Uttanasana

Uttanasana: 

few asanas help me feel as good physically as uttanasana, standing forward bend, and it's not even a pose that I'm particularly adept at, having hamstrings that seem to tighten up almost immediately to their original limits just minutes after a lengthy yoga session. But this asana is at the end of my practice, one of the very past postures and by this point I am primed in my approach, loose, and more able to bring my face to knees and hands to meet the floor. It's a beautiful pose when it reaches completion, with chest against the thighs, no bend to the knees, the entire body appearing supple. 

there's a grace that belies the effort given here. 

it's the epitome of yoga. 

which, of course, often causes me to rush success, or at least my vision of success. After decades of practice my expectations still exceed my limits, having an urge to push just a bit further into a pose to meet my ideal of grace and beauty. Uttanasana is the perfect example, not any two sessions bring the same results, with certain days seeming as if gravity is suspended and I slip easily into every pose, and others offering me a longer struggle to gain even the slightest sense of ease. When I'm caught in this pattern, a thought loop, there's a failure to see that each asana offers me an opportunity to display a different sort of grace, one that isn't based upon comparison nor vision of success.  It's the grace brought to every moment of struggle and acceptance, a dedication to imperfect beauty, embracing what my limits are right now without the incessant need of pushing forward. What's amazing is that by working within the structure of what each asana offers, over time I find that am far beyond whatever limits were once imposed. 

there is a certain grace displayed by effort alone. 

as well as our surrender.

uttanasana almost always brings me this reminder, striving to a particular point and then simply letting go, my only results being exactly what this moment offers. 

~

Peace, Eric