Hello Anthem,
It is interesting that you posted this, I was having a similar thought the other day. I was enjoying my easy and steady pace, thinking about how flexible yoga is and can be. Then I thought back to the beginning, a few years back.
I remembered realizing very quickly that I could not continuously practice like I was. The meditation would become a strenuous activity, and empty of the ease that comes when the body has found a proper rhythm or cycle. More down time would be required to recover from the symptoms/damage of over doing. It also promotes duality, as the mind is forced to create frames of reference in two modes of living. Over doing, and recovery. The magic in between just got squished out of the picture.
In the beginning, the mind doesn't know, and projects all sorts of things onto the body/path. There is no real understanding of why a certain technique is done, or not down until a certain time. We hold back sometimes when we should persevere, and indulge when we should abstain, and trample ahead when we should rest. It takes some time for the mind to link everything together so it can recognize the more in less. Before we do find our natural way, you might say you are still in the clunky phase. At least in terms one's potential and how they may practice fives years down the road.
Because knowing yoga is the best way to find the right pace, in the beginning you cannot rely on this in order to keep from over doing. Instead, recognize your own progress thus far and trust that those who have more experience are being honest way they warn about the consequences of pushing too hard. With that honored and accepted, the best thing you can do is not put yourself into a position of weakness or dependency. This will create fewer conditions where the mind tries to use yoga instead of surrender to it. In other words, love yourself and fulfill yourself in all the ways the body uniquely demands, as to avoid reducing the process to means and end.
With all that, there is something to be said for following that inner voice which sometimes beckons us into new territory. Places that may be beyond our understanding or education. There is great intelligence and reward in following that intuition, because it is acting on more information than our conscious mind. A model for safety must be applied and maintained, but the spirit of curiosity, of our authentic will, must be honored in order to go from the page of techniques to communicating directly with all the dimensions of our being. Curiosity and quick learning are a deadly combination for the ego.
