What is Yoga? No I mean, really. When I mention that I am a Yoga Teacher to anyone, their first response is “Oh I can’t do Yoga, I’m not flexible!” OR—-and this one is my favorite “Oh I don’t need Yoga I am sooooo flexible already.”
I won’t begin to presume that I can fully define Yoga, but, I wish to try to demystify it a bit. Yoga in the fuller scope is a life discipline. In this particular blog post, I want to talk a little bit about Yoga Asana. Yoga ASANA is the part of Yoga that many people are most familiar with, the movement part. It’s the fitness crazed, lululemon-wearing-pretzel-bending-suburbanite-obsessed craze. It’s somewhat sadly funny to me that some of the most common things I’ve heard about Yoga are: “People who practice Yoga are snobs. Every Yoga teacher I’ve ever met is mean”. Legitimately a couple of crazy statements, that are at the very least, something to make ya go “hmmmmm”.
I’ve been an active Yoga Practitioner for well over a decade. I feel that statement in and of itself begets comparison and pretension. When I first started talking about Yoga, a cousin of mine said to me, “Well I’VE been practicing Yoga for OVER 30 years”. When I fell in love with Power Yoga, I really can’t count the number of times someone actually said to me “Well, THAT’S not REAL Yoga.” Oh okay, so you’re the definitive expert on that.
All of this chatter is of course each person’s perception. And really, all these perceptions are valid. However, what these sorts of absolutes do is alienate. And mind you, this blog, is simply one Yogi’s (or Yogini’s—-depending on who you ask) experience. And with that said, I will share the “kind” of Yoga that I teach, as well as practice.
Yoga is most often defined as having 8 limbs, or sections. Without attempting to get too deep into it (I would need much more time and space than this short blog), Yoga is a way of Life. Yoga Asana (or the postures) we are all familiar with, is the 4th limb of a Yogic Discipline; Yoga Asana’s intention is to bring our body back into a state of homeostasis, or balance. It’s also a life-long practice.
Baron Baptiste’s describes Yoga Asana as a sort of “moving meditation”. This has always resonated with me. When I practice Yoga Asana, I always close my eyes. I go inside and I “feel” the pose. My inside Self always knows the pose. IT knows when I can push myself and it knows when I can’t, or better yet, when I shouldn’t. This breath and movement allow me to ground myself in the present moment. The precise attention to how I am feeling in my body, helps to free me from the incessant and distracting mind chatter; chattering, observing, discerning is its job, so come on, let’s give the mind a break. OUR JOB as Yogis is to observe the mind.
Often when I talk of the mind to other Yogi’s there’s an knee-jerk impulse to define it. Yogi’s get down and dirty with offering our opinions! News flash: Yogi’s are not, levitating “om chanting” incense burning saints. Well okay, I do burn incense. Often, I’ll meet another Yogi, and immediately feel a ego bump: their ego bumping up against mine. ANY ONE active Yoga Practitioner who denies this inner conflict and battle is completely in denial. I can almost hear oh so many Yogi’s currently thinking “oh please, I don’t need YOU to tell ME what Yoga is!” Come on, admit it. The fact that I can admit this, or even recognize it, is part of the Yogic process.
The battle in ourselves, and with other egos, is the precise reason we NEED YOGA. Yoga in the Sanskrit definition means Yuj, or to Join with God. This joining allows us perspective and gives us Godlike presence. But it always fades, here comes the bumping again. This is why Yoga is a constant practice.
We come to Yoga like we come to life. We’re not born knowing how to walk, talk, or care for ourselves. We LEARN how. We’re taught (hopefully) by our parents, or a caring caregiver, or ourselves. Sometimes we learn ways to compensate or over-compensate. Sometimes this self-teaching results in injury. It’s very similar to Asana. We’re in a class, the teacher calls out a pose, a good teacher will remind us to ease into the pose, to listen to our body. Often we don’t listen to our body, we’re too busy trying to get to the end game—-or the full expression of the pose. Without body awareness, we risk injury. With body awareness, we minimize if not completely remove the injury risk.
Third Eye Wellness Yoga will help you find your way back to your body. Whether it’s attending a Yoga class, or standing in line at the grocery store—-through Yoga, you will learn the tools to rely on to maintain your focus on the present moment: the breath. And hey it may even get you ready to attend the most advanced Asana class with confidence. You know why? Because THAT’S Yoga. The ability to know that you are doing your very best, that you have the tools in your toolbox to build your own practice, on your terms, in your time.