by Greg Lewerenz
Seattle Yoga Arts Teacher
A common question I receive from students is one I ask myself frequently: what do I need to do today – tomorrow – next week – in order to achieve my particular goal pose? Is it even worthwhile to have a goal pose? I have personally been working on Adho Mukha Vrksasana since the spring of 2005, when eight short years ago I watched in awe as my teacher, Matthew Cohen, planted his hands on the floor and slowly, gracefully, weightlessly lifted his feet to float into handstand. Since then I’ve been actively working on the pose myself and in the process I’ve learned many things about my body and my practice.
Seattle Yoga Arts TeacherA common question I receive from students is one I ask myself frequently: what do I need to do today – tomorrow – next week – in order to achieve my particular goal pose? Is it even worthwhile to have a goal pose? I have personally been working on Adho Mukha Vrksasana since the spring of 2005, when eight short years ago I watched in awe as my teacher, Matthew Cohen, planted his hands on the floor and slowly, gracefully, weightlessly lifted his feet to float into handstand. Since then I’ve been actively working on the pose myself and in the process I’ve learned many things about my body and my practice.
Having a goal pose can give clarity and direction to one’s yoga practice. On days when I’m at a loss of which asana to do, I default to those which would help me achieve my goal of floating to handstand. I frequently review notes from my teachers to continue incorporating their ideas into my own body, like working on the building blocks of slowly scissoring the legs down from the wall and a plethora of supine core exercises.
Through this focused exploration I have become aware of the complexity of the body and have realized there are more components to this and similar poses than initially met my eye. Once I got over the emotional reaction to being inverted I worked on my shoulder strength. Once my shoulders started to get stronger my (lack of) wrist flexibility became the challenge. And then my core – oh, the core – and hamstring openness, and on and on. This long process has led me to connect with every aspect of the physical body, from my belly to my finger pads to my toes and back again.
This process has deepened my connection with the philosophical aspects of yoga as well. I have found patience and have expanded my perspective. Through this eight year long exploration I see firsthand that yoga is a lifelong practice requiring both mental and physical endurance; it goes without saying that these skills apply more broadly than just to inversions. Had I never seen Matthew float into handstand on that wondrous day in 2005 I may never have experienced all I have since then. So I invite you to take note the next time you observe someone – obvious yogi or not – move gracefully into a crazy, expansive pose, to consider adding it to your list. You may be in for a wild extended ride, with years of insight and physical adventures ahead.
Greg teaches at Seattle Yoga Arts on Friday evenings at 5:45pm. He offers private yoga, acupuncture and massage at Foster Wellness (www.fosterwellness.com), his clinic located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. On sunny days, you might also catch him kicking up into handstand around the fields of Discovery Park.
