I hate kombucha. I hadn’t tried it until recently, but danggg. It tastes like spiked vinegar and apple juice. No thank you. As much as the yoga blogs and Pinterest posts rave about its benefits…I can’t. On top of this aversion, I also don’t have long skinny legs, a calm demeanor, or cool tattoos. But the good news is: I’m still a yogi.
But Riley! You exclaim. I can’t even tell by your Instagram photos. Are you sure?
Here’s how I started to see that deepening my yoga practice does not involve drinking bitter liquid or the perfect high-priced athleisure leggings.
In Yoga Class
I was in a vinyasa class last week, flowing along with the rest of the room. We lifted up from exalted warrior (to the relief of my obliques) when the instructor said something that hit me right in the heart. We tipped forward onto one foot to take a half-moon and she said, "Breathe, and find your expression of this pose.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. My expression? Isn’t there a correct expression? Didn’t you have something in mind here, Yvonne? I didn’t even know what to do with that freedom, so I just took a regular old half-moon. But as we flowed on, I continued to tumble that thought around in my mind.
My expression…my expression…
On the next side, I bent my knee and took my foot into my outstretched hand. I’d seen someone do it once, and it felt fun. Was it my expression? What did that even mean?
My half-moon didn’t look exactly like the woman’s on the mat beside me. It was mine. My half-moon balanced on a leg made strong by miles and miles of riding a bicycle, and stretched shoulders stiff from past snowboard wipe-outs and a broken collarbone. My half-moon wobbled as I reached back to clasp my foot in a new shape, because I was feeling brave that day.
What does "find your expression" mean?
Finding my expression means I can be me as I practice. I can move like me and breathe like me. It means I don’t need long legs or perfect standing splits to experience yoga the way I was meant to.
Everyone’s body has been through different things: broken bones, dance training, having children, working construction…things that alter the body, which in turn affect your practice. Some of us have terrible tempers, eat junk food, and go weeks without practicing (hi!). But these are the things to be embraced. Because when we find our expression in our practice, we are honoring the wonderful body we’ve been given and the wonderful things it’s given us. That is the yoga I want to practice.
And I won’t even have to drink kombucha.
