No more modifications

In common yoga practices of today, teachers and students alike toss around modifications for yoga shapes. As a teacher of asana, I offer postures and shapes and modifications in order to help make yoga accessible for all bodies. But, "modification" can mean "less than," "not true," or "not enough." We create the idea that a modification in a yoga posture means you are receiving less than the full expression of a shape and its benefits. We can become so disgruntled with our bodies, as we fight for them to make the same shape someone else is making, we hold our breath, grip more, feel defeated, gain nothing and eventually walk away from the practice altogether. Ugh. 

Ok, hear this. 

Each one of us comes to the mat at a moment in time where everything that has happened to us in life up until that moment, will be apart of what shows up on the mat for our practice. Even what we ate the day before, how much sleep we got the night before and arguments we may have had at work, show up. Our mat is a place of processing. We begin to turn in and wait to see what the body speaks, what shapes it needs to heal and what shapes it doesn't. We begin to feel and acknowledge our breath within ourselves and we begin to form shapes to deepen our connection to ourselves so that we bring all our fragmented parts into union in order to better align to that we may heal. The shapes we make are our own and they are all full expressions. Just as our lives are unique to no one else's, so is our practice and when we move and shape in the truth of ourselves, there is no greater full expression. On our mats, as we continue to show up time and time again, we are learning to create an environment by which allows our nervous systems finally, to signal ease. When that happens, we experience the fullest expression and reap all the benefits of every shape we choose.

There are no modifications, only variations. 

Your body knows what it needs in order to heal. We simply have to find a way to better hear it. The mat provides a quieter place of study, a place to help us tune to our needs. What you need is different than what I need. We both become skillful in choosing the variation of shape and posture that heals us. When that happens, there simply is no fuller expression for our very own full experience.