A Yoga practice begins in the Mind by shaping the body into healthy postures such as they way we stand, walk and move. The mind shapes the body. To begin today’s practice, begin by standing tall like a strong tree “Tree Pose” or(Tadassana, as you lengthen the spine, breath in fresh oxygenated air through the nose and circulate it throughout the body/ Gradually, exhale the toxins from the body, also through the nose. As you stand tall, strengthen your body ‘alignment by straighten the length of the spine, pulling nutrients up through body and visualize it moving through the core and limbs transmuting new entree from Mother Earth flowing through the body to generate growth as the toxins are expelled in each exhale. When we stand tall in Tadassana with eyes closed, visualizing the tree, extraneous thoughts are silenced and concentration is focused inward. This is the beginning of mental focus on the goal to improve health and wellness. Through Tadassana, this Yoga pose is the beginning of renewal, focusing inward on growth/awareness and releasing the extraneous world of cluttered thoughts. Isn’t this an amazing realization? It is a wonderful; awakening to think about how the body and Earth are connected in this generation of Life. Do we think about this phenomenon of Nature that is our life blood?

Yoga begins and evolve at the deepest level of consciousness awareness and beneath the sheath of limited thinking. Just as a tree branches out its roots and limbs, so expands the human consciousness to a degree. Are able to change our chemical/physical body into a cocoon, hibernate and awaken into a beautiful butterfly? When we take on the challenge of a Yoga practice, we are working on awakening the mind/body into a new structure that better serves health/awareness and a high level of consciousness. In today’s Yoga practice, we begin where we are at the present and work on gradually improvements. The modified “Side Angle Pose” is a way to recognize the flexibility of the back/spine and extremities’ as we initiate each step of, he postures. Each practitioner works at their own level and move forward gradually. Each individual discovers new awareness about the body’s mobility. Mobility of the core muscles extends throughout the limbs with twists, lengthening the legs and learning to challenge the body’s balance and modifications.

At the Avon Park, Peter Powell Museum class of new students, we began to exploring a modification of “Revolved Triangle” with one leg extended to the side, bending at the knee, and lengthening one arm to the sky. This pose challenges the flexibility of the extremities and alignment.

The body structure aligns to consigned movements that sometimes become locked into the physical body due to reptations. As Yoga postures are studied and slowly initiated, the body gradually loosens and takes on a new form with practice/repletion/concentration. “Concentration” is a deriving force for change on any level or practice to improve and attain healthy changes in the body. It all begins in the mind’s focus and is initiated repeatedly with practice.

Many times, at the end of a Yoga class when everyone has been practicing an hour on postures ad end what beautiful posture, I close the class, say good bye and in a light spirit, call attentions to the cast of a final move: Some students, not concentrating on their new form, return to a slouch with bent knees. What happened?