I was asked by someone in class how long to hold poses when they’re practicing at home. I wanted to come up with a more useful answer than “3-5 breaths”, or “as long as you want”! So I said she use each pose to listen to her body and try to understand what’s happening wherever she felt stuff happening. Whew, that’s hard to do especially when you’re new to it. It’s hard for me to do today. Maybe “3-5 breaths” is a better answer, it’s simpler. Anyways as I was explaining, I swear I could *see* her think “what the HELL can I learn from my tight hamstrings?” but she was too nice to voice it. And I wonder that too, like big deal, my hips are tight yet again . But we are mind/body/spirit organisms. It’s all integrated although it may be tough to see and even tougher to understand.

I keep tripping over advice lately about getting to know yourself and it’s hard because I think – yeah I know what bugs me and I know my favorite color, what else is there? But of course there’s plenty. It goes so much deeper than that. Yoga is a great way of getting to know ourselves. Iyengar calls it a “system of self-realization”.

And yoga has just made me aware of the tip of the iceberg. I go for Reiki treatments somewhat regularly with Ann Perry the wonder-gal. After a session she’ll say “yeah I noticed a lot of stuff around your shoulders – you’re carrying too much these days?” Um, yeah. And she’ll tell me that my second chakra is dead to the world. I used to think the chakra stuff was pretty woo-woo but over time I’ve found she’s dead-on with what’s going on in my life. And usually I’m too busy staring at trees to see the forest. When she says my second chakra has gone AWOL it’s my wake-up call that I need to play more – and stop being such a responsible adult. Do I want to be on my deathbed saying “well at least I – without fail – tackled my to-do list!”. Nope.

It’s all integrated. It all means something. You are your tight hips and short hamstrings and funky shoulder. And thanks to yoga you just never know what all you can know about yourself.