The perfect shape..
One of the things I get asked is to give very specific instruction on how to get in a yoga pose. I certainly believe there are some instructions I can give to help someone find the pose for themselves and try and make sure all is safe. I do not think I can get someone into some perfect shape of a pose. I think there is no such thing as a perfect shape in any physical activity. I would say even dancers who are going for very specific shapes, depending on their body shapes, sizes, how they feel on any given day will affect the shape they are going for. Yes, professional athletes of all kinds are trying to find a specific kind of pose, position, etc but I imagine they would say everyday is different as well.
My points above are rather than going for a perfect shape for those of us who are not using our bodies for some professional endeavor, is learning to try and feel what is going on with my body on any given day. I have learned that taking it nice and slow in a stretch will give me a much “deeper stretch” than trying to yank my body into submission. That being really slow and gentle and forgetting about what I think I look like or some idea or shape of something is the way to go. I also get asked “should it be this or should it be like that?” I do not believe in the “shoulds”, because how can I say yes it should be one way or another with so many variables? Really think about how many variables there are in what we do with our bodies, how could we think there is a perfect shape or we should all do something the same way? How?
I have been studying the nervous system for the past few weeks and I am starting to understand why it feels better and actually can take me in a stretch far more effectively, when I slow down, stop thinking about what it “should” look like and do whats right for me and only me!!