Demoralisation setting in!!

[Guest guest]

Has anyone got a few words of encouragement?

<br>I had been doing "soft" yoga ("Only go as far as

you feel", "Come out of the posture as soon as it

gets difficult" etc) regularly - 4 or 5 classes a week

and a lot at home - for about 25 years, when at the

age of 45 I discovered Ashtanga and realised how far

I had to go! After three years of (not daily)

practice I have made much progress - but still find it

very demoralising when absolute beginners arrive at

the class and are far more able than I am. I know all

about not competing and not comparing, but still feel

that 25 years of yoga ought to count for a bit

more!<br>Another grievance I have with "yoga" (I cannot possibly

blame myself, can I ?!?!?) is that I still have not

learned how to overcome overeating and overdrinking. If I

could do that, I would not be slightly overweight and

the postures would come more easily.<br><br>HELP!

[Guest guest]

I don't know if this is "encouraging" or not. I'm

learning that it doesn't matter what you can do outwardly,

the thing is just to practice anyway. I came to

astanga at the age of 35 after years of things like

climbing, martial arts and running. I was fit but stiff and

had a long term knee injury for which I had had not

very successful surgery a couple of years before.<br>I

made progress in doing asanas, quickly at first and

more slowly now after three years. The three year plan

for coaxing my bad knee into padmasana became a five

year plan after a major re-injury this summer that

stopped me practicing completely for two months. I simply

don't expect to "progress" outwardly as fast as

twenty-somethings with young, uninjured bodies. But that's ok. I

did the things I did, enjoyed them greatly at the

time, and they had the effects they had on my body.

I've learned to be happy to just go along at my own

pace. If you enjoy astanga practice, just keep doing it

and try not to worry TOO much about "progress".

Progress comes as a side effect.