Our Yoga practice can be such a wonderful refuge from the hamster wheel of our lives. Day in and day out, the Sun Salutation has been my anchor for years, but sometimes it can get a bit stale, if you know what I mean. Then I embellish it a little, adding a whimsical touch, a creative element all my own, and it feels new and fresh again.

Our nervous system relies on a constant stream of physical sensations from the body - it is necessary for it to receive this stimulation in order to thrive. However, since we spend so much of our time sitting, our feet in the "sensory deprivation chambers" we call shoes, our mind occupied with the relentless mental chatter, we literally "starve" our nervous systems. Overtime it becomes so depleted that we begin to lose our body sense, our ability to perceive subtle sensations, our ability to control our body with immaculate precision. In our Yoga practice we practice not only the postures and the breathing, we also practice feeling the body, exploring every inch of it with our awareness. It is extremely nourishing to the nervous system.

It is always interesting to observe a group of beginners try something for the first time, like my favorite "spinal jump rope", seen here on the right. Ninety percent of the people who try this movement for the first time are unable to do it! However, with practice, this movement becomes absolute favorite with my experienced students.

As our experience grows, so does the "palate" of our nervous system becomes more sophisticated - it can perceive more, it can perceive more subtlety and nuance, it can translate our mental commands into physical movements much better.

Therefore, it is fun to challenge it with new, creative, inventive, stimulating experiences, such as the Slitherin' Sun Salute below. Having fun in your practice is what makes you want to come back to it every time. Do you have any special movements, adjustments to poses, sequences, etc. that you have invented to spice up your practice? I bet you do. I am sharing mine with you, and hope you will share yours!

Have fun practicing,

Namaste!