Special thanks to Yoga High student Gigi for being a gratitude-inspiring Yoga practitioner.

Focus of the Month

Growth with gratitude

Pose of the Month: Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)

All it takes these days is a quick glance around to see new growth and transformation in nature. It’s also a great time to find ways to grow in your own life and Yoga practice. Often the best way to move forward is to look back and experience gratitude for the people, places and experiences that have gotten you to a point of feeling empowered to change.

Dhanurasana (Bow Pose) is a preparation pose for the big backbends like wheel. Usually when we leave a class feeling great we think it’s because of a big pose like wheel that changed us physically, mentally and energetically. But the pure and potent seed was planted by the simple poses leading up to it — like bow does for wheel.

What are the seeds of your practice? What seeds in your life do you want to appreciate and cultivate, that lead you to the big moments of freedom and becoming more of who you want to be? How can you challenge yourself to grow, and what are the foundations of that growth? This month, take that moment after Dhanurasana when you lie on your belly to be filled with gratitude for the seeds in your life. In that moment, feel how you are transforming and growing way before you get to the big moment, whether in class or elsewhere.