level of comfort and some level of, dare I say... slack.  When we push ourselves, we often get in our own way.  We are so muscularly engaged that we limit our range of motion so much more than necessary.  Often we don't even know what our full range of motion is.  Often we physically cannot get there without engaging so much.

Enter Thai Yoga Massage.  Try letting a friend take you into cobra pose.  Don't help, let them do it.  The video below will talk you through it.  Note that if you have any spine issues, you should only have this done by a professional.



Now, did you notice anything about your range of motion?  I'm betting you just did the most super-humungous cobra of your life!  With no effort!

On to the next step... do cobra pose on your own but remember the sensation of your partner helping you and try to recreate some of that - the imagination is a powerful tool.


Great job! Notice the difference?  Less engagement, more movement.  Maybe even less "pain is purification" and more "steady, stable, comfortable"?  Keep practicing, it gets even better ;-)

This is one of the ways that receiving (and giving) Thai Yoga Massage can really impact your yoga practice.  Find a Thai therapist, take a workshop (I'll be giving one in San Diego this Saturday!), try it out... let me know what you discover!

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