I always get to my yoga class early so that I can get a prime spot in the front row in front of the mirror. As always, we started seated and then moved into our flows. Every time we were in warrior two – facing the side wall, front leg bent, back leg straight, arms out, eyes forward – I noticed that I was always just slightly crooked relative to everyone else in the mirror. I would check my pose, straighten out and fall in line with everyone else. Clearly I was doing something wrong. On the fifth warrior pose I noticed that my yoga mat was just slightly askew as well. My pose wasn’t out of alignment, my yoga mat was crooked. The the rest of class I kept straightening it out in the hopes of falling in line with everyone else and their perfectly aligned mats. It worked for a few minutes but ultimately I would end up crooked.
Then I realized something, I was making a problem out of absolutely nothing. Here I thought my form was wrong because I was crooked but in truth, I was in perfect alignment. I was exactly where I needed to be, facing in exactly the right direction and in perfect relationship to my crooked mat.
A yoga mat is like a path in life. Sometimes it needs to be a little crooked. Take your own path, look in your own direction. Don’t worry about the person on the path next to or ahead of you. They have their own perspectives. Chances are your form is right where it should be. And, as we learn in yoga, there is always room for movement and adjustment. Much like life, yoga moves are not intended to be static.
Filed under: Tamara's Musings
