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“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
— Rumi
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Through the practice of observing my emotions I’m understanding that they are intimately related to my thought process.
And whenever I’m not conscious of that relationship, I continuously recreate and reinforce them until I become identified with that mind pattern.
My goal is to be able to witness those emotions without getting involved with them. I want to remain more present and alert, watch those emotions as an energy field, become depersonalized from them so they don’t control my behavior and then express them in a healthier way.
I want to use that raw energy and shift it towards creating something positive.
I’m choosing this path because I believe that by becoming more aware I’ll finally be able to free myself from those old mental attachments.
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Never force yourself to do anything. If you want to do something you’ll do it no matter how difficult it is.
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Talking about difficulty, this is , also known as the Himalayan duck posture from the Intermediate Series of yoga.
Honestly, I really don’t know why people make such a big deal about this asan... oh never mind, I remembered.
It’s probably because this is THE hardest fu***ng pose that ever existed, or at least it's in the top 3 imo. You stop doing it for one day, and 80% of your progress is completely gone.
And when you’re supposed to lift, it’s almost like someone switched Earth’s gravitational field for that of a black hole. Seriously though, how can my hips get three times heavier in just a few breaths?...
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All joking aside, every time I do this asana it feels like it’s literally impossible. But like that phrase at the beginning, wether you’re working on balancing it, or getting into lotus, or controlling the descent, or doing that dreaded lift, it’s all about how much you want it.
Now, whenever I practice it, I shift my focus towards quieting the mind. And before I start, I embrace the challenge rather than hate it, because I know that it will make me grow and I’ll come out the other side feeling much better, regardless of the results.
I’m learning to love the process and appreciate what I’m experiencing at the moment.
It’s because of challenges like this that I’m shifting my attitude in and in life. Now I don’t care if something seems difficult or not.
If I really want it, I’ll do it. ॐ

Nothing makes me more present on the mat than working on Kapotāsana.
The lesson I take whenever I practice this posture is, you can’t make any significant progress, you can’t get better or improve, without first going through some tough challenges.
I guess that applies both on the mat and in life.
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The last time I was at Yogastudio kerstin.yoga & bine.yoga in Mainz it was all about hip openers for me.
So here’s a short Supta-Kūrmāsana demonstration from one of our guided Primary Series sessions back in June.
Going back to that beautiful place in Germany and seeing so many familiar faces was really great. I cannot thank everyone who came to practice with me enough for being so kind and receptive.
Kerstin and I are already planning my next visit for June 2020, so stay tuned cause we have some very interesting projects coming up.
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Working on different variations of hip openers with an emphasis on breath awareness and controlled activation.
It’s great when you can create a peaceful atmosphere to even when you’re far from home.
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There are many other things to work on when for some reason you can’t do your regular or when you’ve yet to reach the full state of a specific asana.
For instance Kaitie is focusing on her 2019 goals, which if I’m not mistaken include binding all of the Marīchyāsanas, completing Primary Series and doing drop-backs by herself.
Me personally, I’m working on core activation, hip alignment and overall flexibility while my right arm and hand get back to 100%. I also like adding some strength training to that mix to make it an even more complete session.
So whatever you’re doing today, don’t feel badly if doesn’t go as planned and remember there’s always a way you can make progress.
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For the last day of here’s a fragment of my morning with Kaitie.
Sometimes I like to add a few scorpion handstands at the end of the sequence as an extra challenge.
Thank you very much for joining us and pushing your practice a bit further, see you for the next one.
Lotta’s version of the scorpion is just perfect, go check it out: Lotta Sebzda Yoga
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