2010 was a very quick year! The fall kind of snuck up on me, then it was somehow Thanksgiving, Christmas flew by and here we are on New Year’s Eve.

2010 was kind of a messy year in my yoga practice. I started the year with all good intentions of becoming stronger and working on more advanced balances and asanas and I just kept hurting myself. Lesson number 1 – just because you can get into a position doesn’t necessarily mean you should be there.

Sometimes we let ego or ambition get too far ahead of us and force the body into a position it really doesn’t want to be in. But there’s no softening, no acceptance by the body. Not unlike fitting a round peg into a square hole, something’s gonna give. Lesson number two: backing off from time to time is not a bad thing.

Because I can only get to class usually twice a week, I try to get to one low to the mat class and one active class. Besides working above my level, the active classes also give me the opportunity to learn new flows I can incorporate into my classes. But sometimes I’ve found myself trying to force my body into a position it did not want to be in. I could feel the creaking and pulling and while I felt some softening, there wasn’t enough give to really feel confident in the position.

Bottom line for this year is that I intend to try to hurt myself less. I’m going to work more on proper alignment and technique, as well as building strength, before charging into the really fun looking stuff that looks light and carefree, but I haven’t found the lightness yet. I’m going to work on finding the lightness too.

Those are my yoga resolutions for 2011. I’m hoping that by taking the more passive approach, things will come with less challenge.