“Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it” - Michelangelo

Walking past the trees this week, I’ve found myself peering closely at the magnolia buds pushing skyward, adorning the recently bare branches.  They seem to have appeared almost overnight, but of course, they’ve been preparing for this moment for weeks, gathering energy and waiting for the right conditions to burst into life. 

However sudden this riot of spring, I always imagine the buds just waiting patiently beneath the surface, appearing exactly when we most crave colour and light.  Enjoying them again this year, I feel that sense of inevitability... something waiting its time to unfurl. 

And Then a Hero Comes Along

This kind of unfurling is inspiring my yoga practice.  I find myself craving expansion, just as I’ve craved the coming of spring. 

And so, inevitably, to backbend.

With the chest wide open, the throat exposed and the gaze unguarded, there is something vulnerable and maybe even a little crazy about the shape of a back extension.  And yet, to me a back arch in bloom is the epitome of a hero’s pose. Perhaps more accurately, a hero’s journey.

Postures like this are not simply performed. They reveal themselves. 

It reminds me of Michelangelo, who described his work not as creating the sculpture, but revealing what was already there: 

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

In some ways, practicing asana feels like this. 

With the Strength to Carry On

Lately I’ve been mulling over a different approach to asana: the slow uncovering of a posture waiting to appear.  Quite different to my years of forcing myself into shapes.

Because a back arch, like sculpture, does not take kindly to aggression.  Instead, such a pose takes to being coaxed open, emerging through patience, organisation, repetition and attention.  Paradoxically, it requires as much gentleness as strength. 

Strength in the back body.  

Grounding through the legs.

Integration through the core.

Mobility in the upper spine.

Receptivity of the mind.

Steadiness of breath.

And You Cast Your Fears Aside

The reason I return to back arches isn’t really about mechanics. 

By choosing a back arch, I refuse to close. 

When much in life encourages the frightened part of me to withdraw, this posture reminds me that I can choose to stay open, and discover the capacity to stay steady. 

When the sternum lifts and the collarbones widen, the lungs have room to expand. When the lungs have room, the breath deepens. When the breath deepens, the nervous system begins to respond.  

Instead of collapsing, I move forward into space rather than retreat from it. 

 If courage were a posture, perhaps it would look something like this.  

And, to me, that is not just poetic language… It’s physiology. 

Look Inside You and Be Strong

And so this month we practice back arches: deliberately, steadily, building the conditions to allow the chest to open, the breath to deepen, and the inner posture to reveal itself. The architecture of openness: strength, flexibility and regulation.  To learn how posture influences state, and state influences posture.

If we are patient, and look deep inside, there it is in every one of us - something waiting its time to rise. 

The buds of spring - a reminder to open.

The yoga mat - a place to practice that opening.

And my earworm for the week: Hero. Thank you, Mariah.

“And then a hero comes along, with the strength to carry on…

You cast your fears aside, and you know you will survive.

Look inside you and be strong, and you’ll finally see the truth:

That a hero lies in you.”

Let’s practice.