Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A Pose You Can Part With


Okay, the jig is up. I love yoga. It's well documented, but I have my quirks. There are a few, select poses that I could stand to obliterate from the yoga canon with zero remorse. Well, actually, maybe just one. Camel [right].

I have a friend who loathes tree pose the way most people loathe the center seat on a crowded airplane while flanked by a crying baby and someone who brought their own tuna sandwich.

Sometimes, there are justifiable reasons for why we dislike certain poses. For me, camel doesn't provide anything that other, more enjoyable, less painful backbends do. Sometimes, it's purely emotional. For a time, triangle pose made a fellow teacher friend of mine want to run out of the room, which is a bit of an occupational hazard for a yoga teacher. She's over that now, proving that there's probably hope for the rest of us too. The bottom line is that our tastes change, and yoga poses are no different. The key is to stay open-minded, find something enjoyable about the posture, or modify it. Running out of the room is not recommended.

What's your least favorite yoga pose and why?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I very much dislike half pigeon. Especially when the instructor pushes you to bend forward and put your forehead to your mat. I see the red light telling me to stop almost every single time I do this pose.

Disclaimer: I also happen to not care for real flying pigeons on the street. This may be a factor as to why I can't stand this pose.

Anonymous said...

frog! i mean really...wtf!

dfg said...

took Karen's bootcamp today at Charlestown yoga and was introduced to my new least favorite pose, Bird of Paradise, which I shall lovingly refer to as Vulture pose as I felt like falling over and dying at that point in the class. Seriously - legs, one up and one down - arms bound behind the back and beneath the thigh/knee and back straight!?! Didn't think it could be done but I just watched an internet video on it leading me now to conclude that there are aliens out there posing as yogis...

Anonymous said...

I have to say that camel has ALWAYS been my very least favorite pose. It seems so innocent, but, without fail, this pose makes me want to throw up. It's entirely anxiety inducing...