Aging Yogi Does Trikonasana

A couple of things happening as we get older seem to be more apparent.  One, we keep practicing yoga asana (poses) but we never seem to be able to stay flexible, no matter how many times a day we do it.  It seems like we ought to stay more flexible, but for some reason I wish I understood better, (any posts on that?) we stiffen up in between practices or classes.  

The important thing here is that we keep doing it, that we make it a part of our lives and never stop practicing.  Nothing is more important that our own health and well-being.  If we don't have our health, we have nothing.  We become disillusioned, crabby, self-absorbed, and our quality of life goes out the window.  

Two, even if we are doing yoga every day, the poses are not always easy.  We don't want to do challenging poses sometimes, we're just not "in the mood" or we're really tired, or any number of excuses.  If we do a few poses that challenge us and make us work hard, doing them lifts our spirits and elevates our vibration.  Every time we practice, it is a new practice.  Every time we practice, it brings our awareness back into the present moment. 

During some of the poses we may not be smiling, but hey, we're doing them!  The bones might creak more than we remember, areas of the body are stiffer than we want them to be.  We might not go as deep as last time, but we learn to respect where our body is right now. 
The body is changing every minute of every day. The activities we do (or don't do) during the day affect the body and may cause us discomfort when we practice, but we always feel better after yoga.

Just think where we would be if we WEREN'T doing yoga!  We'd be on the couch becoming a potato, immobile, lumpy, grouchy, and old.  Yoga keeps us young at heart, and certainly (this is scientifically proven) younger in our bodies. We don't stop exercising because we get old, we get old because we stop exercising!

Here are a couple of pics of one of my long-time students, Steve, doing Trikonasana. As you can see, he is very flexible, much more flexible than many students half his age.  This is because he practices or goes to class almost every day, (sometimes twice a day).He's a very committed yogi!

Steve is younger than me by a couple of years, by the way.  I admire his tenacity and his flexibility!  He can go deeper in some poses than I can. His comments about the pictures are: 

"Next time remind me to smile!  I don't think I'm ready for the magazine (photos) yet. Maybe the caption should read AGING YOGI does Trikonasana.  There's got to be some excuse for the pained, wrinkled expression, even though I thought I was having a good time".