Jan. 12, 2012 ~ The winds of Change, or are they?
Returning home from warm sunny CA I found Roanoke blustery as I listened to the chiming bells on my front porch and watched the neighbor's paper trash blow through my yard. Trees swayed back and forth, back and forth like a bear was climbing them. Tonight I listen to the pelting rain like tacks against my windows and I wonder, do things really change?
Yoga has changed. An Indian teacher visiting a local Yoga teacher training class lamented how Americans have ruined yoga by making it into competition. He said yoga was about listening to how your body feels.
This article came to my attention this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB
and I've read and re-read it, each time, wondering what are people thinking! The bottom line is, from the New York Times article, yes, you can hurt yourself doing yoga if you're not paying attention.
Yoga is about stilling the mind. Yoga is more about meditation than physical exercise. This article says yoga isn't for the general public and yet it can be therapeutic. Interesting! I personally think all yoga is therapeutic.
Often yoga teachers hurt themselves. Yes, that's also true. There are many reasons for this...overuse of the body...doing too much so that one is too flexible and then gets hurt. Or, a yoga teacher demonstrates a posture and comes out of it without awareness in order to hurry on so the class may practice.
At Kripalu Center in MA where I received my yoga teacher training, the emphasis is on noticing how your body feels. Your practice is based on that. You don't always practice the same poses. If you're feeling tired you might practice restorative postures, or instead back bends, to become more energized.
Yoga is NOT about competition. Yoga is about quieting the chatter in the mind that keeps one agitated. If you plan to practice head stand because everyone else, is or the teacher told you to, where is your inner voice? Where is your inner strength that you align with? What are you teaching yourself or learning about yourself?
Recently, a student of yoga advised me how she had hurt herself taking a class. She said she was doing too many squats, without enough warming up, and thought about it as she has a previous injury. Yet she continued the practice in this particular class and brought about a recurrence of the injury. The student questioned what she was doing, and yet continued to practice those squats, even going to the place of hearing a pop or a tear. Why did the student continue to do something she questioned and didn't feel warmed up enough for? Whose voice was she listening to?
We all do things, in yoga, that we think we can do. We all forget to listen to the body's cues. We need to return home to honoring the body's wisdom. If the body says it's had enough to eat or drink, we need to stop eating or drinking. If the body shares that it's tired, we need to go to bed. If the body tells us that we have reached our limit in a posture, we need to honor that information.
I think we all are responsible for our health and safety while practicing yoga. It's a joint effort. The student is responsible for paying attention to how he or she feels. The student needs to tell the teacher of any previous or current injuries that could impact the practice of yoga. The student needs to let the teacher know if a posture isn't working in his or her particular body. The teacher is responsible for reminding students not to hurt themselves. Teachers need to find a variation if a student cannot practice a particular pose.
I'm not perfect. I've been injured. I've told teachers when they're too forceful on me with their assists. I've asked teachers for advice and help with problems I've had. I do believe that yoga is not supposed to hurt you. I do believe that if it hurts you, you are not listening to yourself, your own inner wisdom. Or, you're not listening to the teacher. Or, you're trying to compete with yourself or someone else. Or, you're trying to show off. Really? Do we ever change from that adolescent who wants to look good in front of her or his peers?
Back to the NY Times article...it mentions Master Yoga Teacher BKS Iyengar asking students to crank their heads back in cobra pose. I believe and teach and practice with the neck in not so severe a position as he suggests, keeping the neck in "neutral". Shoulder stand with folded blanket under your elbows to shoulders so your head is lower on the floor to decrease the angle on the neck and weight on the neck and head? Absolutely! That's the Kripalu way.
So, if you would like to not hurt yourself while practicing yoga, I can get on board with you on that. My intention is to help you help yourself, not help you hurt yourself.
May we return home to our bodies, our selves, and quiet the mind, enjoying the peace and harmony that is yoga.
Namaste
Debbie
Happy New year! May a new outlook be yours this coming year.
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