Often when I have a particularly good practice (defined by me as an equilibrium between physical and mental clarity during my practice), I will have what I call "svasana moments." These are simply what could also be called "Deep Thoughts by Robb Hoffy" (thank you SNL). I think it seems to happen after my particularly good practices because when I finally reach svasana, I am feeling physically and mentally satisfied. My body is buzzing and my mind is not. That's the way I like it. Sort of like how you feel after a particulary good love making session.
Anyway, the svasana moment I had last evening is what I'd like to explore today. It's not grand. It just is. It's deeper to me than it appears on it's surface. Basically, I have come to believe that there are no "final" postures in yoga as Monsieur Iyengar describes them in various texts.
I have read and looked through a BILLION (there's that word again) books that Marcia and I have on yoga. For a long time, I would view photos of these amazing yogi's doing amazing postures and would always think that what I was viewing represented the ultimate expressions of those postures. Now I understand that they are simply the penultimate expressions. No matter what, who, when or where, they will always be just that.
As I've progressed in my own practice, I've really begun to feel this. Some postures I have progressed significantly with and as I have done so I have begun to see the BILLION (dude!) little variations that one can exploit with each. A little more stretch here, a little more twist there, more extension, more banda, more breath, more strength, more of all of that combined.
I've also become acutely aware of the expression that is yoga for me. It is my expression of my own body. I am the canvas and yoga is the paint. Yoga shapes me the way an artist shapes a painting. The more I practice, the more refined my art becomes. I will always be able to find new expressions. I will always be able to discover nuances that I was not aware of before. I will always be able to refine my art. I think this is true of anyone that practices yoga. We all have unique bodies and therefore unique ways of expressing a yoga pose. This alone supports my no "final" postures hypothesis. My legs may be longer proportionally to my body than Marcia's are to hers and therefore the manner in which my warrior or my movement from plank forward and upward into warrior is unique and different from hers.
So the deeper part of my svasana moment grew from all of that line of thinking. Basically, I feel now that yoga is a celebration of each of our own ways of expressing our unique bodies. It is truly an art form. And just like any form of art (at least in my view of reality), not a single expression of it is "bad" or "wrong" or anything of the sort. Anyone that chooses to express this beautiful form of art is an artist.
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One last thing ... I think I know why I've been frustrated the past few to several weeks now. I think it has to do with me forgetting about my Journey. I checked out for a while spiritually. Now that I am conscious of that, we shall see if that's really the answer. I plan to do some meditation in motion over the next week to see if I can get back to my Path. I'm coming to realize that by keeping myself aware of my Journey, I tend to explore it more. This space was supposed to help me stay on that Path of exploration. Obviously I need more Tools. I'll now be looking for them again with a little bit more vigor.