the Path...(the language of the mind)
Marco...?
Where are you...
in your practice,
your life?
Are you present,
content,
still in your heart?
Maybe you are scared to move out of a stagnant place, pose or person?
You don't have to see the whole path.
You just have to take the first step...
Asana practice is very external when you first begin...
where your foot is placed,
where the gaze is rested,
what you do with that flailing limb.
We watch our instructors with ardent fervor as we learn the names of poses, how to adjust the pinch in our backs or that aching knee.
But there is a background reel playing the entire time...)the brain doesn't work well with multitasking). So when the brains starts reminding you of your fears, your anxieties, your tension, your discomfort, your emotions...
well then,
quite frankly,
we misstep in our practice,
we fall,
we get hurt.
Mind, Body & Spirit
...with the slightest discomfort (mental or physical), embarassment arises or even self admonishment...
we back off...
from a pose, person...even a situation.
maybe...
we hover, helicopter, hesitate, over analyze, rationalize, reason, and explain away...
where we are and why,
give excuses...
maybe even blame others. (That is if we even realize there is a veil over our own personal truth)
Yoga isnt about defining your abs or whittling away you waistline. It is an offering and opportunity to study your self.
Do you like the pose or not?
Where does your mind wander while you are in a pose?
Why?
We must be "present" to do this...
It's amazing how all our unresolved issues seems to rise to the surface and steep there a while when we are too comfortable or even challenged with our asanas. Yoga offers a magnifying glass to those things we kick dirt over and blissfuly smile and pretend are not there. The things we change the subject off of, laugh nervously about or "look away" from.
I see it happen in my studio all the time...
First, there is a physical discomfort in a pose
(Maybe the mind is not present... it is planning dinner or revisiting an arguement so our alignment is off a bit).
I see a student's mind wander, so I offer a variation or prop to ease said discomfort.
(The student's ego says "What the hell? I never use props. I need to push harder or just not even try. My teacher thinks I'm slack").
I am worried about said student getting injured, so I adjust my sequence or pace.
(Then all the others students are affected by this decision)
Because the pace or pose is adjusted, said student may lose interest because the pose isn't "hard" enough or rationalize it is too hard.
Now there is even more opportunity to criticize ourselves, our teachers or others...
even ruminate, fester over or get angry.
This is a path for myself as well as my students.
Watching this mental progression across the mat from me is painful...
it is for any teacher.
True understanding of what yoga is,
is knowing we cannot lead a student through this, take it away or absolve it...
(as many beginning students and teachers for that matter, think they can).
We can only help shine a light in the darkest of places.
It is a path.
You must find it, uncover it, explore it,
and walk THRU it.
Alone...
(I WILL bring the tissues though!)
Ancient "yogis weren’t reading books to gain these understandings, they were reading their bodies and mind on the mat (and off)… not planning their child's birthday party or considering a "come to jesus" meeting with that pesky neighbor.
They then passed on everything they experienced, for later yogis like you and I to read all about – and then discover for ourselves on the yoga mat."