When I began my doctoral program two years ago, I knew it would be hard, but I really had no idea! I have always been really good in school, and have maintained A's throughout high school, college, and grad school. But this PhD life required another level of thinking! I felt like each day that I left class, I didn't know or understand anything that the professor went over that day! What always trips me up, are theoretical frameworks! There are hundreds of theoretical frameworks, that a doctoral student can utilize to frame or guide their research study. But I am always finding too many that could definitely guide my dissertation. Every professor says, you do not have a study if you don' have a theoretical framework. Just know that I have one semester left to find a theoretical framework.
This is not only going on in my doctoral program, but in my yoga practice. I decided I was going to step out on faith and sign up for yoga sculpt training. I have been taking turbo kickboxing, body sculpting, and extreme fitness classes for over two years now. I have been engaging in self taught yoga for close to a year.I have been looking for a way to join weight training and yoga together and I have found it in Core Power Yoga--Yoga Sculpt.
I am not one that thinks that I know everything, but geesh, I didn't think that I was that far off. Simple poses such as child's pose, upward facing dog, and downward facing dog, I discovered that my alignment and posture was off. See photos below. (Visit my @yogaphd page on Instagram for correct alignment for each pose)
Upward Facing Dog: January 26, 2014
I just knew I was nailing upward facing dog! Went to core power training and discovered that my legs should not be touching the mat! My neck was always stiff in this pose, and my shoulders were not relaxed.
Upward Facing Dog: November 5, 2014
Similar issues in downward facing doing.
Downward Facing Dog: January 26, 2014
The goal is not to just make your body look like an upside down V, but to really relax your shoulders and press your hands and feet away from the mat.
Downward Facing Dog: November 5, 2014
I know that as self taught yogi's we brag about our ability to master certain poses without going to classes. But I am the first to admit that even though I have taught myself inversions, I needed to go to a class so that I can learn from people that have been trained to do this. We all have room for growth and we should be life-long learners. Don't be afraid to go to a class, workshop, professional development to further your practice in any arena. You never know, you will realize that you really don't know much! Embrace it!
No comments:
Post a Comment