The Right Attitude
Dear Friend,
I hope this email finds you well, enjoying the bright long days and the ease it which you can just leave the house without having to put on a few layers of clothing.
This month I want to discuss a topic that came up in a few conversation I had with different people in different occasions, which is how to face challenge in our practice in the "right" way. This is a really important topic that touches on different aspects of the teachings of yoga. It is also extra relevant these days as many yoga classes seem to be very fitness oriented, moving at high pace and aiming for a gym experience mixed with some new age spice.
Speaking from personal experience, I discovered years ago that there are a lot of benefits in challenging my body in particular ways when I do my yoga-asana practice. Some of which are creating internal heat, and also challenging range of motion, strength and stamina. When I come out of a practice that engages me in in this way I seem to feel the effects of yoga on a much deeper level, at the level of the tissues and nervous system, it also seems to have better effects on the mind. I tried in the past softer forms of yoga practice which have their own benefits, particularly when recovering from some injury or suffering from pain, or when we get older and the body naturally declines, but these approaches don't seem to go deep for someone like me who still feels young and able.
However, what really makes a stronger yoga practice effective and not harmful is the specific attitude in which we approach it which gives it a complete different quality than any other physical activity. If we come into the practice with even the slightest tendency to achieve a goal or overcome our "weaknesses", if we seek gratification from performing on the mat, or if we unconsciously (or consciously) compare ourselves to others or ourselves, we will find ourselves coming out of the practice with either physical or emotional tension that can have short or long term consequences.
These kinds of attitudes, very often subtle or hidden, can easily turn into ingrained habits in our practice that are very difficult to uproot. I have seen many yoga enthusiasts with big egos, constantly putting down other practitioners who don't fit their standards, feeling jealous or threatened by others, or going around self-aggrandizing repeatedly. These are all signs of people copy-pasting the same attitudes they had in other endeavors to yoga.
The biggest challenge in the practice, at least the way I see it, is facing physical or any other kind of difficulty with the right attitude. This "right" attitude can be quite complex and multi-facetted and is likely to require a process of adjustment and refinement before it becomes just "right". We may face a task in our practice, one that requires us to come close to our maximum range of motion, or bring our body to trembling from activating muscles that are about to overbear the load, we may feel that balancing on one leg, or one head, or even one arm is too much, we may even face the discomfort of sweating a lot, being short of breath, feeling fatigued. All these are very important moments that require close attention, although they could also be signs of us pushing ourselves too much. I'm not sure we want to get close to these states I described, the 80% magic spot is probably our best strategy in yoga.
It could be a good idea to remind ourselves when we step on the mat that yoga has long term plans for us, ones that lead to transformation at the deepest level - the level of mind, and eventually the level of consciousness. Everything we do on the mat should take us closer to the goals of yoga, to cultivating profound inner peace, clarity and wisdom, to liberating ourselves from being trapped in conditioned patters of thinking and reacting, and eventually to being free from all forms of unnecessary psychological suffering (dukkha) and realizing, from direct experience, who we truly are at the core
Yoga is primarily the art of living well, it is a method that leads one to maximizing the human potential of being truly happy and filled with unconditional eternal fulfillment.
How can we move forward on our yoga path when facing physical challenges on the mat?
It all starts from a shift of priorities, we need to be convinced that what we're actually looking for when we come to yoga is to be happy, and then to fully realize that true happiness can only be found internally and not externally, and that means that no physical achievement can lead to lasting happiness. When we come to realize that, we understand that what we really want is to pay attention to what comes up in our practice, how the body feels at that moment, what thoughts or emotions arise, how is the breath affecting us. Instead of being driven to achieve we become the witness of experience as it comes. We try to observe our self from a bit a afar so we can see things more clearly, less identified with the body and contents of the mind.
We start with the breath
In any moment of our practice we can pay attention to the breath, notice its texture and volume, how air coming in and out touches us on all levels. It affects how the body feels, whether we feel more energized or less so, whether we feel more soft or rigid, whether we feel more spacious or restricted. The flow of breath also affects our mood, our state of mind, the ease or difficulty in which we are able to let go of tension we hold in our body and mind. Most importantly it affects the quality of our attention, whether our mind is distracted or focused, spacing out lost in thoughts, or resting in receiving the vastness of the present moment as-such.
That's why the quality of breath is so important, we always want to slow it down, bring it to a steady rhythm, and make sure there is no struggle with breathing even at the slightest.
An act of kindness
We move through our practice, challenging our body with the exact level of intensity that is appropriate for us at that moment, not too much and not too little, keeping a clear intention of turning yoga into a practice of kindness towards ourselves and others. We give ourselves the gift of yoga so we can enjoy its benefits and become less toxic, more compassionate, less selfish and more loving, less stressful and more calming. We measure the progress we make in our practice by observing how others behave in our presence. Do we make others feel more at ease, more safe, more open and soft? Are we listening, allowing others around us be who they are, letting them express their essential nature without wanting to change them or expecting something in return?
Can we feel this internal shift that makes us truly want others to be happy just as we are? If so, yoga is working!
If you find yourself curious about these kinds of topics - join a workshop, a retreat, or any other event on offer.
Looking forward to sharing yoga with you in July.
Wishing everyone peace and happiness,
Oren
♡
Check out the entire Newsletter:
Comments