Catching Feelings: By Krystle Riveras

Catching ~ Feelings

If you follow me or AYP, you probably have seen a post about me catching my heels for the first time.  

One of my favorite things about practicing the same sequence six days a week is the obvious progress and the relationship you develop with the poses.  Through these experiences you take a closer look into how your body and your mind react.

The first time I tried to catch my heels from my drop back was scary.  I had to trust my body and my teacher in a way that I had not done yet.  For some reason when you are upside down, your brain doesn’t work or think the same way.​

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The first thing I needed to overcome was the fear.   I need to learn to calm my mind and body. You can’t force yourself into a pose. I mean, you probably can, but you might hurt yourself.  Everything is a progression. The way your mind calms, then the way that your body follows. The morning that it happened, I didn’t expect it.  For whatever reason, I was calm and I just allowed it to happen, and it did! My favorite part of catching was when I came up from the pose and saw the look on my teacher, Susan’s face.  The happiness, the excitement… it was worth the struggle and uncomfortableness that I had to go through to get to that moment.

You start thinking about what the pose is doing to your body anatomically and also energetically.  Catching my heels in backbends completely opens up my chest, my heart chakra. Emotionally, I am fully open.  But I also need to be mindful of my weak left shoulder. I need to remember to pull my elbows in and try to straighten my legs.  I had to learn to trust my legs! It’s feels like almost a given, trusting your legs, but when you are upside down and you have always relied on both arms and legs, it’s a learning process.


It can be this rollercoaster of emotions.  Fear or doubt that eventually leads to a proud and excited moment. So, through catching my heels I learned to catch feelings for the pose and myself too.