My History with Wheel Pose...

Wheel pose and I have not always been the best of friends. For years Bridge pose was as close as I could come to this pose, and I had accepted the fact that it might always be this way.

I wasn't blessed with the best back, I have a very deep arch (if I lay down flat on my back I can place my whole arm underneath me without moving my spine one bit), I also use to suffer from many back issues as many of you already know. So whenever I would attempt this pose I felt like a twig about to snap in two. So being the good yogi that I am, I listened to my body and quite trying to do this pose. I focused on other poses and aspects of my practice.A year or so later we needed a photo of this pose and didn't know of anyone who could do it, so it fell on to me. So, keeping a sense of humor and a lot of compassion for myself, I attempted it.

Let's just say it certainly wasn't the prettiest Wheel pose you have ever seen, but it was the best I had ever done. The big thing was I wasn't in pain. Which surprised me, I had clearly had it in my head that this would just be one of those poses that I was never meant to do.
During that year I had gained a ton of flexibility and strength, I just hadn't realized how much of both! In the past when I would try this pose my arms would shake and my back would ache.But this time, this time I was strong enough to hold it up for about 10 seconds, and thanks to my mentor, Sadie Nardini, I learned the neat little trick of lifting up my heels to take the pressure off my low back.
Needless to say, this first photo op of my Wheel pose wasn't used, LOL. But it did allow me to add it back into my life and my practice. After a few weeks/months we tried the pose again for a shoot and this time we had lift off! I actually resembled a wheel and not a broken, fallen down an elevator shaft, and then was hit by a bus wheel LOL.
Recently when I did an important photo shoot (I had no idea how important it would end up becoming) for some pictures for the studio I rose up to the challenge of doing Wheel. It was a warm summer day and the sun was setting, I brushed away as many twigs as I could and laid down to prepare for the pose. I lifted up and away into it! Here's where all that practice came in handy... I love the two people who photographed me, I love them with all of my heart and then some, but something happens to people when they use a camera... they forget that time doesn't stand still for the person doing the pose, LOL. I must have held that Wheel (strong and solid, i might add too!) for at least 1-2 minutes LOL. They had to get images from different angles, etc. I was amazed when I finally came down from it how far I have come.


It's amazing what happens when we accept our bodies for what they are, know are limits, believe in ourselves, and sometimes just toss all worry out the window and just have fun with it!

Which leads me to the very exciting part of this post...From that shoot came some amazing photos, one which was just picked by Yoga Journal (yes THE Yoga Journal) to be used in a web slide show AND in the Table of Contents section in their magazine! Who would have thought my sad little broken wheel would become a shiny one in the pages of Yoga Journal! (And I could care less if my photo is the size of a dime, it's still in the magazine! hehe)


So as you can see, never give up, never stop dreaming, because you never know what the future will hold!

Namaste!

Photo Credits: Troy, Jennifer Martin, & Brendan Cantrell