Wild Woman and Men,
You don’t need super human strength to pull off an arm balance in yoga!
I have pumped out so many arm balances in my practice …. through brute force… until I realised that will power and force could only get me so far!
Yoga arm balances ARE achievable!
It’s about understanding and establishing the foundations. In this workshop you will learn how to build your arm balances from the bottom up – not from your arms!
We will work on the physical strength of your core muscles and the mental strength you have getting over the fear of falling on your face.
Arm balances (and inversions like headstands, for that matter) are 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental.
Let me talk about the foundational arm balance of Bakasana.
The archetype of Crow Pose (bakasana) embodies fearlessness, persistence, and bold expression. Every time I do this pose, I have an opportunity to practice these qualities. I often think about the courage it takes to lean forward enough for my feet to come off the ground. The fear of face-planting often blocks me from leaning in enough. With every attempt at the pose, however, I persistently practice letting go of fear so that I can fly.
Sure, its fun and fancy to balance on my hands, but in the act of flying, in that moment my feet are off the ground, I am not bound to fear. My body and mind lift off for flight because the weight of fear or self-doubt isn’t holding me down or preventing me from doing something incredible, like balancing on my hands or standing steadily on one foot. Crow teaches me that on the other side of fear there is an opportunity to experience a free body and an uninhibited mind. In those few moments that I touch fearlessness, I come to know and trust that its possible to reach the other side of fear.
During this workshop, I will loving and fervently invite you to observe how the quality of your thoughts affect your balance. Notice how positive and negative thoughts manifest in your body and play themselves out in the poses. After you study yourself on your mat for some time, take time to notice how the quality of your thoughts affect your mood, energy level, self-perception, and relationships in your daily life.
It’s only through noticing these trends in ourselves that we can become aware of how the thoughts we dwell on affect our overall balance. The power in this awareness is tremendous and can lead us to experience balance, positivity, and self-awareness more regularly on our mats and in our lives.
