Awake and asleep. Part 1.

We are simultaneously awaken and asleep. We are asleep to our dream state while we are awake to our physical world. In the dream state, unless we are lucid dreaming and know that we are also physical, we are asleep to our waking world. So what? Exactly. But the point is, just because we are asleep, doesn't mean we aren't there. Or does it?

In the practice of yoga asana, the physical poses, or any new physical activity for that matter, we thrill to the newfound feelings and sensations that we get as we experience things like "wow! I had no idea I could stretch my hips like that!" and visually, we see Ms. Bendypants across the room putting her leg behind her head, and we wake up to "Wow. There is a human being that I actually know doing that!" We wake up.

So, imho, the practice of yoga asana is really about waking up. The trap that many of us enter is that we keep looking for the same awakening we felt the first day we shifted our alignment, felt our feet as part of our body, understood that just because I  move my shoulders doesn't mean I have to move my head, etc...  Those poses that gave us that glorious moment, or even moments of awakening, well, we are already awake to them! So we need to release our attachment to the way they used to make us feel, and be willing to wake up to perhaps a new way of approaching the same old pose. Or even try a new pose.  Or even let go of our attachment to the sensations that we are used to feeling. Because let me tell you, from my experience, as your practice evolves, we become asleep to what we are awake to. We start phoning it in, which is not necessarily a bad thing btw. Sometimes a phone call is better than no call at all, right? But it's a little flag to pay attention to. That way we can stay awake