I am curious. Which poses do ya’ll love? Which do you hate??
Although some are easy and some are challenging there is one I just dread…it’s rabbit. I look forward to all others thou!! I find many students don’t like what is difficult. I love difficult and challenging. I like to work the areas of difficulty but rabbit seems to want to kill me no matter how I modify it…weird huh!?
For me the ones I probably dislike are the ones I don’t do very well, like revolved triangle, which is difficult for me even on a good day where I am all warmed up and stretched out. I find back bends difficult, especially on those days when the shoulders are tight and the legs feel a little weak but I wouldn’t say I hate doing them because I always feel so good after having done them. Just seems harder some days, really have to focus on the breathing and work through it. I love doing the twist in Warrior 1 and triangle also comes to mind.
I don’t perform any asanas I don’t like. Usually the reason for not liking it is becuase I try to do it more perfectly than my body is capable, or they require more from certain body parts than they are capable. So when I dislike an asasna I try to find out why I dislike it, then strenghten my weaknesses with other asanas I like. Also, I have quite a lot agitation and stress in my life so I try to make my yoga session as relaxing and enjoyable as possible. I have a bad experience with forced asanas, if you are not well prepared or you suffer from some chronic illness, they can seriously harm you.
My asana practice right now consists of tree pose, warrior 1, downward facing dog, side plank pose, lord of the fish, and savasana. Sometimes I extend it with baddha konasana (bound angle), but that ususally worsens a bit my sciatica. I also sit in sukhasana a lot, while at home, but I don’t count it to my practice. 
I used to do sarvangasana, even headstand, and tried padmasana … sarvangasana gave me back pains because my back muscles are not strong enough yet in order to maintain the pose for 20 minutes I used to do, headstand made my neck ache, and with padmasana I almost ruined my knees. So I have them on hold, until I am strong and flexible enough. I also have to be careful, at my age (35) the body recovers significantly slower.
I don’t hate any poses, but there are some that I avoid because my body can’t handle them yet (such as Halasana, Plow pose).
Some asanas that I love;
- Matsyasana (Fish pose) - My lower back feels so good in this pose.
- Vrksasana (Tree pose) - I love all asanas that focus on balance, but I’m not strong enough for many of them, so this one is popular.
- Kapotasana (Pigeon pose) - Stretches my damaged hips in an excellent way without causing any pain or discomfort.
My favorites are Revolved Triangle, Triangle, Dancing Shiva, Pigeon, Crow…come to think of it, I have so many favorites. I love back bends…
I really don’t think I don’t like any of them. haha
My personal favorite is Prayer Twist, especially when I’m really nice and loose and can separate nicely in the groin region. It’s such a great power/balancing pose, which I usually follow up with Pigeon pose.
I do that pose daily, and I also follow it up with pigeon! Feels sooo good!!
Assuming the pose itself is done properly, and by properly I mean with alignment and wholesome action plus a frame of mind that is not competitive and otherwise doesn’t charge up the ego…in that case the poses we typically avoid, or don’t “like” are the ones we might consider exploring more deeply.
That is not to say the practice shouldn’t be filled with utter joy, it should. But it is this shadow that the practice allows us to explore, face, deal with, and confront. Once we’ve looked at the pose and our issue(s) with it it is perfectly fine to not do the pose for a variety of reasons which I’ll not go into here.
Of course I do have poses I’m fond of but I try to look carefully at that as well to make sure it is not a performance or proficiency attachment.