If I were to ask you what yoga is, what would you say?
A workout that focuses on stretching? Moving meditation? Hard? Boring? Healing? Grounding? An exercise class? A breathing and relaxation class? Something that’s “woo”?
If any of these are anywhere near your answer, I would tell you that you are right. Yoga is so many things that it’s a lot easier for me to tell you what it isn’t than to bother telling you everything it is.
Yoga is not a competition
If you’re looking for a bootcamp, Tough Mudder, drill sergeant-type thing, this is not it. I’m not saying yoga isn’t hard. Good gracious, it can be very hard – mentally and physically.
That being said, it is not a competition, either with other people or with yourself. If the person next to you is nailing Tree Pose and you keep toppling over, it doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means your balance, strength, etc., are different than that person.
Not better or worse. Different. Get used to this idea.
If you could touch the ground in a forward fold yesterday and today you can’t reach your feet, that doesn’t mean you’re worse at yoga today than yesterday. All it means is your muscles and joints are feeling different today.
Not better or worse. Different.
Please do not push yourself to compete and ignore the messages your mind and body are giving you. This will lead to injury and that is not yoga.
Yoga is not harmful
Do no harm. Seriously. If something hurts, stop doing it. This is actually one of the first things you learn in teacher training.
In Sanskrit it’s called Ahimsa or Non-violence.
Do no harm to yourself mentally, emotionally or physically. Do no harm to others either inside your own head or directly to them.
Yoga is on and off the mat. On the mat this could mean being gracious with yourself when you struggle. It could mean paying attention to how you feel in a posture (or asana) and backing off if something hurts – even if it didn’t hurt the last 20 times you did the same thing.
Off the mat this might look like extending kindness to others regardless of whether they extend kindness to you. It could mean letting yourself off the hook when you didn’t get as many things done today as you felt you should.
Do no harm.
Yoga is not an expectation
Nope. No expectations here! This can be very difficult to really accept when the rest of your schooling, work, and exercise experiences have been full of expectations. Arrive on your mat, go from there. Heck, don’t arrive on your mat. Yoga is, again, on and off the mat, because it’s a philosophy in which the physical movements are meant to prepare you for the other mental/emotional stuff.
I like to tell people the story of getting home after a 10-hour travel day coming from Tahiti on a Friday, and then going to yoga on Saturday. I know I need to rest for a day after traveling like that, and yet I decided to ignore everything I know about myself and extended travel. I must rest for a day after getting home.
I felt great the morning of the class. Lots of energy. By the time I pulled out my yoga mat I was already drooping. 5 minutes into the class, pretty much after the initial meditation, I laid down, knees bent and tipped in toward each other, and stayed there. I would move a little here and there when I felt like it, following a flow or two, then I’d lie down again. Yes, I did fall asleep. No, I did not snore. Thank goodness.
After Savasana (the final resting pose) I sat up with the rest of the class, took nice deep breaths, and said Namaste.
As I rolled up my mat, no worse for wear, my teacher approached me with a smile and said, “I always know real yogis, because you know when to listen to your body.” My ego puffed a little at that, if I’m honest.
My point is: Whether you do a 2-hour advanced class like a rock star, or lie prone throughout an entire class, you are still doing yoga and there are no expectations of you doing anything other than what you need.
Yoga is not Buddhism
I’m throwing this one in here to do a quick course correction in case you thought yoga was a religion. Buddhism isn’t a religion either, but I understand that many people are not aware that it is in fact a philosophy. And, yoga is not a religion or Buddhism. It, too, is a philosophy. A really cool, really complex one once you get into it.
There is evidence that the man Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha (Awakened One in Sanskrit), did yoga. Meaning yoga was around before Buddhism.
Do with that what you will.
Yoga is what you need it to be
We are all different every day. Some days you’ll need a powerful practice that gets your blood pumping. Other days you’ll need something gentle and healing. Listen to what your mind and body tell you, not your ego. Take the classes that make sense for you, not the ones that make you look cool. Once in the class go at your pace, not anyone else’s.
Off the mat take everything you learn in yoga with you. Be mindful and in the moment. Be accepting. Be loving. Be honest.