As a student of Restorative Yoga, facing my truths one pose at a time, I have come to know that the real magic of this practice is personal and transformational.  As a teacher of Restorative Yoga, I am learning to share this sacred work allowing each student to experience their own journey, in each and every pose.

While every Restorative Yoga practice is unique, I sometimes think I could categorize them into heads or tails, like two sides of a coin. Heads and I am restless and have to work very hard to let go and allow myself to experience the joys and benefits of the practice.  Tails and I drop in like a relaxed puppy.  No rhyme or reason why, sometimes it is just harder to settle in.

When it is challenging I place more conscious focus on feeling my breath, inviting the softening and transitioning mindfully and slowly between poses. All of that with a blanket of self-compassion, non-judgement and patience.  Patience is the key for me, to stick with it and let it happen without forcing or striving.

Tails, and my practice can be quite an emotional, raw and honest place where there is no place to hide, nor any reason to hide.  I am often transported to a feeling of being held, accepted, loved and not judged. In this place I am a very young child, long before life took its hold. Whatever I may have lacked in my past is poured over me in abundance in Restorative Yoga. The magic of coming home, home to myself. As a tails practice closes I feel immense gratitude and reverence for the practice and a connection to love in its purest form.

So this leads me to ask myself, when I take to the mat and find a heads practice, am I leading with my head and not my heart and what am I hiding from? And when in a “tailspace”, so to speak, can I hold that truth and allow it to govern life off the mat. Facing my truths one pose at a time.

By Beth Montgomery