Half Moon Yoga Pose

In yoga class the other night, we were in half-moon pose (ardha-chandrasana), and our instructor encouraged us all to take a risk and try some of the more advanced stages of the pose (like letting go with the hand holding us up and taking that hand to your calf or taking a bind with the lifted leg). It’s fun and challenging to take a little risk in yoga class and also a little scary at times, but if we don’t take risks, we’ll never know if we can take it to the next level. I, for one, am still trying to master the basics of half-moon pose (there’s this thing called balance that is a slight issue for me), so there is no way I’m going to try the advanced stages, but I do try to push myself each time I’m in this pose by raising my leg a little higher or holding the pose longer than I think I can.

The instructor encouraged us to not only take risks on the mat, but to take this learning off the mat and take risks in life. What a great message and one I try to practice as much as possible. I guess the same thing goes in real life as on the mat: It doesn’t always have to be a huge leap of faith, but a slow, gradual push to get to somewhere new may just be the trick.

So, get out there, take some risks, and don’t be afraid of falling.

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