Last Tuesday, a sudden storm broke over the ridge, turning the sky the color of a bruised plum. I watched a young cedar whip against the gale, its limbs bending until they nearly brushed the mud, yet it refused to snap or splinter. It reminded me of Vrikshasana—not the polished, serene version we see in glossy magazines, but the wobbling, frantic reality of a human trying to stand on one leg while the mind gusts.
We often mistake the mountain for something static, a heavy monument of unmoving granite. In truth, every peak is a slow-motion collision, a violent upheaval of earth that learned to hold its ground while the tectonic plates shifted beneath it. When we step onto the mat to practice our asanas, we aren’t seeking to become frozen statues. We are practicing the art of the landslide and the subsequent recovery.
Here is the insight that changed my practice: the wobble is not a failure of muscular strength, but the nervous system’s high-speed conversation with gravity. If your bones were as rigid as glass, you would shatter under the weight of your own expectations the moment the wind picked up. Stability is actually a series of tiny, successful corrections made in the dark.
To bring this tectonic resilience into your day, try these physical experiments:
- In Tree Pose, intentionally sway your torso like a willow in a storm to teach your ankles how to navigate sudden chaos.
- While standing in Mountain Pose, imagine your weight trickling down through your heels like heavy silt settling at the bottom of a deep, clear lake.
- During any balance pose, soften your gaze until the edges of the room blur, focusing instead on the internal pulse of your calf muscles.
The river doesn’t apologize to the canyon for the centuries it takes to carve a path, and you needn’t apologize for the tremors in your thighs. We are all just geological events in progress, learning to lean into the steep slope without losing our grip on the earth.
True strength is the courage to be crooked while you learn how to stand tall.