I'm feeling very frustrated with my lack of progress lately…

Hello Tani-Sue

How frustrating that I haven’t got back to you in a reasonable time. It was definitely not my intention to keep you waiting. On a metaphysical level: I was wondering what the universe might be trying to tell you about *patience* or even *letting go*?

It seems that there is an element of struggle in your practice at the moment. Some of it is physical and some of it mental. It is strange how the mental aspects make the practice so much more difficult to cope with. The mind is usually the reason people skip classes when they had intended to come; it makes up excuses that sabotage even the best of intentions, plans and goals.

Perhaps a good place to start is to look inside and work out what need of yours is not being met by not presently being able to attain your physical goals. Simply acknowledging this may be the key to *letting go* of the outcome and allowing yourself to *be* and practice yoga.

OK that is the mental stuff handled in a superficial way. If any of that rings true for you then please respond because together we can nut it out and find a strategy for you to overcome it.

But now let’s look at the physical side.
The mental and the physical actually dovetail so when you can mentally relax and let go you will probably find that your body surrenders too.

I am wondering about your adductor muscles and how willing they are to comply. In cobblers pose and sitting cross legged it sounds as if you have quite some tightness. Are you able to put some towels or something under your knees so that you can settle into the pose without that resistance that has your legs pulling away from the floor (out of tension and pain)?

Those extra stretches that you are doing will definitely make a difference to you. There are many muscles attached around the pelvis and hips. It may be difficult to learn how to do this but you need to release them. Allow the opening. The anxiety you have around that area may be actually creating tension there. Especially for warrior poses, focus instead on pressing down through your heels and even lifting up your toes off the floor to ground the foot from the ball of the foot back to the heel. With that focus you may find that your hips feel more solidly supported and will let themselves relax.

You mention a weak feeling in your lower back. Would you let me know if you feel this all the time or if it is just during the poses you mention? It could be as fundamental as needed to develop core strength. Or it could be that your hips are tight and it is difficult to release enough there to be able to lift up out of the hips by tilting the pelvis and finding height in the spine.

Thank you for being so patient and reminding me with your last message 😉

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂