One of the main movement patterns lacking in our yoga practice is that of pulling (as well as the fact that we only tend to move in linear ways...something to address in another post).

A couple of years back I decided to address this by adding a lot more pulling activity into my movement practice - primarily with pull ups.

It’s definitely not a strong suit for me - in a fact it’s a massive struggle as it’s a movement pattern I’m quite weak in. But I’ve stuck with it and slowly slowly it’s starting to get better.

Last week I even managed to get my first transition from the pull phase to the dip phase in a ring muscle up...something that I NEVER would have believed was possible for me.

It’s not pretty but it felt like a massive achievement given where I started. It also goes to show that it’s never too late to address our movement challenges or work towards our movement goals if we do so progressively and with structure and focus.

It’s also important that we don’t buy into the defeatist narratives we can often create about ourselves and our potential to move (and live) in the ways we want. “I’ll never be able to do that...” etc.

If I’d done that I would have given up on this movement long ago...and missed out on a lot of fun and enjoyment from simply exploring it for what it is without getting too hung up on the end result.

And whilst I do of course realise and accept that at the age of 42 there are some things that are likely beyond my ability to learn now, it’s amazing to think that at this age it’s still possible to keep expanding my movement repertoire and to take so much pleasure from my movement practice. For that I’m super grateful 👍