Daily Practice
Yoga is of course more than physical poses or postures. But the poses ARE one of the clearest ways to visually represent the whole of the practice. And thus we post our poses...on websites, on Instagram, Steemit etc.
Now the physical poses do help open up the body and the mind, work through physical and energetic blockages, and so on, but the essence of the practice of yoga is mindfulness, clear seeing, knowing thyself and seeing through thine own bullshit patterns. 🙏🏽✌🏾So for me, at least, that essence of yoga is something that I strive to practice all the time, everywhere, and anywhere. I don't always succeed, but I keep striving and recommit when I struggle.
My photo shoot with Robert Sturman last week reflects the essence of this. We did the shoot just out on the streets of Asheville with people and cars passing by. It's hard for me to depict in a photo of myself walking down the street and seeing things that trigger my ego, to reflect my inner work of seeing clearly and paying attention to my breath. Instead I show myself doing a physical backbend on a street corner to represent the mental yoga work I strive to practice daily. Yoga all the time. Mindfulness, presents, staying with the breath. And when we slip and get caught back up in our ego's bullshit patterns...just begin again, back with the breath.
Nice shot! :)
You make everything look so darn classy D. I think it is so because it really helps that you are so graceful. Even from the pics, what appears to be so much a strenuous move , mind over matter makes it look so flawless.
You are kinda owning that whole temple looking architecture in the background :P
Some of the old sites in Ireland would also be fabulous backdrop xx
Love it x
Thank you so much Aineyann. Your comments are always very supportive. 😘
I really mean them with sincerity!
You both have an almost magnetic draw to your pages :D! Have a lovely Day..
as for me, I will beSpying for more new pics :P lol
I sense that you mean it. 🙏🏽 Let me practice just saying "thank you", because as you will read in my newest post that is sometimes a challenge for me to just accept praise without Deflecting. But seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you for your words and admiration and love. I love you back and I'm really happy to have connected with you here @aineyann. 😘
You are a sweetheart. I can tell that you have a great heart, that is what drew me to you in the first place. One of the first accounts that I came across here. You don't need to Thank me, I have great admiration towards you because of how open and honest you are, something that is not easy (to break down those walls).
You are advocate for every female on this site. xxx
&
You are beautiful x big hug
Yes yes yes! Its beautiful to hear other people talk about the importance of breath - in both the positive and negative times through our lives.
Im inspired by your strength of pose and also strength of character to perform this in the middle of the street. I always thought it was egotistical to take pictures like this but now i find quite the opposite - Its actually really empowering to look back at yourself in a strong pose!
Have a beautiful day and thanks again for the inspiration :)
p.s I just did a timelapse video of my practice today and posted it here if youre interested: https://steemit.com/yoga/@youareyourowngod/video-yoga-freestyle-vinyasa-flow
Oh I like you lots! Yes the breathe tells us everything. It IS everything...
Anything can be egotistical vs therapeutic depending on our mindset I guess. And honestly, not that there's anything wrong with either one, as we are all just doing the best we can in the moment. Some days my ego is quieted and other days she's back trying to run the show. I can't judge it because that would be like judging the judger! 🤣.
Thank you for commenting so that we connected . 🙏🏽✌🏾
Amazing picture, and you look very beautiful! I hope we are going to see more pictures from your shoot with Robert Sturman :)
Thank you so much my lovely friend. Just received the rest of the images from him this morning, so will share soon!
Beautiful photo. As a yogi I must say backbends are my kryptonite and I'm awed by people who have good back flexibility.
I'm pretty sure all the running I do (used to do a lot more than I do now) has a lot to do with my inability to do decent backbends. But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make still.
Thank you so much 🙏🏽 Backbends are not naturally the way my body is flexible either. I'm much more of a forward folder and hip opener. In fact for this shoot he encouraged me to have a few poses in mind for him, I warmed up accordingly, And none of my plan included back bending. 🤣So this was rather on the fly and cold, but turned out well enough.
Can I just say you have a great yoga body!! I am working towards that myself, and can't wait to get there :)
I'm still in the beginning of my journey in yoga, I started doing it because of my back issues, and it has helped me sooo much. I think it's amazing how the human body can make such beautiful shapes and poses, I consider it art. I really love yoga, can you tell? :P
Looking forward to more yoga posts <3
You can say whatever you like! Thank you very much, and I think you do too. 🙏🏽🕉
I started yoga also just trying to escape pain in my back. It is incredibly effective but requires continued practice. Even if I back off and only practice once or twice a week for a period of time my back pain comes right back. I don't mind being addicted as such, as the practice keeps away both physical and mental pains.
Totally agree! And this reminds me... time for some bedtime yoga :D
The breath is so important.... I feel a bit ashamed when I think about it, but I smoked for almost 17 years until my breath hurt. Since 7 month I quit, because of this and because I save the money better for my art stuff and fortunately I feel much better. Yeah the breathe is so important, we are the breath, we are Odem. I could need some daily aware breath work too - thanks for reminding!
I struggle with shame as well for woulda, coulda, should've Sooners. But we're always doing the best we can at the time. We don't know what we don't know until we know... that's very impressive quitting smoking after 17 years. Nothing but respect for you from me.
Hey 😊 you're so right - we always should look forward - I cannot change it anyway. Thanks, actually I am very proud of myself. I am so so so done with it ....and now I buy cryptos instead 😎😄 Have a great day!
nice post!
Really good post! I like your yoga style to destroy ego, thinking patterns and instead of this just starting create your own culture :)
Like and follow. Bless :)
Thanks so much. :) idk that we can ever kill the ego as it's the tool we use to function and have an identity within this game we call life, but yes I do seek to see thru it's bullshitery more and more.
It is beyond my imagination, how anyone can do this and still keep a rather "relaxed" look on your face. You must have practiced that for a very long time to hold such a challenging pose with no visible sign of effort... not talking about veins and muscles, they of course have to do their job.. its the "attitude" for lack of a better word.
Don't know if it was the intention of the photographer, but it almost looks, as if the red light wants to keep you from grabbing the top of the church tower and take it off, like some kind of lid ;-)
Hahaha...thank you my friend. 🤗 oddly these poses do trigger an almost immediate relaxation response for me. Ive practiced them thousands of times. And you practice only going as far as you can into the pose and still comfortably breathe. So yoga trains us to function in difficult positions maintaining breath awareness. The goal is to then live that way through the rest of you life interactions, but some days I still get triggered by stress, forget how to breathe, and have experience major moments of stress and panic. And so I keep practicing...