I was reminded this week by my teacher, Rebecca Lerner (http://www.centerforwellbeing.net/yoga.html), to extend. At first, my ego chimed in and I thought well of course I extend. I tell my students all the time to extend. However, the reason why I have chosen to study with Rebecca is because she is one of the most giving and truly heartfelt Iyengar teachers I have come across. She is the definition of a true teacher; her guidance is not to inflate her ego but truly to help her students. So when I listened more closely to what she was saying, I realized I wasn't extending completely. I was extending only to edge of the wrist... not much past there. So I spent the next hour or so, then the next days, noticing how I need to bring more life into my fingers... to extend past the wrist into the fingers. I travel far to see my teacher, so on the way home from visiting her, I had a lot of time to reflect. I noticed that my extension is stunted in a lot of ways and not only in my asanas (poses). What if we allowed ourselves to extend fully with our intentions and our compassion for others, as well as compassion for ourselves? We create limitations for ourselves unknowingly everyday, which can be reflected in our bodies. As we discover the journey from the periphery to the core that our Guruji, BKS Iyengar, has taught us through the years and his granddaughter, Abhijata, reminded us in May at the Iyengar Yoga Convention in Boca Raton, FL, we can use these lessons from our asana practice to teach us. If we allow ourselves to be aware of what we can learn from our body and view our body as a blessing as opposed to something we "have to fix," we can learn and better understand our true selves.
love, katrina
www.skyyogalv.com
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