Looking at Life from a Different Perspective with Yoga

Some times all we need to appreciate what we have in life is to look at it from a different perspective. One might complain about having to go to the store to get groceries but if you take that same person to a village in Africa, where they have to kill their own food and walk miles for water, they will indeed appreciate and have gratitude for the many grocery options we have here. I remember hearing a story as a child about a polish man who always wore shoes a size smaller so that when he took them off it felt great. Kind of silly but I get his point. Other than traveling or wearing small shoes, there is nothing better at changing your perception than yoga. Yoga forces you to go inward and deal with emotions and feelings that you may have never dealt with before. Yoga is the journey of the self,through the self,to the self. Being put in compromising poses or asanas tests your character. Your reaction or lack of determines your success in each asana. Learning to let go, surrender and have gratitude for what ever it is that you are feeling. It is all based on your perception, how you choose to see things. In yoga I take this literal. Try looking at life upside down or side ways and see how different it looks. Sometimes physically changing your view can start the internal shift on how you perceive things. A lot of people get scared of hand stands and being upside down because it is different. Just as in life, change can be scary. Try not to think too much or take yourself too seriously. Think of how you were as a child and just play.

How to do a handstand Always begin by practicing hand stands at the wall. Start in downward facing dog, with your hands a couple of inches from the wall. Walk your feet in towards your hands and try to bring your shoulders directly under your wrists. Firm your arms and press all ten fingers into the ground. Look between your hands and raise one leg up to the sky. Bend the bottom leg and practice hopping up, until both legs reach the wall. Once your legs are at the wall, draw your tailbone down, straighten and activate your legs and flex your feet. Continue to press your hands into the ground, root to rebound. Take a couple of seconds here then slowly lower one leg at a time and come into child's pose for several breaths before standing up and don't forget to smile:)

* I like to turn things upside down, to watch pictures and situations from another perspective.- Ursus Wehrli