Unleash your inner dragon

Last night I went to a yin class. Normally, when I’m a once week yogini and not a once a day yogini, yin is not my favorite. It’s slower paced and I like to move. However, since I started my challenge, I appreciate yin a lot more. That’s not to say that a yin class is a break, or that it’s easy. You have to let your body sink into a pose and I’m not always very good at that!

I’m not bendy, stretchy or in any way pretzel-like. Sometimes the teacher will say “Let your hands fall on your feet” and I’m thinking “Feet?! I can barely reach my knees!” This makes some poses less interesting than others.

Take dragon pose. I don’t like it. The h-word is a bit strong for yoga, but I really, really, really dislike it. It’s supposed to look something like this.

I can do dragon pose, for about 10 seconds. After that, forget it.

Nothing about this feels good to me. It hurts my knee. If I lay my hands on my other knee, it feels like I’m pressing down with ciment blocks. If I take the option of placing my hands on the floor, I feel as though my arms are too short. Forget about reaching up, it makes me lose my balance and fall over. This is yin, where you hold one pose for about an hour and a half. I fidget and try different ways to position myself, which totally defeats the purpose. I end up feeling like this.

So here’s my suggestion. Why don’t we all just stop doing dragon pose, and maybe it will go away? Dragons aren’t even real. We can substitute in a nice child’s pose. Or maybe a supported bridge. Now that’s bliss!