C.R.34.M
- Aug 29, 2017
- 8 min read

Forward Thinking Art

There are some dreams, aspirations, goals, and visions that simply cannot be written. For those of us who are more visual than verbal, a way to improvise is through art. For example, in creating “Ignite the Night” the ability to connect with a visual representation of what I was aiming for gave me the motivation to strive towards the bigger picture. While I may be at ease in the photo below, behind it was months of frustration, sideways tumbles, and plenty of falling onto my back. But in the midst of it all, with every practice that I failed, I never let it stop me from practicing again.

It took three years of practice to build myself up and reach this point in my yoga journey. The name of the pose is Sirsasana “the king of yoga poses” or supported headstand and the leg variation is known as eagle legs.

This journey started with me being employed to Hair Cuttery for approximately nine months, in March of 2014. It was the start of spring and business pick up was right around the corner, but my body was not having it. The beginning stages of carpal tunnel were developing, plus I am a short girl so working much of the day with my arms elevated was also taking its toll on my neck and back. Searching for some form of alleviation, a month later, I found a Groupon coupon for four chiropractic visits at HealthSource Chiropractic & Progressive Rehab located in Richmond, VA with Dr. Mason Sheenhan II. The experience was quite eye opening as I learned and understood the conditions afflicting my body. Interactive throughout all my visits, Dr. Mason even recommended that I take yoga classes during the third appointment. Keeping his advice in mind and soon after I was signed up for my first yoga class since Spring 2011 when I took up yoga as an elective in college. Also, found on Groupon and located in Richmond, VA, I decided to test the waters at P.U.R.E Yoga & Wellness. There is where I met the lovely Registered Yoga Teacher, Malikah Karim (RYT® 200). The diversity of her teaching style and the heartfelt energy of the studio was exactly what I needed. In the first class from beginning to end, she was highly attentive and responsive, which is what drew me in to continue practicing with her.

A few classes later, I did notice a slight ease with the carpal tunnel, but I knew that to preserve my body Hair Cuttery would have to exit stage left, and soon. May 2014, I submitted my two weeks’ notice and ended that season of my life. Now with a completely open schedule, I could regularly attend yoga practice. Starting out with one or two classes per week, over the course of the following two months I worked my way up to four practices weekly. Two Monday evening, one Tuesday morning, and one Thursday evening was my routine. Once established, Thursday practice became the peak of my week because it was a power vinyasa class that focused on building strength for arm balances and inversions, or poses where the heart is elevated in relation the head. When I work out, I love to sweat and the intensity of power vinyasa did just that. The first two or three Thursday nights were quite exhausting and pitiful might I add, I laugh now thinking back to how real the struggle was. I had never done so much upper body work in my life, but I pushed through because I knew it was necessary to build myself up.

A little over three months into practicing with Malikah, my mind, body, and spirit had turned a complete 180° from when I was employed to Hair Cuttery. Mentally I was leveled and at ease, physically I was free of aches, and spiritually I felt l was heading in the right direction. Reaching this realization, I decided I too wanted to become a yoga teacher in order to guide others in obtaining the same type of relief that I was experiencing and my Google search began. With a fair amount of Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) programs to choose from I was at a lost with my selection. Our next class I told Malikah my plans to become a yoga teacher. She was thrilled and helped me determine which course. It would be the KARUNA Yoga Teacher Training Program at 4025 Yoga and Wellness located in Richmond, VA, the same program she received her training. A few days later, I covered the down payment and was set to go.

Enthused by my new path scheduled to start in September of 2014, the initial idea to create a painting dedicated to my practice crossed my mind. I knew I wanted it to be a flame contoured into yoga poses, but I was not sure how. So, I sketched up my idea and placed it in plain view until a more precise concept came to mind.

Continuing my weekly routine, the progression of my practice was gratifying. With my newly restored strength and stamina, engaging in various arm balances and preparatory poses for inversions where regularly included in the flow of Thursday class. After learning how to properly position my arms and head and align my hips over my shoulders for headstand, Malikah was confident that I was ready for the next dynamic of inverting, elevating the legs. During this phase, the wall became my favorite prop in class and at home. Although I had successfully achieved a handstand once before in college without the assistance of a wall, I was basically a newbie again. I would reach one leg up and as soon as the other leg met the first, I would crash right into the wall. I was so unaware of where my body was in space inverted, but that did not deter me from wanting to advance more.

September 20th, 2014, marked the first day of the YTT. In this program is where I met the smiling faces of lead teachers Rie Franklin (RYT® 500), Deirdre Turner (ERYT® 200), and Michele Nierle (RYT® 200) and assistant teacher Yaco Murphy (RYT® 500). One weekend, every month from September 2014 to June 2015, I would be in training with these ladies and eight other students, all of whom I consider my yoga family. Surrounded by nothing but good vibes, each month of attendance kept my attention just as much as the last. In between those weekends, I had the task of collecting and charting 60 practice hours: 15 hours taught by the lead teachers within the program and 45 hours taught by any registered yoga teacher(s) outside of the program, so Malikah was very much still in the picture.

In the sixth month of the YTT, is when the pieces of the painting would come together. A week following the weekend training in March, I decided to get my anatomy homework done early. As I completed the assignments, the candle lit on my bedside table caught my attention. Right away the idea to study the flame occurred to me. While this is not the safest and I do not advise any person to do this, I wanted to observe how the flame burned and moved. Taking the precautionary measures of keeping the candle level at a nice distance away from my face with my hair pulled back, I examined the glow for short internals over the next couple days. Gazing, I noted how the flame encapsulated the head of the wick and how there were differing degrees of glow, even an aura. The last observation that caught my attention was the flame’s darker center, barely blinking, the flame seemed to jump at me revealing a green flash. Freaked out and fascinated, I instantly recalled the learnings of chakras earlier that month. Associated with green, I concluded that I had just witnessed the heart of the flame. Aiming to capture that sudden flash of movement and inspired by the anatomy of the fire, Sirsasana with eagle legs is the pose that spoke to me. So, the work on the painting began.

In the seventh month of the YTT, the former renowned yoga teacher and Buddhist, Michael Stone led the weekend as a guest teacher with a workshop heavily concentrated on meditation and technique tips on bodily alignment in asanas or yoga postures. Although Michael is no longer with us, as of July 16th, 2017, his teachings will forever influence my practice. The second day of the workshop is when Michael taught the technique that made it possible to achieve my goal of inverting. The tip lied in the hands. Instead of weaving all the fingers together, he gave the instruction to extend only the pinkies for a more stable and even base. Incapable of maintaining a freestanding headstand and nowhere near a wall at the time, I just observed and absorbed. It was not until I go home that I practiced Michael’s extended pinky technique. With the wall now there to catch my fall, hesitation was no issue. It took a few attempts for my hands to warm up to the new arrangement, but the first time they stayed in position I held my headstand for two whole seconds! While it was not long, it was a definite improvement from crashing as soon as I inverted. Unsure of how long it would be before I reached my goal, I knew it was going to take practice and hard work.

By the time June rolled around, I had completed all the requirements of the program, expect teaching my one hour practicum and participating in the practicum of my classmates. Even though the training had prepared me to teach a class, the moment I became the teacher words cannot describe how nervous I was. Not big on having everyone’s attention on me, I was completely out of my comfort zone. But as I began my opening speech and moved into the warm-up that discomfort dissipated. Throughout the entirety of teaching I came to understand what my teachers had been telling us for months, “....Each person is at a different point in their practice.... Do not compare yourself to another because each body is different....” Movements that felt so simple to me, appeared to be work for my classmates. With each student moving through the practice at a different pace, I was overwhelmed. Needless to say, I think we were all relieved to get to the cool down. At the end of the practicum was feedback time. Jotting down the comments of my peers, I learned my strengths, where I needed to make improvements, and that my teaching flow was level 2. Overall, everybody commended and enjoyed the challenge of my practice. August of 2015, I received my certificate of completion, registered with the Yoga Alliance Registry, and have been a Register Yoga Teacher at the 200-hour level (RYT ® 200) since. Not yet ready to teach others, I decided to further my personal practice.

Slowly, but surely the amount of time I could balance in a headstand lengthened, but only with my eyes closed. The second I would open them, my balance was thrown off. Inverting with my eyes closed allowed me to stay in tune with my body as I moved, but with opened eyes, the level of concentration necessary was beyond my ability. So, I started with baby steps: leg lifts watching my feet, toe touches to the floor, oblique crunches, and abdominal crunches. While I was no longer practicing four days of the week, I made each practice count.

Only as I sit here writing this blog, do I truly get the opportunity to sit back and recollect the time and energy it took to seize that moment on the beach. Since then I have been advised by another chiropractor, Dr. Matt Pastore with Breckenridge Chiropractic, to take headstands out of my practice due to a degenerative disc in my neck. That is a whole nother blog in itself, but back then my practice in headstand had grown into a flow with about ten different leg variations. And as a matter of fact, I even held a slight conversation with my cameraman as I posed for the photo on the beach, which was a first. That day was a good day, and that night, the moon was even in the same phase as the painting!

Practice makes progression and nothing can beat the sense of confidence you gain after accomplishing a goal, especially when you realize where you started.

Now it is time to set a new goal and create new awareness.

If you dare, paint your goals and share them below! Art imitates life, so let’s get creative!