Same pose - different view

This morning was the first morning back teaching classes after a two week break. The theme for this term  "same pose -  different view.

This theme came from a recent discussion with a friend  about experiencing those light bulb moments. Those times on the mat when we suddenly get that moment, the struggle goes and there you are with this feeling of  - yes this is it! It can be fleeting but amazing. It's as if these light bulb moments squeeze through a tiny slither, a gap and presto a moment of feeling things differently. To me they come at that point when there is a subtle shift, we are present and experiencing things from the angle of "this moment" and not from the default of it should be this way, I need to try harder or I like/don't like this pose etc. 

Why are those light bulb moments so elusive? If we get caught up in doing, making an external shape, we can forget the work isn't about the external, it's about creating those sublte internal shifts from the inside out, same pose - different view. I see poses as if looking into a kaleidoscope at the thousands of reflections/fragments/ angles that create the pattern you are viewing, turn that tube slightly a completely different pattern appears and will change with every turn. Practice this way and the possibility of those light bulb moments are endless. The important thing is to keep repeating this exploration throughout each and every practice. This way we regularly create the opportunity for those gaps, and possibilities to wire in new positive patterns - a new pathway. Neuroplasticity, in action, every time we are on the mat. 

So in this morning's practice I used familiar poses with small variations within each pose to explore same pose - different view.  There were many light bulb moments, I could tell from the smiles on my students faces, as each spark flickered through the gaps. 

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