The Yoga Pose You Never Thought You Could Do
Can yoga change the world? Kathryn Budig thinks so. “When someone gets onto a yoga mat, they learn how to slow down. When you can get out of that constant storyboard that’s being written in your head, you can start to see clearly again. When you can start clearly again you might readjust your attitude or perspective. And that cause a whole lot of love as opposed to a fear-driven, painful place. Yoga is changing the world,” she says.
In her AIM True Yoga DVD Budig offers a practice that develops strength both on and off the mat. “We work on very pointed, directed postures in the flow to help strengthen,” and off the mat, the practice gives you the strength to “speak your truths” and be emotionally strong. (And in case you’re a tech nerd like me, AIM isn’t a throwback to the pre-Gchat instant messaging, it’s her ‘strong is sexy’ outlook on yoga and life.)
That’s all great, but for the yoga timid like myself, just practicing in the first place can be a challenge. Yoga can be intimidating, especially when you get into class and see people performing crazy poses while you’re still learning the different warrior positions (I definitely had to learn that yoga is not a competition!).
But everyone has to start at the beginning, even the instructors–Budig was a former theater girl that was turned onto to yoga by a friend. Although she admits her first session didn’t go so well (she thought her instructor was getting fresh with all of the adjustments), after a few classes and an inspirational instructor she fell in love with it. “You don’t do yoga, you practice yoga,” she says. Every class is a journey and it’s okay to not take it so seriously.
“Many postures in yoga take us out of our physical and mental comfort zone. Yoga poses are beautiful and often visually intense, so our brain tells us to stay far away–how could I ever do something so complicated?! With practice, it’s all available,” Budig says.
One of her favorite poses happens to be one of those poses for me: crow pose. “It was one of the first arm balances I learned how to do. I find when you learn how to do crow pose, everything else starts to make more sense. It’s such an empowering pose,” she says. However, no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to lift both feet into the air so that I’m flying on my arms. Lucky for me, crow pose is one of the postures Budig breaks down in a tutorial style workshop on her DVD. Here’s how to ease into it:
Snapshots taken from AIM True Yoga DVD
AIM True Yoga offers two Vinyasa flows and a demystifying tutorial on four additional poses.
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