“Aversion is the consequence of displeasure
duhkhanusayi dvesah” -Patanjai- Yoga Sutra 11.8
“Repulsion, or aversion, is based on past experience and the mental permeation that follows it. Whether conscious or not, it remains sealed in the memory, taking no account of the way the situation has evolved”. – Bernard Bouanchaud, The Essence of Yoga
“Consistent asana and meditation practice will improve the way your energy flows, and this will change the way you experience yourself – transforming the way you perceive and relate to the world” – Erich Schiffmann, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness
“This pose elongates and strengthens your spine, brings flexibility to your back muscles, increases circulation to your pelvic region, and tones and improves functioning of your reproductive and digestive organs. It also calms your mind and relieves anxiety and nervous tension – Patricia Walden: The Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health
This week I decided to start a 21 day YOGA challenge of Trikonasana, triangle pose. It is an asana I never cared for, never really felt it had any place in my daily practise. I realise since I started it that one of the reasons for avoiding it was some big discomfort in the right hip. The path of avoidance led to a huge compensation on the left side, and pretty interesting weaknesses and muscular restrictions on the right. Hmmm.
At first I must admit, the dialogue in my mind was pretty much: “what is the point of this?!” “It’s not yoga if you aren’t breathing!!” and basically lots of re-focusing on steady breathing and finding the point where I felt I was opening my body, not in dramatic ways, but just a bit of light, like when you open the curtains in a room. I have to say, I am practicing bit by bit and my body and attitude are really changing. The tension is lessening. I warm up well for it, and use the variations with support (wall, blocks) that make me feel as organic in the challenge as possible. I find a place I can relax into. My teacher calls it effortless effort, like Nature…crocusses pushing up through cold soil, know how, somehow, to break through the earth even when it is still cold from winter.