May 27, 2011|By Julie Deardorff, Tribune newspapers
In yoga the other day, teacher Jessica Sandstrom started class by talking about how the practice can make us more rigid.
Of course, I was there precisely to loosen my painfully tight hamstrings and hips, but her point was that when most of us begin yoga, we’re open to trying new classes, new styles of yoga and new teachers. When Sandstrom, a soccer player and triathlete, first started practicing, “there was something to learn from every corner of yoga that I explored,” she said.
Over time, though, we become comfortable with what we know. For some of us, a yoga practice isn’t any 'good' unless we do our favorite posture, say a series of deep backbends. We’re thrown for a loop if there’s a sub. We unroll our mat in the same spot in the room every time. “If we’re not careful, we can start to turn off that “beginner’s mind” and lose the ability to see the newness and possibility around us that made such an impact,” she said.
Sandstrom started thinking about her own flexibility while reading an interview with yoga instructor Patricia Sullivan in the book “Will Yoga and Mediation Really Change My Life?”
In the book, Sullivan talks about how her practice has changed as she has gotten older. She’s less attached to the asanas – the poses – and the feeling that she has to do certain things for it to feel like she’s ‘done yoga,’ Sandstrom said.
“She now comes to her mat and instead of following a set series of poses, she hones in on what her body really needs that day and follows her own inner guidance,” Sandstrom said. “The practice of yoga is about self-study, self-exploration and growth. Those moments of possibility are all around us; it just takes an openness and willingness to see them there.”
I like to think I’m getting there. I still love vigorous poses more than seated meditation, but when I was battling insomnia, it was slow deep breathing and forward folding that got me through. My own ongoing challenge is recognizing what my body needs – and that it changes on a regular basis.