You many hear other fitness experts say things like:

• “It’s got to be 100%!”
• “I’ve got to be better than the other person!”
• “No pain, no gain.!”

These attitudes are not encouraged in yoga.

How well you practice a posture is influenced by your physical condition and structure, as well as your present mental and emotional state.

Perfection is the best you can do in this moment. And a posture really becomes a posture when it is comfortable and steady for you.

Yoga is an individual practice. It is a practice that gives us the opportunity to discover more about our strengths, our weaknesses, and ourselves. Forcing your body to get into a posture just because you want it to is quite violent and counter productive.

Sometimes, the hardest posture to adopt in yoga is one of acceptance of ones own limitations.

Photo shot by j f photos