When we are younger and still finding our identity, one’s place in the world, we want so much to be accepted, so much to be recognized and attach so much of our ego, our self-esteem and self-worth with how OTHERS rate us. At the same time, not only did we allow ourselves to let others measure us evaluate us, and allow their judgement of us to define who we are, we were looking for ways to express how best to project our image into the world… the way we want to be perceived to make that imprint since after all, we had been conditioned to have others define us. We wanted to express ourselves so much and be the light, the inspiration to others … otherwise, we felt, we are not seen and therefore, we were nothing. Unnoticed meant … you ceased to exist… or so you were conditioned to feel. So we make some noise; more noise for more … attention – we might take a lot of pictures; we exclaim to the world that we exist and matter.
In that desperate need, sometimes, we might have allowed ourselves to push beyond the edge for a shot at that so called 10 seconds of fame … pushing and pushing to propel ourselves to go higher and higher … it’s kind of like that Greek tragedy of Icarus when one is over-zealous … all that striving and achieving …With training your body can do remarkable things but sometimes … it’s not meant to do certain things as Paul Grilley will graphically show you with how we are physiologically and structurally fused together differently…and we are confined to how we are built – THAT, we cannot change. “Confined” might the wrong choice of word as now it sounds so limiting but shift the mindset – Our unique built is “protecting” us, think “amulet” power we were given from the Higher Power some may call God – its your own body structure; whatever it is, its protecting us … So acceptance and gratitude we are to feel. It is unfortunate that rather, some of us start to feel inadequate or feel that they are not “good enough” … We cannot make our humerus (NOT humorous) bone or femur bones grow longer at will – cannot make our hip sockets have a different angle or depth; nor could we change how our bones are fused… SO with that in mind, practice with gratitude and acceptance that we get to practice.
Because all of our bones are different, all of our joints compress at different angles of flexion and extension. Through our Yoga practice we can discover where we compress but our Yoga practice will not change where we compress.
1. When we practice asanas we move our joints.
2. When we move our joints our bones pivot away from each other.
3. Because the bones are moving apart tissues are stretched.
4. At first our limits of motion are determined by how much we can stretch.
5. But the ultimate limit to our range of motion is compression.
6. Compression is due to the shape of our bones.
…
One, our mental and emotional life is reflected in the tissues of our bodies but this reflection is primarily in the soft tissues of the body. Two, asana practice influences the health of our bones but this is something different from their general contour. It is the general contour and proportion of our bones that determines our ranges of motion.
– Paul Grilley
