Not every practice will harmonize you. In fact, many practices create more of the same experience in your body. Unless you align your body to the math and geometry the universe created you with, change will feel so far away.

This is why so many people will start yoga and then stop. Their practice won’t be consistent because it wont actually be doing anything. It is hard to continue something if you don’t see results, especially because your time is the most valuable resource.

This is why I teach a very specific practice that uses the proportions of your body as well as geometry to align your body. This system, known as Katonah Yoga, is the only yoga system I have found that actually gives you the keys to transform your body with the potential to live pain free all by understanding how your body is truly designed.

The moment you understand the design of your body and how it is meant to be placed, whether you are standing, sitting, walking, or in posture, is when you can unwind tension, imbalances and asymmetries.

The proportions of your body can be used to align the framework of your body in each posture. Hip distance is not arbitrary, it is one foot distance between your feet that lands your heels directly below your butt bones so you are working in the center of your leg bone. Shoulder distance is measured by turning the hands in so the middle fingers touch. When they do you can pivot your hands out from the thumb mounds. This places your weight in the center of the arm bone.

Why measure with your proportions? They are unique to you, and when you use them in your practice it places you in the center of your bones rather than working with the muscles that are most likely over developed and over dominating your every day movements. These strong muscles throw your bones out of alignment because many of us don’t use our muscles properly. When you align in the center of the bone the muscles can take a back seat and you can restructure your body from its foundation.

The next piece is the geometry. When you align using the proportions of your body you create specific geometry that has been used to construct the entire material world. Shoulder distance gives you arm bones that create a rectangular frame for your lungs. If they are too wide you will have arm bones that are no longer parallel, they lack structure and thus integrity. This is where injuries happen, imbalances persist and tension amplifies. This is why alignment in your practice is essential for harmony in your whole body.

Similarly, when you come into a lunge you want to align your leg bone at a ninety degree angle to the ground. With the back leg extended far enough you have a ninety degree triangle between your two legs. The geometry reveals where the pose is going. If you can’t get there yet, you are shown where you are, or the tension you have to unwind from your body.

The geometry and measurements are a map. They take what is personal (your body) and bring you into what is archetypal (the universe). When you want to come into greater harmony you are looking to align with universal measure, how you were designed and integrate what is of creation.

The personal holds all of your lived experience. Your muscles contain the storybook of your life. They alter you. They take you out of your divine essence, the truest you, that is beyond all the stories, the layers, the ideas, the beliefs. To realign your structure literally changes who you are, because you begin to let go of that which no longer serves you.

That is why you are aiming to align with what is archetypal. It is the original source of creation. The proportions alive within you are divine keys you can use to find the geometry that is the blueprint of you. This geometry harmonizes and resonates with what is life-giving. It is what forms all stability and structure here on Earth. It is why technical geometrical plans are laid out before a building is built. It is so you outlast, you weather the storms and you stand tall and strong for all that is before you.

Along with your measurements and your geometry you can use a simple 8 point compass to align your practice in an archetypal way. This is something known as the grid and you can easily create with straps at home. You can use this as a guideline when you practice. Check out the video below to anchor this concept into your practice.