Yoga Pose Comes to the Wire

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the difficulty in maintaining a home yoga practice to complement the yoga classes at MC. With lots of encouragement, I’ve been trying to do a little yoga every day. Sometimes just a round of sun salutation, sometimes just some deep breathing to go to sleep, sometimes a few inversions or stretches. The last few weekends were very busy with house guests and travel to NY, but this past weekend I spent at home. It was a perfect opportunity to devote time to the yoga practice. I not only wanted to get into the rhythm of doing yoga every day, I also wanted to be able to look my teacher in the eye next Wednesday when she will gently ask, “How is your at-home yoga practice coming along?”

Sometimes it is a struggle to honestly answer that no, I didn’t do any yoga at all. But this week I will have something more positive to say. In addition to doing some of the yoga poses, I also combined the yoga with my sculpture and addressed an issue on the mental side. I was working with soft, bendable wire the other day, and created a basic human form.  After the basic structure was made, I thought about what position to fashion the body into. Ah yes, what about a yoga position which I can’t do? Better yet, how about a position which I can do, but not hold for very long? I decided to make my sculpture into one of those more difficult poses, and then let her hold it forever. It seems like a perfect solution.

Right now the shape of the form isn’t exactly perfect, so I’m working on fixing up the proportions so that the pose will be more stable. Then I’ll be able to cover the wire in a fast-drying clay. When dry, it will be a constant companion to the three-legged down dog which I will be inspired to assume every day.