What is the Dark Side?  It is the urge to hold that pose a little longer, bend a little deeper, twist a little further.  Resist that urge.  Wait, isn’t that what we’re striving to achieve?  In all honesty, no we are not trying to achieve the perfect pose, we are trying to unite body and mind and if, along the way, we perfect a pose, wonderful, and if not, wonderful!  Before each practice session I remind everyone, Ahimsa, no violence, is the first tenet of Yoga.  Begin by not hurting yourself in practice today.  I would think I would remember that.  The second thing I always say is, Never pull into a bent, always push!  You cannot hurt a muscle by pushing it but you’ll tear a muscle in a heartbeat if you pull it!  I would think I would remember that too.  Apparently not.  I was in paschimottanasana and had my feet firmly in hand and the stretch felt wonderful.  I had noticed earlier in the session that I was much deeper into uttanasana than I had been in a very long time which is why I wanted to add paschimottanasana to my practice.  I wanted to feel the difference between these poses.  I began pulling slightly with my arms, just as I do in uttanasana but I made a number of major mistakes.  The first was to assume that uttanasana and paschimottanasana were simply the same pose in different positions.  By making that assumption, I completely missed the fact that one is a standing forward bend and the other a seated forward bend.  It should have been obvious, one I did while standing and the other I did while sitting but for whatever reason, that didn’t sink into my thick skull.  In uttanasana as I gently bend my elbows out, I automatically push with the backs of my legs and the movement of my muscles runs up my legs and over my back to my shoulders.  The pull with my elbows is merely to hold me in place.  In paschimottanasana, there was no movement from my legs and so my back was doing all the work and it felt absolutely marvelous!  It stopped feeling marvelous the moment that my lower back muscles couldn’t take the pull any longer and let go.  Quickly I rolled to my side and into savasana.  Thankfully, it is only a sprain and not a tear and already is beginning to relax and feel better.  I’m thinking that by the weekend or the middle of next week at the very latest all the soreness will be completely gone.  Honestly, I have to resist the desire to go into uttanasana right now.  I just have this crazy urge to see if I can do it. 

Resist the Dark Side

Namasté