Empower Yourself and Your Yoga Practice With One Question

Recently I attended a four month workshop that focused on pleasure. Needless to say, I had a blast and I learned some very interesting things about myself and human nature. I learned that while we want to experience pleasure, it isn't always so easy to receive it. Hmmmm...perhaps that's why so many folks have trouble sticking to a regular yoga practice -- it feels too good!

I digress. The point is what happened at the end of this workshop. A few of my fellow workshop attendees decided that they wanted to perform a fun song and dance number for the entire class on the last day. They were very excited about this and they seemed to have fun prepping for it. After all, one of the tenants that we had learned was to have fun for ourselves and for the sake of having fun. These ladies were going to do just that.

Fast forward to a few weeks later when we receive a letter that summarizes the highlights of the final workshop weekend. The letter makes no mention of the performance (which, by the way, was quite well-received by the audience). That's when the emails start -- indignation, hurt, anger -- the women who at first seemed so happy to perform are now quite unhappy about their lack of acknowledgment. Talk about taking something that was supposed to be pleasurable and turning it into something icky.

Which made me wonder -- if you are performing for your own pleasure, why do you need validation/approval from others? Did not getting a mention in the letter make the performance any less fun for those involved or less enjoyable for those of us in the audience? It all seemed a bit opposed to the teachings that we had just spent four months learning.

When you do something for the pure pleasure of it, there's no attachment. Yet, when you're coming from a place of ego, there are all sorts of expectations or desired outcomes. I suppose that's the difference between coming from the inside (a place of pleasure) vs. coming from the outside (when you come from this place you're always looking outside of yourself for approval).

So, how are you approaching your yoga practice -- or your life for that matter?  Are you coming from somewhere inside where you're doing something to nourish yourself, fill yourself up, and light yourself up? Or are you doing things in the quest for outside approval or to satisfy your ego?

Here are some ways to look at it:

• Finding the perfect pose -- ego or an outside job. Yes, alignment is important to avoid injury but asana isn't about form -- it's about function. For years I practiced yoga and didn't even realize that the function of Warrior pose is to stretch the front of the body. I thought that the goal of the pose was to get the bent leg parallel to the floor. Go figure. Thinking you need to look a certain way in a pose isn't going to serve you and it's not going to make your yoga practice any fun.
• Wearing the right yoga clothes -- ego again. You don't have to don stylish yoga clothes in order to practice. Yoga ain't about the gear -- it's about being present. If you're worried about what your butt looks like in Downward Dog you might want to remind yourself why you unfurled your mat in the first place.
• Looking in the mirror while practicing or checking out the cute yogi on the mat next to you -- see bullet number one.
• Practicing yoga because it's one of your New Year's resolutions -- yoga isn't a should. It's something that you practice because you have a goal in mind. Perhaps you want to quiet your mind or ease your anxiety or gain flexibility or learn more about your inner life. Bravo. That's an inside job. Yoga for tighter buns to meet a member of the opposite sex to be cool or as an excuse to buy a fun active wear wardrobe -- not fun unless ego means fun in Latin.
• Yoga 'cause it feels good -- contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be a serious student of yoga or know each and every Sanskrit word to enjoy yoga and the benefits of. If those stolen moments on the mat are ones of peace and your body feels good in the postures then enjoy it! Knowing more about the history of yoga can deepen your practice, but if you're not wanting to become a student of yoga then that's fine. Feel good and enjoy it. Give me a student who loves his/her practice over the student who wants to be "the good student" any day.
• Yoga as a path -- you want to learn more about yourself and you've decided that yoga is a great way to do it. Bravo! Just be sure that you don't jump onto some other path at the first intersection that you come to. Stick to it and you'll get to your destination -- and the journey itself will be an unforgettable experience.

It's like the performance -- it's not about the accolades but the experience of performing. Think inside not outside.

You've heard it before but I'll say it again -- life (and yoga) is an inside job.

Namaste!

Comments

[Healthy Weight Loss]

you feel good when you do yoga and while you doing this i know you enjoyed it 'cause yoga is fun.

alexis scott

[Diane Cesa]

Raina -- Thanks for your comment. I agree about yoga empowerment. Don't deprive yourself of your practice because you teach others. I find that keeping my own practice helps me be an even better teacher.

[Diane Cesa]

Linda it's just plain scary -- we share the same brain!!!!!

[Raina Van Cleave]

Yoga is great way to empower yourself...I'm starting my New year with more yoga for myself. As a teacher, I find my own personal practice suffers.

[Linda]

hmmmmm....I think another wise yogini has written about this same mentality somewhere along the line.....;)

as I enter the final season of my life, the only question that I use to empower myself is:

"IF NOT NOW, WHEN?"