This is one of my favorite asanas 😍

When we were taking this picture, a man was riding his bike passed, and he stopped to ask us a number of questions. One of the things he asked was how long it took me to be able to do this, which I responded: 2 years (from the start of a regular-ish practice) -,on this side.

Granted, it wasn’t like I was working compass and only compass every day. It was lots of happy babies, forward folds, wide legged folds, head-to-knees, hand-to-toes, side bends, puppy poses, etc. Until eventually one day, I tried it again with a strap, and I felt good, so I kept trying. Then after a few weeks with the strap, I could extend my leg with my foot in hand, and that was that.

The left side took even longer – only really finding it in my body in just in the last few months (after more than a decade of irregular practice, and about 7 years of regular-ish practice, and 4 years of dedicated regular practice).

Could it have gone faster? Sure. I could’ve dedicated tons of time every day to this one pose until I got it. But for many of those years, I was raising kids and working a full-time job. I was pregnant and bring babies into the world. I was working a part-time job during some, or doing my teacher training, All of which are completely good, valid reasons to pull my attention away from advancing one pose at a time. 😅

That being said, this shit takes time. Most of us don’t wake up, decide to start a yoga practice, and automatically put our feet behind our heads. We started with modifications, we started the props. We started with prep poses that are just as valid and as important as the more advanced ones. And we did that thousands of times. And you continue to do them, and will do them thousands more. Because that’s our asana practice

That’s our YOGA PRACTICE.