Eric, thanks for connecting! I’ll be here with you through the challenge. I’m always happy to help if you are having trouble with a pose. Hope to hear from you 🙏

Today was day 1 for me. It was such a great practice! I loved how you explained some of the poses.  Over the years,  especially after having had the same yoga instructor for a long time,  it becomes so easy to just go into the poses almost on automatic.  The way you explained how to push from the ground,  and, in the triangle pose,  how to push the bottom buttock forward, all made such a difference! Especially since the poses were held longer so we had time to feel the difference.  

Poses such as thread the needle, I worry about doing wrong or going too far into.  I can go very far before I even feel the stretch.  In fact,  when I raised my top arm up I didn't feel anything at all in the way of a stretch.    Is there a way to modify this pose for me? I love shoulder stretches,  but I'm always having to be aware of not hurting myself.  I won't feel, when I'm doing something, that I've gone too far,  but I might the next day or over time.  

Hi Meagan! Good to connect with you and welcome to the challenge. In order for me to give you the most effective advice I’d need to know a little more about you. It sounds like you might tend toward hypermobility? The feeling of “stretch” is a bit of a sticky point for me, especially if someone is naturally quite flexible. I find that people with these body types do too much in their poses as they hunt for that stretch feeling. But, with hyper mobility, they end up pulling on tendon and ligament and run into injury. So the real challenge for you (if this description fits) is to work on resistance, strength in the poses. Creating a barrier of muscular engagement in the “stretching” muscles. This is part of my Alignment Principles program that I am creating right now, and you might find it very helpful. 

Meagan, sorry! I didn’t see your other response :) And I see now that you are hyper mobile. So, for you, learning and focusing of creating a balanced feeling, rather than a stretching feeling, will be a powerful shift in your practice. It’s a little hard to explain in a short text but to offer an example, the quad and hamstring in triangle pose should have the same feeling. The same length; muscles hugging the bone; muscles and bone in the center of the skin container; and all four “sides” of the leg should run parallel. Happy to explain more if you need the help. 

I love this practice :)

Thank you Fabian!

Back for round2!

Eric M! Welcome back. I would love to hear from you as you progress through round 2. What’s new, what’s changing for you? I’m excited to be here with you. 

Great practice! I wanted more! I took your recent practice on breathing and was so inspired because its helping me to feel less tension as a musician while playing flute.