I'm a Potato Chip

Tonight I went to yoga class again.  This is my second class with a teacher I had for the first time on Tuesday.  She is pretty awesome.  All the instructors are good at this yoga studio but this one in particular is very good for me.  She teaches a gentle and patient yoga.  I am not either.  My trainer for Jackson is the same and that is what I love most about her as well.  I have learned to be patient with Jackson and gentle in my expectations.  So, tonight I had a very good lesson in being that way with myself.  We started the class with tree pose.  In all the years I've practiced yoga, I have never been successful in this pose.

tree pose

So of course, I couldn't do it.  We practiced the pose standing next to the wall with the leg up away from the wall, and the arm closest to the wall using the wall for balance if necessary.  Very necessary for me.  We spent the rest of class doing poses that release the spine and stretch the back and hips.  Then we tried tree pose again at the end of class.  And I did it!!  She said "some of you may notice that the pose is easier and you are steadier now."  No kidding!  In a nutshell, the yoga poses we practiced in class created suppleness and balance between the uneven strengths in my body.  I am not at all balanced and that leads to me being stronger on one side than the other.  Or the other way around.  Either way, like my horse, I have a strong side and a weak side.  Jackson and I are both potato chips - very uneven in our bodies.  I supple him and improve his strength and balance with dressage.  Yoga is like dressage for people.  So, there I was in savasana at the end of class (see my last post, small stones #3) and I almost started laughing out loud when that analogy came to me.  Tonight, I have a much better appreciation of Jackson's journey to balance and the potential for my own improvement too.