Saturday, June 20, 2015

Living Without Limits

This week I was challenged once again by some of my yoga students. I love that we learn from each other, and last night was no exception. As we prepared to begin class, I noticed that on this particular day three of my students had obvious limitations. One student was wearing a fracture boot, another student had recently had minor surgery on her arm and had restrictions regarding weight-bearing exercise with her dominant arm, and another has been undergoing laser treatments on her foot. I took a moment to talk with each of these students before class began to determine whether I needed to change my class or whether simple modifications could be made to poses. They each opted for the modifications, and decided to (quite literally) go with the flow. Throughout the course of our class, I witnessed many three-point poses: downward facing dog, plank, upward facing dog, reverse plank, and reverse table top poses using only three of their limbs rather than four. Two students lifted one leg during the poses, while one student balanced on her non-dominant arm. 

This expression of yoga without limits reminded me of Matthew Sanford's Adaptive Yoga, yoga for people regardless of ability...regardless of mobility. In Adaptive Yoga, it is more about feeling the energy flowing through us and allowing that energy to move us in ways that perhaps we would otherwise not be able to move at all. It is a lesson we could all learn...to focus a little less on our bodies and focus more on what is within us.

And so it was with these wise and wonderful yogis last night who challenged me to refuse to accept limitations, and to push to challenge myself more....to try new poses and to prepare myself to be able to adapt. Guess it's time to practice my non-dominant balances. 



Be well.
Shannon

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