Foundation Part 2

When I first started practicing the yoga poses I thought that there were more advanced teachings beyond the fundamental principles that I was taught. As I continued to practice I realized something that my teachers had been telling me all along. It does not matter how advance (read contorted lol) a pose is we always come back to the fundamental principles. If there is an advance teaching it would be to explore how the fundamental principles are applied and manifest in the  "advance" poses.

I remember how I started focusing on developing the strength of my hands as I practiced handstands (by the way I was surprised when I found out that handstand is considered a beginners pose). I noticed at some point that it was not just about pressing the fingers down but learning to modulated the strength and pressure applied in different parts of the hand to be able to balance your body in this pose. Who knew a foundation could be dynamic. But to develop that ability took literally hundreds of hours of practice. I am sharing the time it took to find this out with you so that you become more patient with your body and your practice. Things take the time that they take. Our part is just to show up for practice as often as possible.

We will continue to focus on foundation this week. We will be also mediating at the end of class to learn a more subtle form of foundation.

I look forward to seeing you in class.

Blessings

Jorge Nihal