Begin Again With Tree Pose

Begin Again....

Yoga, at the very heart of the matter, is the practice of beginning again.  

We sometimes get confused and think it is the practice of Down Dogs and Chatarungas and Half Moons.

But the truth is that those are just bodily situations that give us juicy conditions to practice breathing in, breathing out, falling over, getting back up, giving up and going up.  

One of my favorite poses to practice "beginning again" is Tree/Vrksasana.

This standing balancing pose strengthens our legs and our core as well as improves our focus and determination. But tree pose creates the bodily situation of falling over or at the very least losing balance. The mind can be found chanting, "just wait for this pose to be over" or "if you try again, you will just fall again."

But there is the superhero called Breath that disrupts the mental banter and steps in to rescue the moment.   

The exhale ends and the next inhale whispers "try again, start over, begin again". Then we recommit to our focus, bring the knee into the chest, place the foot on the inside of the inner thigh and begin again.