Balance

Balance.  The class stood with their backs on the wall and their feet about a foot from it.  “Bend your knees slightly like you are going to sit down, keep your back on the wall then pick up your right leg, balance on your left and cross your right leg way over your left.  then try if you can to bring your toes around behind your right calf.”  The class was concentrating pretty hard. “Stay for a moment with your hips even then come up and stand straight.”  In between sides I told the class that the teachers at the Yoga Space were going to start a weekly blog on the Dexter Patch and thinking of calling it “Yoga is Not For Pretzels”.  That got a big laugh and someone said they’d for sure read that.  The students all got the meaning though.  The pose they were doing really wasn’t just about tying themselves up into a pretzel, yoga means a lot more to them than odd shapes.  What they were doing was practicing how to balance mentally as well as physically; standing first on one leg then another, in a manner that required some strength but also mental concentration and stability. 

“Ok, now step away from the wall and try it without the wall for support.”  Groans from the class, but everyone tried.  The wall was close enough that those who needed it could touch.  Practicing this kind of physical balance often has students saying it not only helps them “stand on their own two feet” better, but be able to catch themselves in those clumsy moments when they trip and start to fall.  Curiously learning this practical stability also helps create an emotional balance in a world that constantly seems to be turning us first one way then another, like a pretzel.  As one student told me last week, “If I can’t secure 10 minutes to sit down on my yoga mat each day, then I feel disjointed."

See what happens when you try it. Sue Salaniuk (Intermediate Senior 1, Certified Teacher)