The Path of Least Resistance

Not long ago I was in a yoga class where the teacher asked my classmates and I what we preferred to work on, upper body/arms or hips.

As the Yoga Hub is an intimate studio and tends to have a good gender balance in class, it was very clear who chose arms (men) and who chose hips (women).

Not only were we playing to gender stereotypes of man strong & woman emotional – it is said that we humans hold our emotions in our hips – we were playing to what was ‘easy’ for us.

Sometimes the path of least resistance is the best path for you on a particular day. At times I struggle in class for whatever reason physically and/or mentally and the moment I go into a hip-based asana I reach nirvana.

Yoga is a practice. You don’t have to be perfect every time.  You don’t even have to be perfect one time. It is your practice and ultimately you decide how strong you want to make it.

However, some days you should take the uphill path.

You’re wrecked. Your shoulders/hips are tight because you got into a disagreement with your boss/lover/parent/child/coffee barista – whatever – you’re lucky you even made it to the mat and now after a few sun salutations you’re being asked to go into an asana that challenges you.

You can take child’s pose – it’s always an option – or you can do THIS.

You may not perfect the asana at that moment, but you’ll be a step closer and you didn’t give in. Both of these things are major achievements.

And if you get there the satisfaction you gain is worth 1000 moments of nirvana in an asana that’s easy for you.

P.S. The rainbow of nail polish on our toes at practice is lovely, but to help save Mary’s walls becoming yoga’s version of the Berlin Wall use a top coat on your toes. I usually use a top coat, but didn’t recently and noticed that I…ummm…may have left a bit of graffiti behind when doing the standing splits. (Sorry Matt!)

Second Blog so kindly shared by Marie McPeak. Open hearted and insightful as ever. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Marie. Follow Marie on twitter @marielmcp

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of Yoga, a class you attended or a workshop, a vegetarian or vegan recipe or anything  else of interest just send it to info@theyogahub.ie and it will be done:-)