Easy Crow

Easy crow: 

it's an arm balancing pose, beautiful when it comes together in completion, body parts aligned and poised in the air for an extended moment, perfectly balanced. This is sukha kakasana, easy crow pose, and as the name suggest it is an easier approach to a very difficult posture. The full version is more vertical, knees high up on the arms and close to the stomach, the entire body is tense and yet the asana requires a completely relaxed mind as well, any one point being off and the posture will crumble to the ground. It's the asana that most seems to capture Patanjali's beginning instructions -

yoga is to still the patterns of consciousness. 

and when sukha kakasana is balanced right, even for a moment, everything is indeed still, as if the world has paused in its spin just long enough for this posture to be held. I make less attempts now to master the full version of kakasana, it's still something that I spend sometime with, occasionally catching a brief moment balanced in the air, poised and confident. But easy crow holds more promise for me right now, requiring a high degree of balance yet I can surrender to the pose without a high degree of pain, giving myself fully to the entire process of resting in this deeper stillness. 

easy crow seems to offer an extended sense of concentration. 

a meditation for the entire length it's held. 

there might come a time when the full version calls to me more strongly, an intuitive pull to spend more time in the entirety of its expression. A few years ago I would always tackle these postures with my complete attention and energy, kakasana was a challenge to be mastered and it seemed my body was more able to meet these harder demands. I prefer an easy approach now, which is another type of challenge all together, a concession that my body has limits that I never realized before. Being older has indeed offered me some wisdom, my edge has softened a bit, and  I see that not every part of life is meant to be conquered. Poise is gained through increments, moments, and it's displayed by that perfect balance of tension and relaxation, taut body, the mind at ease. 

Patanjali's continues with this, his third sutra - 

that we practice yoga so that pure awareness can abide in it's very nature.

our only true challenge then...

is  simply realizing that this is what we are, 

already, always.

and easy crow is often my reminder. 

~

Peace, Eric