Image by Flickr user Kevin Dooley

Today, Americans celebrate our great country by setting things on fire, eating barbecued processed foods, and drinking copious amounts of beer. It’s the American way. Isn’t freedom great!?

Don’t get me wrong. I like beer and setting things on fire as much as the next guy, but it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think about independence and/or freedom. For a yoga student, independence is the understanding that you have all the wisdom you need right inside of you if you just look closely enough. Freedom comes when you tap into that inner wisdom and figure out how to liberate it. When you stop looking externally for answers, direction, and approval and learn to trust your own wisdom, that’s when you realize you have the power to do anything you want in life!

I’ve got a long way to go, but I’ve practiced yoga long enough to experience little glimmers of that freedom. Here are the poses that make me feel the most freedom:

1. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand)

2. Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose)

3. Eka Pada Galavasana (Flying Pigeon Pose)

4. Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward-Facing Bow Pose)

5. Savasana (Corpse Pose)

What poses make you feel free?