ADVANCED YOGA. Let’s take a look at just one of those words. What does it mean to be advanced? Is it a pose? A mindset? Capacity?
It’s important to point out the difference between advanced yoga and a skill. Certain skills may be more or less complex, require more or less demand, but those skills aren’t equivalent to one’s connection with oneself. Standing on the edge of an infinity pool with your leg wrapped around your neck, might be a skill? Or yoga? But being able to do that doesn’t take into account anything that is happening with breathing, connection to inner peace, or deepening the connection to your inner wisdom.
Have you ever felt pulled away from something like your yoga practice because you felt like you weren’t advancing skill wise? Or that because you hadn’t gotten “good” at yoga, so this meant that you weren’t “good at” yoga. Or you believe you can’t do a headstand so you aren’t advanced? Or because you haven’t been on your mat in some time, you’ve “lost it ” and it’s too frustrating to try again. These are all valid and common thoughts.
What if we thought that “advanced” yoga as understanding what about the practice made us feel a certain way, how it helped us move forward or allowed us to be in the moment. In my case, it’s the realization of the endless possibilities, how I find comfort in moving my body regardless of how I feel in my current state and the sense of feeling full and whole at the end. To feel connected, you don’t need to practice handstand or wheel or splits.
