Namaste yogi! Yes, I’m talking to you dear reader.
Just as there is no one ‘correct’ tree in nature, so it is in our yoga practice. There is no perfect asana. The way you do it is perfect for you.
There is no perfect body shape or size. The way you are and look is perfect for you. But it’s always good to try and become the best version of yourself.
Who are you and what do you want to become? What is the best version of yourself? Perhaps you have no answer to this right now. But you can get up and do some yoga right now.
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Just jump up and look at the room you are in. Imagine that one corner is the sea, the opposite the beach, the third the mountains and the last a rainforest.
Run to the corner that calls out to you most. Spend only a few seconds here, quickly imagining yourself in this space (briefly closing your eyes if necessary). Then run to another corner and do the same, until you have visited each and run between them several times.
There is no perfect body shape or size. The way you are and look is perfect for you. But it’s always good to try and become the best version of yourself.
Once you are all out of breath, lie down on a mat to rest. Keep your legs and arms comfortably apart, your palms facing up. Close your eyes and now imagine your favourite corner.
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Was it the sea, the beach, the mountains or the forest? Imagine you are in that space again. Think of how it would be to move there and live there for a while.
You could be a migratory bird like a Siberian crane leaving a cold, cold region for warmer India. Or imagine that you have an enormous beak and a giant wingspan like a Rosy Pelican who divides its time between Europe and India/Pakistan. Interesting life!
When you are no longer out of breath, get up, sit cross legged, take a deep breath and keeping your mouth closed you breathe out loudly making a humming sound. Do this a few times, pretending you are a humming bird of sorts.
Then squat, put your palms down on the mat, lift your hips up and put your knees on your upper arm. Keep shifting your weight forward in this position, until your heels lift off the mat, and you are balancing on your big toes. And then see if you can lift your feet up too, one by one at first.
Do it slowly, while looking ahead and concentrating on a spot ahead of your palms. You are now in the Crow pose, Kakasana, a balancing pose. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a crow on a branch on your magical yoga tree?
Or perhaps you want to soar like an eagle and fly uninterrupted for hours and hours in a windy sky. When you want to rest, choose another branch of your magical tree and do Eagle pose, Garudasana.
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First stand up and bend your knees a little, then wrap your right leg over the left, balancing yourself, tuck your right foot behind the left leg. Now as you balance like this, bring your hands in front of your face and tuck your left elbow into the crook of the right, and bring your palms together at least a bit! Straighten your fingers. Hold still for a bit and then switch legs and arms and do it again.
There are other birds to pose as too in yoga. You can be a pigeon or a bird of paradise. Or you can make up your own pose thinking of the bird you want to be, perched on your tree. The tree where each branch has something different unfolding on it. Enjoy imagining all the stuff happening on your yoga tree.
Aparna is a yoga teacher who lives in Goa and Gurugram.
