As I have been practicing yoga for many years I am able to do things with my body that would have never seemed possible in the past. People often look at flexible people and think that they are born that way and sometimes they are. If you practice yoga regularly, changes inevitably occur. It is the inner change that is important not the result.
Some degree of flexibility is healthy and enables us to move our joints freely without pain. So to some extent flexibility is functional. However many yoga poses go beyond this functional range of motion. Yet I find people wish they could do such and such a pose and I myself have been susceptible to the allure of a challenging asana myself. But when you can do crazy stuff with your body it doesn’t make you any happier, more spiritually progressed or whatever. It just means you can put your leg behind your head now, it isn’t really important but the journey is.
There are many things that I used to think were impossible both on and off the mat. My yoga practice allows me to attempt the impossible every day and over time see it change. The pace of modern life is fast and yoga has taught me the patience necessary to work at things which seemed impossible to me. The greatest result isn’t my outer physical flexibility but my flexibility in life to see past any limitations I may have otherwise placed on myself. Many if not most impossible things are possible with work, this is one of the wonderful things I take from yoga to life.
What has yoga taught you that you are able to bring to your life?
