The following is a dialogue between my Mind and my Body:

Mind:   Wow, my instructor just said, “Inhale and twist a little deeper, she wants me to focus my breath into the twist. I’m so feeling this!

Body:   I don’t know about this going deeper and breathing into the stretch thing, I think I’ve twisted enough-I’m Good, it’s a wrap. And, honestly how do you direct your breath into a particular appendage? Is this what they call, “Flowery Yoga Speak”? I don’t like it!

Mind:   Shut up, I Got This!

Body:   Ouch! I just acted a fool and over-directed my twist,  now my damn back is THROBBING ! I knew I should have listened to my body.

Moral to the story:

The Mind might say, “I’m going to do Dancer Pose, but the Body thinks a Preparatory Quadricep Stretch is way more doable”

“Listen to Your Body”

Allow me to give you some personal history. Some years back my body played this ridiculously cruel trick on me, “It didn’t work on command-BUMMER”. Let me explain. I hate to admit this due to my embarrassment, but once upon a time I thought that modifying my yoga practice would make me appear sort of inadequate, you know “Less Able”. I’d been practicing for years and I wanted to appear like a Yoga Rock Star on the mat (talk about an out-of-whack sense of self). In my head I thought that modifying a pose was for those “OTHER PEOPLE”, certainly not me. And then I had the most humbling “YOGA” experience of my life, I pulled my groin muscle (talk about PAIN). It’s the weirdest feeling when your mind says “I Got This” but your body says, “I Refuse to Cooperate”. No problem I thought, I’ll just muscle through it-NOT!  READ MORE