Practice Before Perfection
International Day of Yoga June 21
"Do your practice, and all is coming."
— Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
Some teachings become clearer with time.
When I first heard Pattabhi Jois's famous words, I understood them as encouragement to practise consistently. Twenty years later, I hear something deeper.
The sentence is not about achievement.
It is not about mastering difficult postures or reaching a final destination.
It is about returning.
Again and again.
Rolling out the mat.
Breathing.
Falling.
Getting up.
Beginning once more.
Over the years, I have discovered that the gifts of practice rarely arrive when we expect them. Strength appears quietly. Patience grows unnoticed. Confidence replaces doubt almost without asking permission. Friendships emerge. Sometimes even miracles.
Yoga is not something I do.
It has become an ongoing conversation with myself.
This watercolor captures a Vinyasa transition long before I could perform it with confidence. Some movements are first imagined, then painted, and only much later embodied.
Art and yoga follow a similar path.
Neither asks for perfection.
Both ask for presence.
On the International Day of Yoga, I am grateful not for the poses I have achieved, but for every practice that has brought me back to the mat—and a little closer to myself.
Artwork
Practice Before Perfection
Watercolor and ink on paper
Inspired by two decades of Ashtanga Yoga practice.
"Some postures are born on paper before they are born in the body."
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