Inner IDEA:   The real purpose of practicing asanas is to learn about ourselves, not to achieve perfection.

For most of us, being content with what we have, who we are, what we do and what we look like is very challenging. We are flooded with images of people who are better-looking, have more wealth or are better at doing something than we are. And it will always be that way. We can’t control how beautiful, successful or talented others are. What we can do is avoid comparison—and practice contentment with who we are. For those of us who study yoga, that includes contentment with our asana practice and with our physical limitations.

Lao Tzu, the great sage who wrote the Tao Te Ching, calls contentment “the greatest treasure.” Patanjali Maharishi, author of The Yoga Sutras, a collection of 200 sutras on the teachings of yoga, lists contentment (“santosha”) as one of the qualities we should aspire to attain. In Sutra 2.32, Patanjali says, “By contentment, supreme joy is gained.”  Being content means being as we are without looking to external things for our happiness.

How often do we catch ourselves complaining about how we look or feel or how poorly we think we’re doing in our yoga practice? How often are we frustrated when our bodies won’t bend the way we think they should? Let’s be honest: How chronic is our need to be different from the way we are?

In hatha yoga, we have a wonderful opportunity to practice contentment. However, many people use yoga as a way to compete with others or to drive themselves to achieve their ideas of perfection. Open a yoga magazine or any book on yoga, and you’ll see perfect bodies pictured in perfect yoga asanas, or positions.  I often ask my students, “Why do you think these people were chosen to be photographed?” The answer is simple: They were good at it! It is a shame that even in the practice of yoga, rooted in the yamas (restraints or don’ts) and niyamas (observances or dos), we are still held to the often unattainable goal of achieving perfect form.

Of course we like to be good students and we don’t want to be lazy, but comparing ourselves negatively with others and obsessing about what we think is wrong with us is not good practice—it simply reinforces our discontent. The true purpose of doing asanas is to learn about ourselves and understand the very real physical reasons for our own individual expressions of poses. Ultimately, as we learn to be content with our bodies we can become more aware of our spiritual nature and our reason for being here: to serve.

The sciences of human anatomy, biomechanics and neurophysiology have given us multiple reasons why it is impossible for everyone to achieve the same positions in yoga. A number of these reasons are genetic! For example, some people are naturally thin or are born with lots of joint play. Such qualities come from having specific parents, not from years of yoga.

What if you were born with a femoral head that did not allow for much contact surface in the acetabulum (the rounded cavity of the pelvis that receives the head of the femur to form the hip joint)?  A pose like lotus, or padmasana, could be physically impossible for you to accomplish without destroying your hip or associated knee joint. Without this information, you might practice and practice to achieve that position—but succeed only in lessening your given range of motion by going against your normal function.

In yoga, our abilities to achieve certain poses are limited by many factors other than physical traits received at birth. In response to overuse, injury, stress or trauma (either physical or emotional), the body tightens up to avoid entering ranges it cannot control. We must respect this, as our nervous system knows everything that is going on within us at any moment. The body does not make mistakes. All we can do is be content with whatever range we have today.  Many injuries are brought about when we decide to go against our bodies and push just a little harder than they can go. If a position we are working with is not one we practice in our life, we can expect our ability to be limited.

Muscles are supposed to retain a certain amount of stiffness to maintain joint integrity.  Also, they are always under some tension.  Muscles adjust their length based on need, to deal with the forces placed on our joints.  Many athletes participate in activities that require repetitive joint motions under a specific force.  Their tissues adapt to this stimulus, adjusting in length and stiffness to do what is demanded of them most of the time. We cannot expect avid runners or cyclists to be especially flexible in yoga terms.  For the activities they have chosen, why would they need to be?

Also, as we get older many influences—including heredity, environment, culture, diet, exercise, leisure activities and past illnesses—affect how we age.  Our cells begin to die faster than they are replaced.  Connective tissue gradually stiffens. Organs, blood vessels and airways become more rigid.  Changes in the muscle tissue, combined with normal aging changes in the nervous system, cause muscles to have less tone and less ability to contract. They may become rigid with age and lose tone, even with regular exercise.   Since we are all aging, we can certainly benefit from practicing contentment with natural changes that take place, while working every day to be healthy.

David Swenson, one of my teachers, says, “The real yoga, you can’t even see.”

Think of two students attempting bow pose, or danurasana. This pose is done in a prone position, with both knees in flexion and both hips in extension. The pose requires trunk extension, scapular retraction and depression, and glenohumeral extension so you can grab the feet and ankles while looking upwards.

Now imagine the two students practicing side by side in a class. Both find that they can’t grab the feet in bow pose. One student quickly throws one arm back to grab the right foot and then repeats the action with the left foot.  His breath is labored and his face is flushed, but he is “in the pose.”  The other student, who has also noticed that he cannot reach his feet today, decides to rest his arms by his side and work to maintain a position of extension in the shoulders, trunk and hips with his knees in flexion. Technically, he is not “in the pose,” but he is the student who is really doing yoga. He is observing his range and where his body is today, and he is allowing himself to modify the pose.  He is learning about patience, acceptance and contentment.

T.K.V. Desikachar, developer of Viniyoga, which tailors the practice to each student’s unique condition, says, “If we want to make this principle of asana practice a reality, we have to accept ourselves just as we are. If we have a stiff back, we have to acknowledge this fact.”  Desikachar also reminds us, “If we do not succeed in maintaining a gentle, even, quiet sound (breath), then we have gone beyond our limits in the practice.”

Can we learn to fall in love with who we are?  This includes our lives, our bodies, and our dharma, or purpose.  Practicing with contentment teaches us that we really do have everything we need right here, right now.  When we are constantly focused on what we don’t have, we only get more of what we don’t have! If most of our thoughts center on not being thin enough, not being strong enough, not being attractive or rich enough, we will continue to experience lack in our lives.  Shifting into a vibration of thankfulness changes that.

Let’s learn to recognize and honor our limitations, rather than push past them. Let’s remind ourselves—at the start of our practice and during it—that what is currently happening is perfect, even if we are not as strong as we were yesterday.  Then let’s feel proud of our accomplishments and be thankful for all of the wonderful things that we have.

Look around you and see what you have to be content with right here in this moment. Focus on that and watch your stress levels drop and your mood start to lift.

Lauren Eirk

IDEA Author/Presenter

Lauren Eirk, MS, MATm, RTSm, E-RYT 500

© 2012 by IDEA Health & Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

Comments about Ewing’s Quote:

“The best way to persuade someone to your point of view is to prove it.  While others talk about why something can’t be done, leave them alone with their fault-finding and just go out and show them wrong.  This strategy of action works to battle self-criticism too.  You may have been born with the confidence to face any challenge, but most of us start off feeling like there’s nothing we can do.  You can do more than you think, but if you never try to prove it, you’ll never convince yourself of that fact.  Experience is the best teacher around.  It’s also the best confidence builder.  The more you do, the more obstacles you overcome, the more you realize that anything is possible.  When faced with the unknown, it’s a great feeling to know that no matter what happens, you can handle it and find a solution.”

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/quotes_translation.asp?id=132

Why We Should All Remain Yoga Beginners

 

I am often asked what it takes to be a yoga teacher. What is sufficient training and how do you know when you are ready to teach. These are the right questions for anyone seriously thinking of teaching yoga. Unfortunately, there are no ready-made answers because teaching is an organic process. For most yoga teachers, the decision to teach is a natural extension of having first been a student.

Today it is popular to hear that a good teacher is an eternal student. Is being a student enough, however? BKS Iyengar, one of the great masters of yoga, says he is a student, a teacher, a philosopher and an artist, but above all he is a beginner. How humbling! How many people are beginners? Most of us want to be an expert. Yet a beginner is more open, accessible and teachable. Beginners possess a fresh mind that does not compare and contrast. Iyengar also states that teachers should let their students know they are learning (The Tree of Yoga).

1. Set an Example

I have been fortunate to have a teacher who clearly demonstrates the attitude that Iyengar recommends. My teacher is not ashamed to say he is a beginner. He once told me he learned more from his students than the students themselves. I remember thinking, “How ironic. Here we are in India to study yoga and he acts like a humble servant.” This kind of thinking clearly pinpoints the laundry list of projections and expectations we often bring to our teachers. Sometimes we fail to remember our teacher was and is a student; like us a beginner learning.

Learning yoga is not much different than an actor being handed a new script. In theatre school, I learned my craft was a work in progress. It did not matter what role I was playing but in learning to be open to new information and insights.

2. Have the strength and courage

A challenging catch-22 lies in being a student while that of a teacher. How do we stand in front of our students as a student? A yoga teacher told me she feared losing respect if she was less flexible than her students. At the same time, she also expressed feeling superior to her students. It is not a good excuse to find yourself justifying your ability against your student’s evolution. It takes strength to face our own defaults and continue to teach, as well as to practice, with our fears.

On the flip side, it is understandable because students judge your ability.  When I learned the jumps of Ashtanga yoga I was always falling down. With rug burns on my shoulder a student remarked, “Even the great one falls.” She was being facetious but I felt ashamed at my progress and it hurt my pride. The beginner’s way, however, is this way: falling, getting up and falling down. Being true to Iyengar’s advice requires courage both as a teacher and a student.

3. Remain a Beginner

I am grateful to my teacher not only for being a student but a person who humbles himself to the art of yoga and strives to serve others through it. A beginner does not have the hang-ups the expert carries. What I mean by this is the way my teacher pointed out my defaults. I have grunted, moaned and collapsed in many directions while learning new postures. I finally concluded to my teacher that my lack of progress must be because of my tight hips.

He looked at me, smiled and said, “It is not your hips but your mind. You need to be a beginner again.”

We can make the mistake in thinking the main obstacle is the body, but the ancient texts of yoga say the opposite. In other words, it is not the body standing in the way, but the attitudes, expectations and motivations we possess. It is similar to what the Thai Buddhist monk Ajahn Chah taught in how moving a mountain was easier than altering one’s perception of self or personal view (Everything Arises, Everything Fades Away, 2005).

In this light, being a student is perhaps easier than remaining a beginner of yoga.

 

Published  June 1, 2012 at 1:00 PM

7 Simple Ways to Cultivate Happiness

By Erica Trestyn

“Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you’re right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body” ~ Abraham

We all want to feel happy. Call it bliss. Call it joy. Call it nirvana. We can cultivate happiness by asking ourselves what nourishes us? What brings us joy? What makes us feel alive?

I have recently become enlightened. I am enlightened because I am aware. I aware that I create my own destiny. I am aware that my mind, body, & spirit are deeply connected. I am aware that I can cultivate better relationships in my life by cultivating the one with myself first. I am aware that in order to gain a true sense of self I need to love and accept myself. Love and acceptance is the key to obtaining true enlightenment. Here are some simple steps to get there.

1. Eat and Drink Healthy

By now we all know how important it is to eat our fruits and vegetables, eat whole grains, and drink plenty of water, but what if I told you that the more healthy you eat the happier you become. Vegetables and fruits are filled with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, phytonutrients, and even help protect us against cancer and stroke. Dark leafy vegetables have also been proven to improve our moods and make us feel lighter. When you begin to incorporate these foods into your daily diet, and slowly eliminate any processed toxic chemicals from your system you will begin to develop an inner glow.

2. Move Your Body

We all know the importance of exercise. It helps us lose weight, increases our energy, decreases stress, enhances our immune system, and helps protect us against heart disease and cancer. It also helps improve our mood.  The “adrenal rush” one often gets when they workout is from the body’s release of endorphins. Not too mention how good you feel from looking better in your body. I know that after I have a really great workout, whether it’s a spin class or yoga class, I always feel “blissed out”.

3. Practice Mindfulness

“The Practice of being fully present in each moment is called mindfulness”~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Being mindful means being present. If we practice mindfulness in everything that we do then we can achieve true joy. That means being mindful in the steps we take. Being mindful in our relationship with others. Being mindful in our relationship with nature. Being mindful in the food we eat. Being mindful in the work we practice. Being mindful of all that we have and all that we are.

4. Practice Generosity

The more happiness you want to feel the more generous you should be with others. When we are generous with our time, energy, or even money, the better we feel on the inside. The better you feel on the inside, the happier you will be. Practice generosity with others by doing some volunteer work, help a blind person cross the street, buy a homeless person something to eat. When we see how our generosity impacts others it can be a very powerful and rewarding experience. Start practicing generosity. Begin with yourself.

5. Practice Patience

Practice patience. Start with yourself. Do you rush everywhere you go, never stopping to appreciate your surroundings? Do you get frustrated when things don’t go the way you expect them to? Do you take time to enjoy your food? Do you feel you never have enough time in the day to accomplish all that is on your “to do list”? Being patient means being understanding. Being patient means slowing down and appreciating. Appreciating your breath, your heart, your smile, your relationships, your work, and your successes. Being patient means being happy.

6. Focus On The Positive

Daily practices of gratitude are a proven psychology to achieving more happiness. Accessing our mind and consciousness is a powerful tool in cultivating happiness. When we can change our negative thoughts and belief patterns into positive intentions they begin to disappear. Focusing on the positive makes more space for happiness. Start a daily gratitude practice by making a list of all that you are grateful for. Start with at least three things. Increase your list everyday even if you are repeating the same ones. I like to do this at the end of my day and reflect on what I have accomplished.

7. Love and Accept Yourself

This one may seem fairly obvious, but I ask you: how do you love and take care of yourself? Do you practice all of the things I just talked about, or do you never have enough time in the day? If we can’t love and accept ourselves for exactly as we are, then how can we expect others too? Usually the way we think others see us is exactly the way we see ourselves. Do you judge yourself and always assume the worst. How has that been working for you so far? Why not try it the other way around. How do you want others to see you? That is what you need to cultivate for yourself.

I hope you are beginning to sense a pattern here, the more we take care of ourselves and those around us, the happier we become. Accessing our consciousness is a powerful tool in cultivating happiness. Start being mindful. Slow down and appreciate your surroundings. Practice generosity with strangers and loved ones. Be grateful for all that you are and all that you have. Most important remember that it all starts with you. The more you nourish yourself from the inside out, the more happiness you cultivate.

Published  June 7, 2012 at 10:50 AM

About Erica Trestyn

When I healed myself from morbid obesity and lost over 150 pounds I transformed my life. My story is my truth.  I speak my truth by inspiring others to change their health and lifestyle. After a career as a New York City public school art teacher for 6 years I enrolled in the Institute For Integrative Nutrition in 2012 and received my certification as a Holistic Health Coach. This allowed me to pursue my passion for educating others about health and wellness. Everyday I strive to cultivate more joy, peace, and love into my life by empowering others to nourish themselves. I am the founder and owner of Cultivate Nourishment LLC.  Please check out my website for more information about my services and me.

Welcome To The Yoga IS Blog!

This Blog contains interesting news and updates about our classes, teacher training, teachers, students, plus all kinds of cutting-edge information about Yoga, health, and the mind-body connection.  This blog is continuously updated as a resource to help others be informed about about what we stand for as a yoga teacher training school and studio.  Our audience includes Yoga Teachers, Health Professionals, Personal Trainers, Yoga & Fitness Enthusiasts, as well as anyone with an interest in the fastest growing field in America.  Feel free to ask questions, post your responses, and forward to your contacts if anything interests you!

Namaste!

Yoga IS