This Week's Mindful Morsel 🍪 | July 16, 2025 — small changes + spirit of discovery & exploration = big shifts

Happy sweet Wednesday 💜

One of the most fascinating things about a physical yoga practice for me is how we can have such different experiences making the same shapes with our bodies when we’re in different orientations.

This week, for example, I’ve been playing with a standing cobra shape pretty frequently, which looks the same as the prone cobra shape we commonly make lying on our bellies (except you’re standing, of course). I was thinking through what the supine (lying on your back) equivalent would be, and fish comes to mind. Same shape, different orientation.

And it’s totally rad that all three of these share the same outline, but offer very different internal experiences. In traditional (prone) cobra, I exert the most effort in my lower back, glutes, and hips. Standing, it’s more of a frontal body experience with an addictive hip flexor and lower torso stretch, and in fish, it has hints of the prior two versions but I can also more easily tune into the sensations of heart and throat opening. (Give them all a try and see what they’re like for you!)

Choosing which version of a shape you explore gives you much needed autonomy over your own practice, your body, and your mind. You can accommodate a physical limitation, a low energy level, a busy mind, and overly boisterous body sensations. Plus you can tap into all these bits of yourself just waiting to be acknowledged with the simple shift of standing up, laying down, and even sitting in a chair.

It’s like taking the same Lego bricks you have lying around and making these cool innovations out of what you already have on hand, you know? And I really dig that. No gym needed. No extra equipment required. Just the spirit of exploration and discovery with a healthy dose of curiosity and self love. Aren’t bodies the coolest?

Geeking out on bodies forever and a day,