My Undoing

In order to practice asana (yoga poses) as a meditative path, you'll need to learn how to let go of habitual responses to physical and mental distractions during practice. This will allow you to shed unnecessary effort in each pose, which will ultimately lead you to the feeling of effortless effort. Developing effortless effort transforms your practice of asana from mere exercise into a yogic journey toward absorption into your true infinite Self. John Schumacher

I practice my own undoing early each morning before the sun comes up, the dog has been walked, the child fed. Yoga does my undoing through the release at the root of the tongue, the grip of the right ribs, the letting of breath into the torque of the left shoulders. Undoing the knots of resistance to (inevitable) change, uncertainty, loss, and kindness, allows the breath to flow more deeply in the lungs, makes me aware of space in the body, peels back layers of self-doubt, regret, and shame encrusting the Soul. In that final back bend of the morning, when the sky is taking up a steely light, I let loose the birds from my chest and join them in song and flight.