Week 201: No Fear

Remember those shirts?! No Fear!

That was my first thought when I practiced yoga this week. A friendly but in your face brand of the 1990s!

How appropriate to start the 201st week of yoga without any fear?

In my case, I try my hardest to let go of as much fear as I can but it still creeps into my life. My yoga life, not so much. Why? Probably years of yoga practice can build confidence in the poses. Yet, there are some poses that can be scary, particularly the ones you can fall over in.

And that is just what was the challenge in No Fear Yoga.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III) can be a bit intimidating. Trying to balance on one leg while keep the body parallel to the floor, arms outstretched above the head AND the suspended leg in line with the rest of the body.

No small feat!

Just like flying is scary for some, Warrior III puts your body into space as if you are flying. It was kind of cool to listen to the birds on the video while in the position. I don’t miss the congruity of the sounds.

Warrior III is an excellent balance pose but it also challenges the core and the back body. No fear required to get those benefits!

The second pose in my no fear practice was crane/crow pose (Bakasana). Another pose that elicits fear of falling on your face! Perfect for the no fear yoga!

It always seems that crow pose is left to the end of practice. This week being no exception. Is this because one has less monkey chatter inside his/her head at this point in the practice? For me, fear seemed to have risen at the end as I had kids tromping around upstairs when they were suppose to be having a nap and quiet time. No fear of the pose, more about fear of my yoga practice ending!

Needless to say, my fear got the best of me as I fumbled with crow pose and wasn’t able to settle enough to get into the pose. One foot off the ground, with the tips of the toes of the other foot on the ground.

Nothing trumps the thoughts of fear…even though it was a made up fear in my head! Perfect illustration via this pose.

Oh well, another day, another chance to suspend myself off the ground with crow pose!

Continuously throwing fear by the wayside,
LW