Enjoying my practice with a little more awareness

I attended a yoga workshop the other day and was reminded how much I enjoy yoga.   Although we are reminded to step onto the mat as if it is our first time and explore the differences in our always-changing practice, it’s easy to get into a routine and lose that child like interest.

Yet, it is amazing how exploring one’s practice and really becoming even more mindful of the asana changes the practice altogether.  Whenever during my yoga practice I am trying to be as mindful as possible, but the beauty of knowledgeable teachers is, they can open up new things to be mindful of.

Something as simple as tadasana; I root my feet, engage my legs muscles and abs, lift my chest and try to stand tall.  Yet, I was shown that I could further root my feet by developing awareness of the key, four points of our feet (outer/inner balls of the feet and heels) and rotating my thighs outward, which naturally engages my gluts, thighs and calves. This allows for a lighter more upright upper body.

So my focus during my yoga practice now is to try to bring more awareness to my body and movements and further explore each pose.  Like with most things, I want to continue to advance my knowledge and ability.  In other words, I want to be able to be upside down doing hand stands all day, everyday.  But, in order to do that I need to go back to basics, stand up straight and ground myself and allow myself to fully enjoy the process that is my practice.