Maybe the stars were aligned just so. Perhaps it’s some windfall of karmic remuneration. Or, could it be that after seven months of near daily practice I’m beginning to gain a bit of facility with my Hatha practice?

Whatever the case, in this evening’s mixed level yoga class I flowed seamlessly from Malasana (a deep squat) into Bakasana (an arm balance) and into Salamba Sirsasana II (a tripod headstand)…and back.

While the ultimate destination is far too distant to see with anything but imagination, such an occasional mile marker reassures me that I’m still on the path.

Kicking off this Friday evening’s Soulful Flow, which is sort of a Vinyasa Happy Hour set to live music at Black Dog Yoga in Sherman Oaks, instructor Tyler Pagan thumbs the pages of a book he brought with him from his own library. He settles on a passage he considers pertinent to tonight’s practice, and reads:

We get good at what we do. Whether that’s improving our physical condition, step by step, or whether it is allowing ourselves to deteriorate, cell by cell, our choices and thus our behavior determine our outcome. Like it or not, consciously or not, we steer our own course.

— from Fitness, Straight-Up

Several yogis sitting cross-legged nod their approval, and I can’t help but smile.