13/08/2026
Practice has taught me that returning to the same shape again and again isn’t necessarily about getting better at the shape.
Marichyasana C used to feel very far away from where I am today.
When I first started, I couldn’t bind without help. I would stay stuck in the pose for what felt like forever, wondering:
Why can’t my body just move into this shape?
For a long time, I thought the answer was flexibility.
Eventually, I realised something else was happening.
As I approached the pose, I would brace. Hold tension. Sometimes almost freeze without realising it.
The harder I tried to make the pose happen, the more my body seemed to resist.
Over time, the practice became less about getting my hands to meet, and more about noticing the moment I started fighting with myself.
Could I breathe here?
Could I soften where I didn’t need to grip?
Could I stay with the process without forcing the outcome?
Slowly, the shape changed.
But perhaps what changed first was the way I approached it.
And that is what returning to the same pose continues to teach me.
Every time I come back, it feels a little different. Some days I notice where I am still bracing. Some days there is more space to explore. And some days there isn’t.
Rather than asking my body to repeat what it did yesterday, I’m learning to meet what is here today… to put in the effort, stay curious, and soften the need to force an outcome.
Perhaps this is my practice of Wu Wei 無為, not the absence of effort, but effort without forcing.