'DVESHA POSES' WEEK

Yesterday's class signaled the end of what I term "dvesha poses" week.  Dvesha is a Sanskrit word which means something like "least-liked" (I have learned to never say that a Sanskrit word means something specific, because I'm learning there's a lot of variance in definitions.)  It seems that, in each class this past week, I taught a pose that would fall into my list of "dvesha poses".

The class I planned for yesterday worked towards utthita hasta padangusthasana - definitely one of my dvesha poses.  My theme was why we do poses we don't necessarily enjoy; the heart quality, wisdom; with an emphasis on the spirals - inner & outer.

In my early yoga life, teachers would say "we do the poses we don't like because we probably need them".  I was  never sure if that meant I had a character flaw, therefore I needed to do the pose; or perhaps it just meant I couldn't do the pose.   Both might be true, but how about using more palatable reasons - like, 'we do them because each effort brings us closer to enjoying the pose' or 'we do them because they add just enough sour to our life to balance the sweet, and the result will be a more even-tempered approach to life (& poses) '.  I tried to re-frame the reasons to do disliked poses in the positive (in true Anusara® style).

This presents another 'comfort zone' situation -- because when we step out of it to do an uncomfortable pose, we call on another part of ourselves.  A part seldom seen, but always there.  This part of ourselves that reflects our wisdom -- our desire to know more about ourselves, our personalities; how we react to situations, 'least-liked' poses, like that.  This stepping out gives us knowledge of our capacity and when we know that (and, in doing these poses, expand our capacity a bit), our enjoyment of this life expands.

So, in yesterday's class, we warmed up, then moved to the wall to do some preparatory work.  We also used the wall and straps in first attempts at the pose.  Students became 'one with the wall' and it made for a fun class.  And, everyone made it to their best expression of the pose.

And, whether utthita hasta padangusthasana is included in their dvesha pose list or not, it was a fun class to teach, and comments from students afterwards indicated they enjoyed it, as well (the best part).

Have a nice Sunday,