One of the biggest problems with westernized yoga is the idea that yoga, that union and state of oneness, can be achieved by shaping the body into some kind of ideal form.
Enlightenment can not come from external sources or even directly from guidance. Or from some arbitrary shape we make on the mat.
Teachers like Baron Baptiste often talk a lot about “doing the work” when it comes to wringing ourselves into a pose and fighting to stay there.
The work is nuanced, however. There are absolutely times when we just have aversions to a pose that are not pain/injury related, in that we have to be reminded to hold on and not give up. Most of this work, however, is untangling the WHY part of our aversion. If we work forward into our practice without asking why, we are left with nothing but physical strength without the flexibility of the mind.
The missing link on this subject is for teachers to discuss both sides of this equation. Remember the ideas of duality, and the need to find balance. The balance in this comes from guiding students to that internal inquiry, and asking them to honor what they find.
Are you finding: 1. This hurts and I need to stop - honor it by stopping. Never ask yourself or a student to continue with pain. Lineages like Ashtanga ask students to work through pain as a learning process - but this is not what yoga is actually asking. Yoga wants you to address the mental and physical pains you already have, not create new ones.
2. This is weird, and I don’t understand this pose. Honor that by scanning each component of the pose, inquiring deeper into foundations, engagement, and see if something is not clicking.
3. Maybe it’s just too “easy”? Then head to one of these:
Can you break away from external cues and find another alignment/position that does challenge you? Can you trust YOU and let go of what most teachers argue is “full expression”? Can you accept that alignment is largely arbitrary aside from safety?
So it’s just an easy pose? This class is easier than you thought. Can you challenge yourself/your students to embrace the boredom? To just breathe and exist in this shape? Then see what arises. The things that come up on the mat are often what we need to work through off of the mat. It carries through.
That is the shadow work. This is what we need to apply our Tapas, our fire to - those things that keep coming up. Our “fire” is meant to burn away the impurities, our blocks. To overcome what is being shouted at us from outside ourselves, including when you are on a yoga mat, overcome all of it to reach that state of just BEING.
Blocks are not: forcing ourselves into shapes that a teacher tells us to make. Blocks are not: all the things that we beat ourselves up about in yoga. I’m not flexible enough, I’m not advanced enough, I can’t do this or that, I fight to force myself into this alignment because an instructor says so. If yoga is creating new blockages, it’s not serving it’s purpose. You will be wasting your fire burning into a block that didn’t need to be there to begin with.
You can help your students by using empowering, inclusive language that allows them to move past that little bit of self doubt and move on to the real stuff. Modifications or moving out of a pose are often a sign of STRENGTH, not a weakness if our bodies are asking, and we are honoring our individual practice.
There’s plenty junk in our minds to work through as-is without adding to the mix. Use the body as a tool to learn, but don’t use the body as an extra door you have to fight to get open. Blocks are ugly stuff that we need to work through. Blocks are the dark recesses, and not the light and love we preach.
Acceptance is key. Sifting through the darkness we can start to work through it, eventually setting fire to it and setting ourselves free.
And the beauty of it? The body follows the mind. Students find will absolutely find depth and progression in physical practice as they let go.
Most yoga has it backwards, let’s flip this up and make it work without tripping over ourselves in the process.
-Cassie
