How does your body feel, looking at this image? For me, there is a indescribable lightness of touch, a spaciousness, a singularity of purpose. I'm going to start bringing this into my yoga practice. I'm calling it Butterfly Yoga, to remind myself. It's another color on the palette of a full practice.
Of course, our practice needs to be grounded as well. The places where we connect with the earth (feet, hands, sit bones, etc.) must be consciously rooted. But the danger is that we unconsciously shackle ourselves downward with this rootedness.
Or we tighten into a kind of righteous greed for achievement. We call it striving for excellence, going for the gold. But all that striving and going can push awareness out of the way. It can eclipse true yoga, which is where the mind, body and heart dance as one.
The weight of intent, the grip of agenda, can drain us of the very energy, the very life we are meant to access through the pose. This is why a light touch is so essential in a well-rounded yoga practice .
Check in with that butterfly up there. Can we bring her wings into our Warrior II? Can our Tadasana stand in the earth as surely and simply as that budding daisy does? She's got her roots in the ground, yes, but she can sway with the breeze when it comes.
Come explore Butterfly Yoga with me on Saturdays. I call it Yoga for Grownups, but as we all know--grownups are complex creatures, and we've got lots of colors on our palettes. Butterfly is one of them. Find out the details here.