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I certainly enjoy blogging, but sometimes I get sick of hearing myself talk (or maybe it's more accurate to say that I get sick of reading what I write). Today I'm going to let the links below talk for themselves...
Box Cutters What if I told you to take a box cutter to your mat? Here's an excellent blog post about the idea that more is less and an idea for taking a bite out of the yoga mat SUV equivalent: What Is Your Yoga Footprint?
Baring it All Lately all I've been hearing about is how yoga can wreck your body, how the NY Times can wreck yoga, and how everyone is up in arms about perceived yoga porn. This funny video laughs in the face of it all, and I absolutely love it -- Yoga by Equinox Parody.
Ah...something to think about, something to do, and something to laugh about. My job is done here.
Reactionary: one who responds to a situation, person, or circumstance, oftentimes quickly without forethought. [Please note that this is the blogger's definition and Webster is not resposible for this hack job]
One of the reasons I love yoga and meditation is because both provide the practitioner with something very important -- space. There's nothing quite like getting quiet, calming the mind, and taking a pause. That ever-important pause is that prevents us from being a reactionary and saying the hurtful comment or acting rashly or making the mistake in haste.
Of course assumptions and judgment happen, regardless of how much time one spends on a yoga mat and/or meditation cushion. I certainly am far from perfect. Yet, every now and again, I am heartened when I notice myself noticing when I'm assuming and/or judging.
Just last week I wrote a post and made a statement that could easily be construed as meaning a certain thing. In fact, some people that know me (or perhaps they don't really) jumped to the obvious conclusion, when, in my opinion, should have known better. This happens quite a bit. Often people think they know me because they read my blog or read my updates on Facebook. Yes, my blog posts do reflect who I am, but they also don't divulge every detail about my personal life. Regardless of my being a blogger and a user of social media, I still think that some things are private and sacred and I don't share them with the world at large.
That being said, it's not uncommon for me to write something that sounds like one thing when it really means another. That's my sly way of telling the truth without divulging everything about my personal life. Interestingly enough, a close friend of mine knew exactly what I was referencing in the blog post. She knew that it wasn't about a love relationship -- or at least not the type one would expect. Yet so many people jumped to the conclusion that it was. One person, in fact, had a very strong reaction to the statement I made, which I found disappointing.
Regardless of my years of a regular yoga practice, I am not above being a reactionary myself. Just over a week ago, I saw the Yoga by Equinox video that yogi Kathryn Budig defends here. Why would a brief yoga video need defending, you ask? Perhaps because it shows a scantily clad yoga teacher -- Equinox's Briohny Kate-Smyth practicing in her bedroom?
My first reaction to the video was quite interesting. I thought that the video was beautiful -- Briohny Kate-Smyth is a delight to watch. The scantily clad part didn't bother me at all -- I think that bodies are beautiful, and I thought it was lovely to see Briohny proudly sharing hers with us. Briohny's yoga prowess is impressive. And that's where I noticed myself cringing just a bit inside.
It's not about showing one's body. Heck, I can't tell you how many pictures I've seen of ancient Indian men practicing in little more than a loincloth. What made me a bit uneasy about the video was the perfection and acrobatic nature of it. Is this what people think yoga should be? Do they watch this beautiful, strong, supple body practicing challenging poses and think, "I could never do that."
Of course this has nothing to do with Briohny or her lovely video. This is what I think is a common problem with yoga in the world today -- the perception that you have to look a certain way or have a certain body or be physically fit to practice yoga. I want to see some yoga misfit videos with fat rolls and inflexible bodies and basic asana rather than complex feats of strength and flexibility.
Just because one is a yoga teacher does not mean that he/she has to be physical perfection personified or be able to perform each posture flawlessly. No, this isn't Bikram's Yoga Olympics. This is life. This is imperfection. This is yoga, which is accessible and can be practiced by anyone (even someone who is bedridden). Perhaps it's time for us to take off our masks, as this wonderful blog post calls us to do.
So yes, I, too, am a reactionary at times. I sure am better than I used to be in this regard. I'm no longer the knee-jerk queen. But creating more space certainly isn't a bad thing.
We all know that the words "wreck" and "yoga" have been used together quite a bit lately. It's like watching a tennis match -- someone lobs a ball over the net and the player on the other side returns it. Back and forth the ball goes, volley for volley (yes, I'm following the Australian Open, so it's no surprise that I'm using this analogy). Is it a bad thing that people are talking about yoga and what happens when bodies are forced into postures that they aren't ready for? Certainly not.
Perhaps this makes me a bad yoga teacher, but I don't want to talk about vertebrae or cervical spine injuries or pulled this or torn that. Instead, I'm going to do one of my favorite things -- I'm going to tell a story.
Years ago, I was in a relationship that wasn't working for either parties involved. We did a lot of talking but there wasn't a whole lot of action to back it up. As a result, things went along the same unsatisfactory way for some time. All of the hurts accumulated over time into what one could call a fatal injury. I still remember the day I knew it was over for me -- I actually got a visceral feeling in my body (it was as if something snapped inside of me...perhaps it was the camel's back breaking after the last straw). My friend asked me when I knew it was over, and I cited that experience. That final injury was my wake-up call.
This off the mat story can be applied on the mat as well. If you find yourself injured as a result of your yoga practice, that's not front page news -- that's a wake-up call. It's a call to awareness, consciousness, discernment even. For me, that visceral experience I had brought everything I had been feeling for years -- and pushed into the background -- into the foreground. I could no longer ignore it.
Of course ignoring something is second nature for many of us. "Just suck it up" becomes our motto. Many years ago, I was taking a class with a yoga teacher who had a national reputation in the style of yoga in which he specialized. He told a story of him hobbling to and from yoga class but still teaching and practicing himself. He had such pride as he related the story of his sucking it up, because after all, the yoga show must go on, right?
Wrong! While I realize that the performance-based athletes seem to be of the belief no pain, no gain, I don't believe that's the smart way to go. One could argue it's the unconscious way to go. Pain is a signal -- whether it's emotional or physical. If something doesn't feel right, that's not a green light to continue but a yellow light encouraging you to slow down and proceed with caution. It's funny I should use that example, as when I drive, I tend to view yellow traffic lights as a reason to speed up in order to make it through the intersection before the light turns red. Luckily, my stupidity in the car doesn't bleed into my life.
A few years into my yoga practice, I experienced a bad hamstring injury. It was painful and it persisted for quite a few weeks. My ego was wanting to go the way of the teacher who was proud of his yoga-earned hobble. I tried a few times to push through the injury and continue to practice yoga as I had practiced before. Well, you know what they say about insanity -- that the definition is doing something the same way expecting different results. Yeah, I was basically insane. Luckily my body overruled my ego and I took a two-week break from yoga. Or more accurately, I took a two-week break from the way I had been practicing yoga. Instead, I focused on some gentle floor poses and plenty of Savasana.
I didn't practice the same way after that. My yoga practice continued to change over the years and it now resembles nothing like what it did when I began my yoga journey. Ah, if only my ego could see me now...it would NOT be happy. But my body sure is happy. And so is my soul. Achieving the perfect pose didn't nourish me or bring me peace. Hobbling around citing proudly "yoga injury" didn't do those things either. In fact, those things took me further away from what I deemed to be the magic of yoga after my first class -- peace and serenity (with a little bliss mixed in).
Maya Angelou says, "When you know better, you do better." My current relationship doesn't even remotely resemble the relationship I mentioned earlier. The wake-up call injury my heart sustained was one heck of a teaching tool. Same goes for that hamstring injury so many years ago. Both taught me where my boundaries were and how to discern between my ego and my soul. And at the end of the day, that's how I think of yoga -- it's not about muscles or tendons or ligaments but awareness. Or at least, that's where my heart lies.
My suggestion? Don't wait for a wake-up call before you get conscious on and/or off the mat.
It seems like everyone is talking about it these days and I've been asked by many people this past week about my opinion on it. By "it," I mean the NY Times article, How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body (you can read Glenn Black's response here). Frankly, I wasn't going to discuss it on the blog and add fuel to the already raging fire. I've been practicing yoga for well over a decade and I've had very few injuries. It's my belief that it's not yoga that's dangerous but who's practicing it and how it's being practiced that can put a yoga practitioner in the danger zone. I know that I'm not alone in this belief. Still, the media isn't looking to write a balanced story but a sensationalized one (here's another point of view on the subject) because that attracts more readers. Take it from where it comes, I say. Enough said.
Bandhas
Bandhaland, as Leslie Kaminoff likes to describe it in the following video, is often unknown to many yoga practitioners. I don't think that I'd even heard the term bandha until I was practicing yoga for about a year and it took me a few years after that to understand them, much less incorporate them into my practice. Perhaps something like Bandhas could go a long way towards helping prevent yoga injuries. Hmmm...perhaps the NY Times can write an article on that (nah, it's not as sexy as all of the other sensational yoga stories that they so enjoy publishing). If you'd like a little lesson in the history of bandhas, check out this informative video from Leslie.
Karma
Perhaps my barbs aimed at the NY Times isn't good karma. Unlike Bandhas, the term Karma is fairly well-known. If you're interested in good karma and how to get it, here's a little lesson from the Dalai Lama: 20 Ways to Get Good Karma.
Okay, I think I'll try #10 and go back to silence on the topic of yoga. Until I open my mouth again, I wish you good karma, no yoga injuries, and one good moola bandha.
The title of this post applies to life in general, not just yoga class (but since this is a yoga blog, after all, I'll just tackle the yoga piece). There's a lot of talk about present moment awareness, being conscious, and calming the fluctuations of the mind in the yoga world. Sounds simple right? All you have to do is be here now. Simple, but certainly not easy.
One of the things I noticed when I starting practicing yoga 5-6 days/week is that I began to operate from muscle memory rather than conscious awareness. My body knew what to do, so my mind felt free to wander. Even worse, I began to tune out the teacher's instructions. As many of your know, doing your yoga practice on autopilot is an invitation to injury.
As time went on, I started feeling like a haughty intermediate yoga practitioner. Yep -- as if I wasn't already listening to the teacher before, now I was approaching my practice with a ego-maniac I-know-all-about-this-yoga-stuff attitude. Looking back, I can't believe I didn't injure myself more often. Luckily, my ego was tempered by some body awareness, so I mostly suffered from tweaks as opposed to injuries.
How did I pull myself out of my ego spiral? I became a student. I signed on for a yoga teacher training in a completely different style of yoga than I had originally trained in. Ah, there's nothing more humbling than to realize that you really don't know what you thought you knew. Actually, that made me a better teacher, for I realized that I didn't know rather than remain under the illusion that I did know. Not knowing what you don't know is a dangerous thing.
In this training, a teacher led us through Cakravakasana. My mind immediately chimed in with, "Oh, this is a fancy Sanskrit term for Cat Cow." I was thinking something like this. The problem with this is that when you come back into Child's Pose from all fours thinking Cat Cow, you get an mid/upper back stretch rather than the lower back stretch of Cakravakasana (which is why I like to call it Cakravakasanaaaahhhhhhhh). The key to getting the lower back stretch is dropping the head before moving back into Child's. It's a bit of a suble difference -- one that you wouldn't notice if you were on yoga autopilot.
So how do you stay off yoga autopilot? No, it's not necessary to shell out the money for a teacher training. Try these simple tips instead:
Be aware of the fact that you might, in fact, be on yoga autopilot. Yes, I know it's hard to admit, but be honest with yourself.
Try a class in a style of yoga completely different than your current style. If you're an Ashtanga Yoga lover, try Restorative. If you're a Vinyasa Flow fan, try Kundalini. Go different...very different.
Sit on your mat before class with an intention to be conscious throughout your yoga practice. Yes, it sounds dubious, but the power of intention is quite strong.
Take a pose that you're uber familiar with -- say Downward Dog or Warrior -- and notice what your body is doing in the pose. Listen to the instructions the teacher is giving and follow them as if it were your first time attempting the posture.
Practice along with a beginner yoga DVD or take a beginner-level yoga class. Ah, to be a student again...one of the best ways to approach your yoga practice with Beginner's Mind is to pretend that you are a beginner.
Start your yoga practice with a body scan and/or some simple pranayama (inhale for 4 counts, hold the inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, hold the exhale for 4 counts). This will help you get out of your head and into your body prior to starting your yoga practice, which should help you have more awareness.
Enjoy the surprises and delightful discoveries that come along with being a beginner again!
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