Our Yoga Teacher Trainer Anatomy Teacher Katrina Petney is sharing some eye-opening facts about Yoga and flexibility:
In our social media obsessed world, it's all too easy to compare ourselves to glossy images of flexible yogis and yoginis on insta bending effortlessly into what can seem like impossible postures.
Here, YTT Anatomy Teacher Katrina, reminds us that not all poses will be possible and that's OK. Katrina says:
Is there a yoga posture that you find difficult to access? Does it feel like it’s simply not possible for you?
Has anyone told you, “If you just keep practicing, you’ll get it.”
What if I told you that this may or may not be the case. It could be that you’ll never be able to get your heels on the ground in downward facing dog, no matter how many years you practice yoga or how flexible you become. It could be that you will never do a full lotus pose unless you don’t mind stripping the cartilage from your knee joint.
There are plenty of yoga postures that can be accessible and beneficial to some, but also impossible and/or harmful for others.
How can you tell the difference? Is it a question of technique? Do you need more strength or flexibility? Or perhaps the structure you’re born with is preventing you from doing a certain posture safely or from doing a certain posture at all? The most important technique and certainly the most effective: Listen to what your body is telling you.