Day 336 July 6, 2011

footed vase inspired by Marguerite Wildenhain

August 4th is coming up, my last day to blog for this project.  It seems impossible to realize that my blog will end, but something else wonderful must surely be taking its place :) [that's the eternal optimist in me talking]

My fellow blogger Denise has listed her five most challenging yoga asanas and she realizes that one way to improve is to practice them, versus avoiding them.  I was such a silly person at one point.  I would intentionally show up late to yoga class just to avoid my most challenging pose that we always practiced at the start of the Saturday morning classes.  It really hurt my shoulder too much.  I had such pain somedays I would cry.  Slowly, slowly that shoulder has improved and now the discomfort is lessened significantly.  My tight upper back was part of the problem and the rest of it was a protective posture I'd learned after dislocating that shoulder.  So practice does help, and lots of patience.

My five most challenging poses at this point are tadasana [mountain pose], virabradhasana 3 [warrior 3], padmasana [lotus], pinchamayurasana [elbow balance], and parvritta trikonasana [revolved triangle pose].  I think Denise is right. I too will practise each of these poses for the next 30 days.

Namaste.