You're in Crow and everything is going well.

Then the teacher says, "...aaaaand jump back to Chaturanga."

Oh.

You know what you're supposed to do because you've watched other people do it plenty of times. You've probably even thought, that doesn't look too bad. And then you actually try it.

Your...

You've seen people do eight angle pose (Astavakrasana). You've watched the tutorials. You've tried leaning forward like your life depends on it. And your hips refuse to leave the floor.

At some point, you start to wonder whether everyone else has some secret supply of upper-body strength that you m...

"Let your head hang heavy and soften into your fold," says the teacher.

You let your head hang. You try to soften. Nothing happens. The backs of your legs feel like two guitar strings tuned for a heavy metal concert, and your fingertips are still hovering four inches above the floor. Exactly where ...

Six months ago, you decided you were going to crack Crow.

You practice it before class, after class, and probably in the kitchen while you wait for your morning coffee to brew. You get your knees on your arms, you lean forward, you try to lift your feet… and down they go. Again.

So you try a littl...

Ever noticed how good we humans are at taking one little thing and turning it into a whole dramatic story?

"I couldn't hold Crow for more than half a second...clearly I'm not strong enough for arm balances!"
"I wobbled all over the place in Tree...apparently I suck at yoga!"
"I fell out of Wheel thre...

"Keep your elbows in!!" Your teacher shouts at you for the fifth time in class. You signed up to learn Crow pose, but you're starting to question whether you accidentally wandered into Army Bootcamp instead.

"Keep your elbows in!!" Geeeez, elbows in! Got it! You set up for the pose, hug the elbows ...

A few weeks ago I wrote about Santosha, the yogic idea of contentment.

In terms of standing on our hands, I explained Santosha as being able to really, really want a handstand (or whatever your coveted pose is, for me it's peacock) while also not turning every failed attempt into an increasingly de...

We need to talk about what happens in your head after you faceplant. You know the mental conversation I'm talking about. 

You spend twenty minutes working on Side Crow. You've shifted your hips about seventeen different ways, you're staring at some completely arbitrary spot on the floor like you co...

Tadasana is one of those yoga poses that's easy to ignore. Nobody's lying awake at night thinking, "Man, I really need to nail my Tadasana."

You stand there, feet on the floor, arms by your sides or hands together at your chest. Seems simple enough.

But Tadasana is more important than it looks.

T...

"No way I can do arm balances!! I can't even do a proper Chaturanga. I just sort of... collapse halfway down."

I get this one a lot.

Someone wants to learn arm balances, but they've decided they need to master Chaturanga first... as if there's some yoga committee handing out arm-balance licences a...