This year at the Asia Yoga Conference, I chose classes that focused in the most common issues my students face, and when I booked the class Overcoming Fear and other Obstacles I thought it was going to be more about meditation, but to my surprise (even if it was kind of obvious) it was all about inversions, arm balances and dealing with those postures you have more trouble with!
I have never been to a yoga class with such a dramatic teacher! And I mean dramatic in the literal sense of acting drama. Edward Clark, with his slim yet perfectly sculpted body, where you could absolutely identify each single muscle, staged a great class guiding us in the execution of postures that were not even real postures but weird versions of them, all with the intention of bringing challenging poses totally out of context.
Sometimes if you don’t really know where you are going with a posture you just let yourself go, and that was exactly what he was aiming for, to guide us step by step into these weird invented poses that resembled in a way the most challenging postures you would greatly fear if done in a conventional way.
His class was far from any transcendental yogic experience but closer to a Shakespearean tragedy, nevertheless quite inspiring.
Main teaching I got from his class that applies not only to yoga but to any challenge you face in life: when facing a difficult posture, don’t try to get to the final posture right away but get there little by little, step by step, giving your body the time to adjust to the new challenge. Then try, and try, and try, but if you still can’t do it then there is a moment that is probably wiser to stop trying and accept your limits!
The question remains: when do you know you have tried enough?
Stay tuned for more inspiration about dealing with fear and challenge on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/latin2yoga
xx Sandra