Life is a series of revolutions.  Usually that word has connotations of conflict, fighting our way through situation after situation, or even in struggling for liberation, but more it can also mean that every event and action is a series of cycles meant to bring us back to our source.  How we choose to deal with each revolution is a defining point in the difficulty or ease of our lives.  When we choose to muscle our way through these revolutions, we notice that we keep fighting the same fights over and over again.  It is possible that the circumstances or the players change from situation to situation, but the underlying experience remains the same.  What we learn from an asana like Parvritta Parsvakonasana (Revolved Side Angle Pose) is that the more we surrender into the experience, the more effortless and accessible it becomes, and the more we are able to sit within our challenges to see that surrender is our greatest path to the source.

Utthita Hasta Padgangusthasa (Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose) is about staying connected to the foundation of ease and equanimity that is always within us while we work with the deep strength of our core, the flexibility of our periphery, and the openness of our hearts.  And in being aware of all of these processes, to experience the feelings of solidity and expansion that constantly emanate from a center of balance.  Wow.  That is big.  And the experience of this pose, when entered into fully is big.  You can move into this asana feeling weak or imbalanced, and after a few moments of dedicated practice, you will find your roots, your strength and be able to expand and open more than you realized possible. 

The Bhagavad Gita, one of yoga’s most sacred texts, spends eighteen chapters exploring the path of enlightenment.  In Chapter two, verse 58, Krishna says to Arjuna, “Having drawn back all the senses from the objects of sense as a tortoise draws back into his shell that man is a man of firm wisdom.”  The instruction is to draw inward like a tortoise in order to find the experience of pratyahara, what the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define as sense withdrawal.  From this place free of external distractions, one can rest in atman (or the true Self), and find eternal peace.

When I think about expanding to the edge of my limits, I think about my earliest days in this practice.  Before I understood the depth of Yoga practice, it was all about the stretch for me. I would push my body at all costs, reaching for the “perfection” that only a hyper mobile body and youth can bring.  And, invariably I learned a lot of painful lessons, and fell short of learning the one’s with any real meaning.  Sure, I had the “yoga” high that so many do after pushing beyond my physical and sometimes mental boundaries, but I didn’t have the strength or foundation to maintain that expansive feeling off my mat. Now, after a fair share of time coupled with many humbling experiences, I approach asana differently. I give equal amounts of focus and attention to the foundation and the strength need to make expansion sustainable just as I do in a really deep stretch. I believe that when practiced with full awareness, Upavista Konasana (Seated Angle) can teach us how to reach to the very edge of our limits through strength and groundedness, so that the feeling of expansion can reach well beyond our mats and into our lives.

I read a line in a book once that has stuck with me for years, “God gather’s his sheep before dark.”  It wasn’t in a Christian text, but in a yogic one.; the words of a guru to a struggling student.  You will never be left behind in the dark because the sun will always rise even in the blackest night.  Purvottonasana (inclined plane pose) is an asana that opens us to that inner light.  The light of the divine, the light of God, the light within.

What defines you? How do we limit ourselves to a definition of the way things should be, or judgments of the way things are? We find so often that our mat is a mirror, a place to reflect how we experience the practice of living. Asana is a great tool of discovery and reflection. When we are pushed to the edge of what is comfortable in our bodies, we have a human tendency to define our experience. Good or bad, hard or easy, intense or gentle, these dichotomies by definition limit us. In yoga, we seek to move beyond definition to a place where we can experience the good and the bad, the difficult and the easeful simultaneously. After all, yoga essentially means “union,” right? In Pavritta Janu Sirsasana (revolved head to knee pose), we stretch ourselves to the limit of how we define ourselves physically. At the same time, we work to maintain a powerful connection to our root and core. As we practice this pose, we often find that the limits we had placed on ourselves dissolve, and we are able to move beyond physical and mental definitions.

Traditionally birds like the crane and the crow were thought to be messengers from the gods. When the first Dalai Lama was born, it was said that he was visited by black crows. And through the ability to fly, these birds transcend the heaviness of a mortal existence and live in the expanse between this finite world and the next. Cranes are symbols of loyalty and communication, and in many traditions are thought to bridge the gap between the earth and the heavens.

Whether you know Bakasana as the crane or the crow, its effect is one of transcendence. Rising above our perceived limitations and taking off in flight. Bakasana is a pose that requires strength and focus and the ability to trust. The initial approach to this asana is often one of trepidation. Just like a baby bird that has all of the tools for flight, but doubts their strength and ability, Bakasana can often bring up doubts and fears. “What if I fall flat on my face? What if I’m not strong enough to hold myself?”

Sometimes our lives get twisted. We feel tied up in knots, constricted, bound up. Unsure of which way to go, we often collapse into our effort and lose our ground. It’s in these moments constriction where we often fall off balance. We succumb to what is distorting our vision, and we forget that we are always right here in this moment, supported by the ground beneath us and surrounded by infinite potential and the ability to grow.