When I was a little girl, I saw a commercial that had two little ballerinas in it. For some reason it struck a chord with me and since then I have always wanted to do ballet. My parents couldn’t afford putting me through ballet classes, so I never took ballet. I never stopped longing for it, though.

I took a few beginner classes as an adult, but money was always an issue. So, I decided to include basic ballet exercises with the yoga I am doing. The collaboration of the two makes sense to me. They work rather well together.

Ballet, similar to yoga, requires an ample amount of strength and control in order to appear as graceful and peaceful as it does. A beginner in both, I am discovering more and more just how strenuous they can be on the muscles, especially those ones you didn’t even know were there! Strenuous, but in such a deeply satisfying way. With practice, from what I assume, that struggle will be replaced with control. My thinking in this is that as a person practises adapting alongside their body, they will, in so doing, also learn what their body naturally wants to do, as well as learn how their body responds to doing those things. By those things, I mean particular exercises, and particular poses. Obviously I am not saying anything new. This is ancient knowledge, I’m sure. However, it is new to me, so.

I always admire those professional ballet dancers, especially the women- the absolute dedication that dancers have, the long hours, the ambition. So much terrific work that they always have to put in so they can look pretty, graceful and agile.

 

I admire the women a little more, perhaps I am just being completely ignorant or bias. The women seem to have to work at their craft more because their bodies are, of course, built differently. The men seem to naturally be so much stronger, and they seem to leap in the air with such immense power and ease that it almost seems unfair that they can be so natural.

On the other hand, where the men have raw power and athletic prowess, women radiate natural beauty, grace and elegance. It is just so easy for them. She exerts a most profound beauty that ever appears to be locked in a mystery.

The woman without the man is an elusive flower. The man without the woman is a wide-awake stag. However, together they are rain and snow. Rain will fall to the snow and melt into his embrace, and the snow will catch the rain and receive her like a gentle covering.

So it is as it has always been- beauty is in strength and strength is in us all. To use it, we must learn how to use it and in the case of this post, we must learn how to trust our own bodies and how to adapt to what it needs. Mine is made for ballet and yoga postures. Perhaps yours is made for running or horse riding, or figure-skating. Whatever your body is made for, I hope it makes you smile.