Change: Yes We Can!
What I love about teaching Yoga is that everybody who walks into my classes is wanting change. Some want more flexibility and core strength, others less back pain and stress and most people want more energy, peace and fulfillment in life.
But, change is not always easy. We have deep rooted habits in our muscles from years of abuse, misuse or neglect. And some of our habits in our bodies we have even inherited from our mothers and forefathers. Personally, I have had the honor to inherit bowlegs and a weak heart from both my mother and father!!
As a teacher I can give weekly guidance towards balance, but true change will only happen on the yoga mat at home.
Kriya Yoga – Yoga of Action - The Yoga Sutra 1-14 says for change to happen we need Tapas, Svadhyaya, Isvara Pranidhana or … Discipline, Reflection and Devotion.
Tapas means Discipline, which comes from the word disciple, a trainee. As Yoga practitioners we are Yogis in training towards “wholeness, inner peace and ultimate freedom” (B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life).
Quick Fix - So students come into my classes eagerly wanting change, but they often expect a quick fix and magic solutions. Unfortunately changes in Yoga don’t always happen fast. Sometimes students tell me discouragingly that they have been doing the hamstring stretches for a week daily, but no change! Or they have practiced the yoga poses for 2 weeks, but the back still hurts. And some people express with frustration that they can’t do Chataranga Dandasana (yogic push up), Crazy Dog or Full Arm Balance. And when I ask them if they practice these poses at home they answer, once a week or once in a blue moon but with no success.
Prolonged, Uninterrupted Practice with Enthusiasm -
Yoga Sutra 1-14 says for change to happen the Yoga practice also needs to be prolonged and uninterrupted. Scientifically we need to train a muscle for a minimum of 3x/week for 28 days to create an internal change from the brain via nerves, synapses, neurotransmitters and to the muscles. A weekly class, or external therapy, can give us a weekly fix and temporary relief, but often not an internal long lasting change.
Twenty plus years ago, I hurt my back from a fall skiing. I was flat on my back for a week. Gradually I healed my back solely with Gentle Yoga poses. And within 6 months I was back doing advance Yoga, dropping over backwards from Head Balance. A physical therapy friend told me that after you have a bad back it will always return. And I think she’s right, if you have gotten relief “externally” with various therapies. But, when you practice the Yoga poses internally you can create change from within with a new, positive memory in the nervous system. My back has been great since (knock-knock), except for a sledding accident 4 years ago, which I recovered from in a few weeks.
Enthusiasm - So, our practice needs to be prolonged and uninterrupted, but we also need enthusiasm on our journey. And how do we cultivate enthusiasm?? In Iyengar Yoga we take small gradual steps, modifying the classical poses using belts, bocks and blankets to give positive and safe experiences. The gradual steps of success cultivate faith, courage and enthusiasm. I.e. if you can’t do the Crazy Dog, build strength and flexibility gradually daily with the Dog pose, Plank pose and Side Plank and see what will happen in a month…
But, the enthusiasm in our practice can also be “chilled and killed” if we practice with a sense of duty, with “shoulds and have-tos.” Yoga is not a discipline from our head driven by expectation of how things should be. Instead, Yoga is a discipline from our hearts, and an internal commitment to give care daily to our body and being.
B.K.S Iyengar says in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
“Yoga can cure or lessen our physical, mental, moral and spiritual suffering. Perfection and success are certain only if one practices with love and whole-hearted dedication.”
Silence - Yoga is also a discipline for the mind, to train our busy monkey mind into moments of silence. And it is only in the quiet space between two thoughts that we can connect with our inner wisdom, that knows wholeness, inner peace and ultimate freedom on our journey through life.
Svadhyaya – Reflection - So, yoga is a discipline to train our body and mind. But, it’s not a mechanical discipline, but a mindful practice nourished by reflection, awareness and curiosity. Instead of doing the Yoga poses mechanically, thinking about our grocery list or looking at our neighbors, we tune in deeply with curiosity, exploring the sensations inside our body moment by moment, “Where am I tense, or tight today, weak or dull, what are my true needs, and abilities, and how can I find balance and my happy edge right now?"
Svadhaya is also a reflection on where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. A few weeks ago I got a little saying in the mail: “Tomorrow’s body starts today.” So, what we do today, will effect tomorrow.
But, what is my pure intention in doing Yoga? Am I practicing to feed my ego, or am I devoting the energy I have gained through yoga to help others? The saying on my teabag the other day told me: "Uplift everybody, uplift yourself."
Isvara Pranidhana – Devotion
Isvara - means divinity, the innate intelligence inside us always seeking harmony.
Pranidhana - means to surrender to the divinity inside us, and in all beings.
The sound of “Aum” that we often start class with – is the sound of the omnipresence, the innate intelligence in us; reminding us to connect with our inner wisdom in our practice. And when we say “Namaste,” at the end of each class it means “the divinity in me honors the divinity in you;” a way to give respect and care to others.
Kleshas – Obstacles - Unfortunately the journey through life and transformation is not always smooth, and there are often many bumps and obstacles on the road. Yoga Sutra 1-30 explains some of the obstacles: disease, mental inertia, doubts, carelessness, laziness, sensual cravings, illusions, lack of perseverance, and restlessness.
And Sutra 11-3 give us a few more obstacles… ignorance, egoism, attachment to pleasures, aversion to pain, and clinging to our bodily life!! We have all experienced one or more of these “obstacles” on the Yoga mat or on the way to the mat. We can succumb to the obstacles with hopelessness or grow from them. Obstacles are tools for growth!
Swami Satchidananda says in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:
“Remember, Yoga practice is like an obstacle race; many obstructions are purposely put on the way for us to pass through. They are there to make us understand and express our own capacities. We all have that strength, but we don’t seem to know it. We seem to need to be challenged and tested in order to understand our own capacities. In fact, that is the natural law. If a river just flows easily, the water in the river does not express its power. But, once you put an obstacle to the flow by constructing a dam, then you can see its strength in the form of tremendous electrical power.”
So, how can we move through the obstacles and tap into our inner power? We take small steps forward, with faith, courage, love, and wholehearted dedication.
And change, Yes, we can. We can change habits of exercise, diet, rest, work, relationships and attitudes for the better. And, we can also create a change in the world. We are facing big obstacles and challenges in our world today – we can either fall into hopelessness or we can move forward and change for the better with new, healthy priorities.
Namaste
Kleshas - Our Yoga Northwest instructors have generously shared their experiences with various obstacles in their Yoga practice and how they have created a positive change:
Katie
When asked to write about an obstacle to my yoga practice, my initial response was, “just one?” My favorite part of yoga is the always present opportunity for growth and challenge, both physical and emotional. While my physical injuries have come, gone, and lingered; and my emotions have churned and settled, the one major obstacle to my practice has been and continues to be just simply getting on my mat.
On any day, my mind can supply me with at least 10 activities more important or more enticing than attending to my yoga practice. My excuses vary, but never fail. I’m either too hungry or too full, I often have too many things to do, sometimes I’m uninspired, and sometimes, I’d just rather spend time with my friends or husband. And yet, it never fails that once I begin to quite my mind, deepen my breath, and ease my body into the yoga postures I am totally content.
So a question I always work with is how can my life support my yoga practice? Because experience has taught me that a regular yoga practice supports my life. Some simple answers that I’ve discovered are: Start early; do yoga before the day’s inevitabilities take over. Create a yoga space; keep it clean, clutter, and distraction free. Schedule time in your week to practice, don’t assume that you will just find it. Seek inspiration; find teachers and books that make you want to explore more. And, most importantly be firm and kind in your commitment, sometimes going for a walk with a friend is the yoga practice that you need that day.
Charlotte
It’s often a fine line between the forces that help us and the forces that hinder us. One of the kleshas that affects me on and off the mat is the disturbance, the force, the human condition of ego.
The ego is a necessary tool that helps us to distinguish ourselves from the world around us. While its existance allows me to set goals, progress forward, and experience “successes” in life, it also keeps me constantly aware of the appearance of acheivement and failure.
My biggest obstacle is the ego-driven fear of this failure, also known as an attachment to perfection. Sometimes it spurs in me a thirst to practice, but sometimes it hinders me from exploring challanging poses. Will I fall over in my headstand? Can I hold the standing poses as long as everyone else? Will my mentors evaluate my poses with criticism or praise?
So it continues to be my practice to DO regardless of the outcome, to give my energy generously, to accept feedback with grace. To remind myself that my yoga is deeper than that which is reflected back to me by others.
Meg
What are the things that could potentially cause my practice to suffer on any given day? Lack of sleep, lack of attention, heavy period, sick, too much to do, poor scheduling, last minute things that come up, and the list could go on and on. So with those looming excuses which could easily creep into my everyday vocabulary, how do I manage a nearly unwavering daily practice? It’s quite a question, and truly, I am floored when I take a moment to consider how lucky I am to have a practice at all! For me, the question has become, how could I not have a daily practice? How on earth would I be able to manage my life - emotional challenges, relationship challenges, work stress, financial stress, etc - without having this signal method to balance my body and my heart. I nearly always begin my practice with a restorative pose, not necessarily a classical “restorative”, but a supine or inverted pose which allows me to draw any restlessness, agitation, fear or even skepticism about practicing itself, into a clear place of focus
where I can then make an informed choice. Informed, because the few minutes I spend in that first asana remind me of how important it is to slow down and
listen. Whether I am listening to the final gurgle of my belly as it surrenders into relaxation or to the electric hum of my thoughts pulsing through my nerves and my muscles, most of these signals are sounding the same message - slow down and listen, slow down and feel, take your time to respond to the world around you with utmost sensitivity and care! Of course, that practice starts right within your own body, within your own shell, and perhaps asana is just one way of honing that sensitivity on a daily basis. Even if this first pose may be my only restorative pose of that day, it helps me set the tone to practice each pose with that same degree of sensitivity and willingness.
Lauron
Patanjali in the yoga sutras says that the root source of all obstacles and suffering is from the lack of knowledge. And Ingela reminds us that obstacles are tools for growth.
A year and a half ago my yoga practice had a new obstacle after I strained my wrist after a clumsy fall from bicycling. It started out as a physical problem I had strained my writing hand and had little movement in my wrist.
Before this accident I loved doing full arm balances and fancy poses on my hands. It gave me a sense of confidence and freedom. This physical injury created a mental obstacle as I felt unconfident, powerless and clumsy as any weight on my wrist would cause great pain and instability.
It was humbling. I had to back off and take deeper care and sensitivity in my practice. I had to relearn how to use my wrist and in doing so I reflect back and see that I was practicing full arm balances and all the fancy poses that used to be easy on my wrists to feed my ego instead of a practice that fed my soul.
From this obstacle now I can share my new awareness and insight to others with wrist injuries.
Denise
One of the biggest challenges in my asana practice is keeping my low back strong and healthy. I know where I’m tight—my hip flexors—and I know where I’m flexible—my long spine—so my work is to practice poses like Supta Virasana to open my hips while strengthening my back in poses like Halasana. But do I want to? Do I enjoy this challenge? Not always. Two obstacles interfere: I attach to ideas of how I think I “should” be, and I feel aversion to the reality of how things are.
What sometimes helps is a memory. I remember the back pain I used to get, pain that once gripped me as I stood in front of a classroom, writing on a whiteboard. I remember thinking, “Uh oh,” because I couldn’t lower my arm or turn around. I was stuck. Through my yoga practice I have discovered what my back needs. Some days I feel 100% and other times an echo of that old tenderness resurfaces. My ego, itself a looming obstacle, might prefer to identify with my best back bending moments, but when that just isn’t my reality, I remind myself of how far I’ve come, of what’s possible, and I get back to work, gently.
William
The flow of my asana practice can go well over months with a good spectrum of poses. Then fate or folly will create a strain or injury that will impose new limits on my asana practice. My path of action, karma, collides with dharma, adding to my pain (dukha).
Pain can be such a global phenomenon effecting psyche and soma. Avidya is ignorance: which signals did I miss that may better guide me to create and sustain balance, space and freedom? Not knowing this can set up doubt and confusion (samsaya) about how to trust my body. When I shrink from the pain this expresses aversion (devsa) and can lead to avoiding contact with the pain, or the source of the pain, or the actions that evoked or caused the pain, even to avoiding some asanas. Retreat can be defeat.
I have learned how essential it is to train while in pain. I learn and benefit from an asana practice that is more frequent, less intense, and with simpler poses. The hatha yoga dance is one of effort and letting go. Clarity and understanding of my body-being just as it is becomes more accessible in the reflection of the moon-wise energy of soft, steady exhalations. Trust and let go.