I was taking class recently with one of my teachers and we were working on Pinca Mayurasana, Forearm Balance.

 It is a pose that I can easily balance in, so I was working off of the wall.

 Until my teacher spotted me and corrected me saying, "You need to work on opening your shoulders more before you work on balancing."

 I thought I had pretty open shoulders, at least compared to most of my students! 

 But, Avidya, or not seeing things clearly, is one of the first obstacles in yoga, the second being Asmita, or ego.  That means: I thought my shoulders were open, but apparently they are not.

 I have learned enough (and learned to surrender enough to a higher power) by now to know that if my teacher said that my shoulders aren’t open enough, than I better go back to the wall and work on opening my shoulders!

 So, this week we will work on opening our shoulders in preparation for Pinca Mayurasana as well as other for back bends.