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About Kara-Leah Grant
Kara-Leah is an internationally-renowned writer, teacher and retreat leader. Millions of people have been impacted by the articles, books and videos she has published over the last ten years. Her passion is liberation in this lifetime through an every day path of dissolving layers of tension into greater and greater freedom and joy. You can find out more about her, including when her next retreats are, on her website. Kara-Leah is the visionary and creator of The Yoga Lunchbox.
Premratna says
Kara-Leah,
Your article has me wondering – is the quest for the ultimate forward bend part of the quest for perfection as portrayed by the media? Is this striving at times along the same line as trying to make sure no one can see my zit? How many of us started with this or indeed are still in this mode of thinking? Does it really matter how flexible our bodies are as long as we are healthy?
The sense of exploration you describe is a beautiful one. There’s a fine line of accepting ourselves for the beautiful beings we are and holding onto a story. This can take quite some discernment and inner guidance to figure out. In my journey, I’ve discovered that flexibility without strength can cause lingering injuries, to the extent that my yoga practice comprises of very little asana (more meditative practices) and I attend class when I can with a strength-focussed teacher. And I go to the gym for spin classes (replacing Lady Gaga lyrics with mantra when it all gets too much 😉
I see part of my role as a yoga teacher to promote a sense of exploration, as well as facilitating strength creation alongside flexibility. I might even make notes on the latter parts of the article as teaching inspiration.
Om
Premratna
Kara-Leah Grant says
Hey Premratna,
I reckon that attachement to “the perfect forward bend” is a pitfall along the path for sure. It can be a distraction, and a striving, and a holding…
I forget sometimes that yoga is that balance between strength and flexibility, and one must have both in equal parts. Strength has always come so easily to me, that I forget it’s even there… Your comment is a good reminder that all of us will have our different experiences of practice, a different balance between strength and flexibility to play with.
I’d love to practice with you some time! I suspect we’d learn much from each other.
Lovely to hear from you, as always!
KL