integration

Recently my Anusara teacher focused class on integrating the strong and the weak parts of the self into one whole. She did such a lovely job, really she could be a preacher. It was like an idea that had been amorphous in my mind, though it under girded my evolving thinking about my practice, suddenly was clarified. If you believe in the wholeness of the self, then your weak, tight, or injured places are not the bad parts of you holding you back from the perfect pose, they are just part of the self which must be integrated into your practice as much as the strong, flexible, healthy parts of yourself.

Growing in your practice is about finding your own expression of the pose, the expression which includes all your years of practice and the strength you have built, while protecting your weak wrist or twitchy psoas. It took less time for me to learn to get into Crane than it did to learn (the hard way) that if I straighten my arms fully I risk an injury that is going to keep me off arm-balances for months. I'm proud of my bent-armed bakasana because it allows me to practice not only strength and balance, but self-knowledge.