There is a little personal stumbling block in the Intermediate series and it just so happens that todays training session started with it. It is a series of poses were a lot of people come up against a lot of challenges. I have been doing this pose for a very long time and although I make progress I quickly digress and then I’m back to feeling like it will never happen and physically not feeling so great which makes it difficult to persevere. This in Tim’s words is something like not practicing with the appropriate amount of effort. Too much the wrong way causes pain in the physical body. For me it sort of is going back to down dog. Anyway not to get specific as it’s not that important. The best part is that my attitude is changing.
Today I assisted, practiced and then had the training. If it sounds like a long day, it is, and physically I did not think I could do another thing let alone a stumbling block asana. As we got closer to the end of the session with about an hour left I was sure we would not be doing another asana. Well I was hoping . . . however I was mistaken. In part of these hump poses in the intermediate series is something I have always struggled with and I never felt like I could move or make any progress. So a few people did a demo, we learned the proper vinyasa count and then he always asks for someone who may have challenges to come up and demonstrate. Keep in mind that everyone who gets up really does not look like they have much of an issue or any trouble at all to me. In any event I could learn something or help someone else so I am going to take that chance and go up to the front. Well I do it and get some feedback and move a little. I do it again with an instruction from Tim, move a little more. It was pretty bad and I have a lot of work but I learned something.
What I am learning is that we have to struggle to get to the other side. For some it will take longer than others. Even though I have been at this for a while there are other things that change and then some things stay the same be mostly the good things get better if you let it especially when you can approach things with a new set of eyes or feelers. I started to sort of give up and but with these new sensations and a new attitude I am looking forward to approaching it all on the mat tomorrow. Besides at the end of the session one of my fellow trainees thought that my approach was “cute”. Not a compliment but as Tim says when we go up to the front to demo, “We take one for the team”. Onwards . . .