What's Your Favorite Yoga Pose and Why? Part 1 of 2
Yoga poses can look different for people with disabilities compared with poses practiced by traditional students. All are correct and beautiful.
OCTOBER PROMPT:
Describe your favorite yoga pose and explain why it’s special for you.
We’re so happy you’re here! Below are four (of eight) submissions we received from the Mind Body Solutions community of adaptive yoga students for October. We hope you enjoy reading them. If you do, please share with your friends and help us elevate the voice of people living with disabilities.
Inside of My Suffering
Inside of my body, inside of my brain injury, there is a collapse that runs down through the cervical from 3-7, it skips a few runs and picks up through the crux of my thoracic where it meets a lumbar frozen in terror from all that it’s barred.
Inside of my Sickness, riddled with pain, curled and unrelenting and cold, no feeling behind me, nor under each foot. Breath deceived me, brought in what I trialled to release. No rest in the darkness that tightened around me, squeezing me, pulling me in from without. Over and over I longed for this stretch, for this peace within me until in an instant that peace was me; an eternity inside, but for only a second in time.
Breath exhales from deep within me, heart beats, body senses determine, this, the first signs of life. I look forward, my awareness slow to return as I begin to notice the Corpse pose below me, the atmosphere of my being imprints my muscles with the memory of this Life before me.
Awww Savasana what peace you have been for Me.
- Erica Cooper
My favorite pose? I suppose it’s like being asked to choose a favorite child. How could I? There is something special about each asana and at any given time a pose stands out or teaches me something new about myself again and again. So, today, Triangle Pose or Trikonasana. Because it asks so much of me and then… breathe. I think Trikonasana is a challenging pose. And if I’m doing it correctly there is prana moving in all directions in my body and I feel quiet and spacious and open and strong.
What I enjoy about triangle, or any pose, is that I like to find the quiet place inside the pose, and stay there for a while. When I’m in that space I can expand, I can reign it in, I can just feel. But if I move into an asana and hold onto tightly, then I can’t feel anything, really. In a triangle pose where one’s torso is moving on one plane, legs in another, arms in yet another. Prana is moving throughout your body and you are the catalyst for it. All one can do is hold on and let go at the same time.
- Angelique Lele
My favourite yoga pose tends to change depending in how my body feels on the day. It might be sore, holding tension or some areas might need more attention. Yoga has made me look at my body differently, one example is my spine. I think perhaps because my particular condition is Spina Bifida, I thought of my spine in a very disconnected and removed way. Spina Bifida is Latin for “split spine”, I too split off from that part of my body. I mistakenly saw it as the source of my trouble rather than a source of energy and life force.
Whatever yoga pose I’m doing, my practice always starts with my spine. Whether it’s a backbend, cat/cow or a twist that’s where it begins. I have to hit down to go up. I start to feel the energy flowing through my whole body. That Kundalini energy, that potential, lives in the base of the spine and connects my body despite a lack of sensation in the lower parts. It also allows me to achieve lightness. The image that comes to mind is one Matthew mentioned during the yogathon, “we kiss with the top of our spine”. The spine doesn’t only connect the body but also the mind. One of my favourite lyrics in the song Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons goes. “We tried hard to live in the truth. But do not tell me all is fine. When I lose my head, I lose my spine.” Whenever I feel anxious or untethered I try to locate my spine and feet, this grounds me and allows me to think more clearly. Iyengar says “Focus on keeping your spine straight. It is the job of the spine to keep the brain alert”. I now think of the spine as the part that links body and mind. It brings together my practice and keeps the energy flowing.
- Laura Hallissey
My Dog’s Favorite Pose
When I feel stuck on the mat and all the other poses aren’t working like they do for the other bodies around me I remember my dog’s favorite pose. Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog pose is my most practiced pose. It’s also one of the most challenging for me. On the surface it might only look like a nice stretch and not challenging like say, Chaturanga Dandasana or an arm balance but don’t be fooled.
It’s widely practiced in classes across the country yet is hardly given a chance to guide you to a treasure within yourself you didn’t know existed. You see, there’s a world of gifts waiting to be opened when you stop pedaling out the feet and start learning how the feet, ankles, and legs work together strongly to help decompress the spine again. It’s not an instant win but in time the effort you once doubted will be effort well spent.
If you need inspiration from a yoga expert, there’s no need to look further than your favorite dog or cat.
- Danielle Deutsch
Erica, Angelique, Laura, and Danielle: I was so excited this morning when I opened my email and saw these beautiful entries! In each one I could tap into not just the power of your words, but the sensations and feelings you each describe. These are really incredible, and I thank you all for brightening my day with these masterpieces 🫶
I loved reading your entries Erica, Laura and Danielle. I could relate to so much of what each of you wrote. Thanks you for taking the time to share those personal moments of your practice. It's how I often learn and grow. Danielle, I may just read your second paragraph now when I teach Downward Dog pose. You said it so elegantly "...there's a world of gifts waiting to be opened..."