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About Kara-Leah Grant
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Excellent article! I can relate to feeling tightness and resistance in forward bends (in my case, the bikram “standing separate leg stretching” – can’t get my head to touch the floor), despite practicing for more than a decade. While flexibility is not my main goal in yoga, I often wonder why I don’t seem to make much progress in this posture, after all these years. This article has got me thinking about possible unconscious tension I could be holding onto. So I’m going to keep this in mind during the next class and try to really practice awareness.
Hey Allison,
I’ve found it really helpful to work with excellent teachers – sometimes just the way they talk to me, cue me, or adjust me makes the world of difference. I’ve also discovered that different cues make an enormous difference too… depending on what’s required in the body. If you’ve never tried an Anusara-inspired teacher, I’d suggest giving that a go as they have some great cues and ways of working into the body. It’s always good to mix it up! Something else that worked for me in forward-bends has been to focus on the feeling-sense of the posture – it’s all aobut letting go & surrendering, rather than working or striving to get anyway. Relaxed the shoulders made a huge difference!
Great article Kara . Ive re started yoga and being regular for about a year as I was improving I made the great mistake of overdoing it ending up with heaematuria for a week for bruising the capsule of my kidney doing side stretches in a yin class. .
This has been a wakeup call and your article has helped me re focus on what yoga is as you say flexibility is a by product . I huff and puff through sun salutations and Im 52 so my emphasis is to slow down focus on prana and stretch GENTLY . Being old3er has the benefits of the spirtual side and knowledge already being gleaned from experiences .
There is a real danger in the Novice period of overdoing it as the initial benefits come quickly . I guess listening to the instructor and not thinking you know as much as the instructor as youve read a few books and seen a few you tube classes
Again Yoga is about you your limits , your aspirations your journey . At 52 my aims are to try and halt decrepitivity and get a good core strength . Practice being good and humble and be more spiritual. Yoga has helped me yolk these aspects together but Im still a Novice it takes a life time or several to get it right.
Thanks for your lunchbox a great way to re focus on your goals each week
Nameste
Steve
Hey Stephen,
Ouch! It never occurred to me one could bruise an organ from yoga! Good to know it’s possible. Yes, moving slowly and with gentle ease can often yield better results, for sure. Enjoy your journey into yoga.
Just got back from a Yin Yoga workshop with Bernie Clarke in Vancouver. This is exactly what he was teaching us – learn to differentiate tension from compression and consider mental and emotional tension as part of the equation (and of course Bernie and Paul go back a long way!). Fabulous workshop and such common sense. I loved it!
jude
Hey Jude,
It sounds like that would have been an amazing workshop!
Hello kara…thx for the article…i also had a long journey. I have learned to be patient when it comes to opening of body nd mind with yoga…jus wanted to understand if i was on right track as i m too taking long time with my practise.
Can you please explain if there is a way to make understand how is the feeling of compression ie. Bone touching bone and realizing that you body has reached its limit…so that we understand and can also explain it to our students…thx!
A most amazing and powerful article! It really hit the spot in so many ways. I have just been to an amazing Reiki Tummo/Open YOur Heart retreat in Melbourne and felt so much love and opening that having not done yoga for over 2 weeks will be interesting to see how my flow/asanas will go when I attend next time.. Looking forward to what I will experience as my heart certainly feels a lot more open and just surrendering to everything.. Like what you have written in your article about the heart and opening up, however it sometimes takes a broken heart and many lessons of the unemotionally avaliable man to see this light and the best lesson for us to evolve further into the right direction. No experience is ever a negative one as we are protected by a higher force, its just up to our hearts (not our egos/mind) to interpret the experience. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and being so honest, it is very inspiring and helpful to read such an open heart blog xo
Hey Kara-Leah
Great article! I had been pondering over this same topic for many years also.
I am naturally much more flexible in my back bending than forward bends…I remember being that way since my ballet classes when I was a kid. Even after years of regular yoga practice there are many asanas I still find challenging, and I have been practicing since I was 12!
However….you are so right about the relationship between our nervous system, emotions and how open we can be in a pose.
I had never been able to get into hanumanasana splits even with a focused practice on that (think personal drill sergeant in my head, sooo wrong!) until I had some reiki healing and let go of some unhealthy patterns…then voila, one day I just felt my body want to be that open and it happened.
I am glad you wrote this article as most of us need to heal and become aware of our internal states much more than focus on aesthetics of asana
with much respect and admiration ,
Naty
Great article! I believe is one of the reasons a lot of people don’t even start practing yoga: they are afraid they are not flexible enough.
I think the flexibility of mind is very important.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Greetings from Brazil.
Everything I can find about yoga on internet is positive, I dont find anything that is matching my experience of yoga.
I have attended three yoga classes recently, the third one yesterday.
I have tried yoga about fifteen times before and usually had problems, but the reason I keep trying it is that I really want it to work out, I compare myself to an unfit person getting started with exercise, of course there will be problems in the beginning.
I want to believe that what im experiencing right now is something that would disappear if I just keep on doing it, but im paying a high price. Today im having an anxiety in the body and cant focus on anything, also the similar anxiety that can appear from nowhere on a hangover. This is not the first time im feeling like this after yoga. It seems to do everything opposite to me from what it does to other people.
I wish someone could explain why this is happening, for example:
Yes some people get messed up from yoga, they should just stay away from it to feel good.
Or,
Yes this is normal in the beginning when getting used to yoga, it will disappear after a while.
When I went out from the class yesterday, I actually felt really good, laughing and experiencing some kind of high, and I didnt have any problems the rest of the day. This might also be a reason why I keep coming back, because it makes me feel good too.
The first two classes I was attending now, I was really careful and cheated a bit to take it easy in the beginning and avoid problems, and I was ok the following days. Now the third time I kind of got sucked into it and was doing it more serious, which is kind of hard to avoid.
Do you have any advices?
Excellent article. This is just the response I needed as someone who just started practicing.
Lovely read, happy I came across this article since I have struggled with flexibility since teenage yrs… always feeling like I’m not flexible enough even after having practice yoga for over 6ys. Yoga did improve my flexibility, but even tho I’m not nearly as flexible as many yogis I know my body reached is max flex to this day. I still get all the benefits of the asanas tho… ❤️