Dealing with frustration

"My leg just won't bend that way!"
"I've been trying this forever and I still can't do it."
"I'm never going to be able to do that pose."

Our ego/chattering mind likes to throw thoughts like this at us often. And not just during practice; it also likes to get negative beforehand, to convince us to not even go practice in the first place!

Just like wobbles in balance poses, frustration never actually goes away completely. We can just become very competent at dealing with it and breathing right through it.

Yoga is a challenging practice. Learning new things is challening, especially as adults. Because we are grown-ups and we understand what is being asked of us on an intellectual level, we expect to be able to DO that thing instantly. But understanding and doing are different things. You get the pose, it's just your body won't quite cooperate... we've all had this experience. I'm taking guitar lessons (trading them for private yoga lessons, actually) and I know what the songs sound like, I even know where my fingers should go, it's just that they won't always go there! But just like everything, practice over time results in mastery. And the time is going to pass anyhow, so you may as well practice things you'd like to master!

If you're feeling frustrated, stop, take a few deep breaths, and take a moment to think of all the things you've managed to learn to do up until now - everything from learning to crawl and walk and talk to learning to write and drive and maybe paint or build things or any of the complex things you're able to do. Remind yourself of the time those things took. And assure yourself that if you want to master this new skill, you'll one day look back and barely be able to remember when it was so difficult.