When I was training with Pattabhi Jois, a friend of mine who was practicing with me there asked someone to take some pictures of him during practice, so he’d have something to take home and show friends and family.

After the pictures were developed, he was very excited to look at them. He opened up the album that the photo developers had neatly arranged them in, his face glowing with anticipation.

Then he saw himself in warrior 2. A slight frown creased his brow. A quiver came to his lip. "Huh." He said, a hint of desperation creeping in to his voice.

"I didn’t think I did it like that."

The next day we went to the pool together. He sat in a chair and didn’t talk to anyone the whole time. Afterward, having dinner, he picked at his food. For a week he moped about.

I looked at that picture over his shoulder when I saw his reaction to it. It looked pretty similar to the picture you see above – his knee may have been a little less bent, his back leg a little less active. Maybe he wasn’t standing completely straight in his spine. But it was a decent warrior, nothing wrong with it. Maybe it could use a little fine tuning but if his practice didn’t need any fine tuning anywhere, wouldn’t that be boring?

I bring this up here hopefully to give you a chance to think about your own practice. It’s never going to be perfect. Maybe your knee could bend another inch (and will a year from now), or your foot could ground a little more, or whatever. So long as you’re practicing safely and effectively, the rest is just time and practice.