Yoga for Balance
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
-Albert Einstein
Yoga poses are places of pause, but just as important as the poses are the transitions between poses. I’m not just talking about Vinyasa or Flow Yoga; even if you practice a more static form of yoga like Hatha or Iyengar Yoga, there are still transitions and it’s not just about the positioning of your body, but even the way you breathe and let your thoughts and emotions flow through.
In other words, there are parts of your practice that can’t be seen by someone observing you. Your internal experience is, in my opinion, what makes yoga different than just physical exercise. So, whether you look the way I do in Ardha Chandrasana in the picture above (Half Moon pose), or more like my daughter in her kiddie, couch-supported version here, it’s all about how you feel. Does it feel good? Should you be in that pose, or is another pose better for you?
Or maybe you need to be laid out, chilling on the ground and just being fully present to your thoughts, feelings, and breath. That is practicing balance, too, just as much as more dramatic poses like the one above
.
Then there are the transitions in our days, our lives, and the seasons. Today is a transition to Spring, the Equinox, a day of equal daylight and darkness. How can you find balance in one second, one minute, one hour, or whatever amount of time you have to pause and just BE and FEEL? Do you have the luxury of full-on pausing or do you have to practice that self-awareness during everyday ordinary tasks?
Happy Spring Equinox, Mamas! Tomorrow is the new moon, too:) I’ll touch base briefly then!
