I often hear that yoga will make you a better version of yourself. This is supposed to be positive but is becoming a better bitch, jerk,womanizer, racist etc a good thing?
The part that gets "better" & stronger is usually the ego. All our roles and titles are a part of an image that we have built for ourselves called the ego. The screen on which the ego's movie is played is consciousness. Consciousness does not get better or worse. It is what is hidden behind the self imposed roles & titles we have picked up. The real you watches all. The purpose of yoga is to still the mind enough to make us aware of pure consciousness.
When we came into this existence, we essentially agreed to play dress up. When a child plays pretend, they put on a pointy black hat and become a witch then a few minutes later they change into a pink poofy dress & becomes a princess. The roles we choose and our self image are a sophisticated version of this game. Branding ourselves like Oprah Winfrey or taking on the title of teacher, mother, bitch or jerk, opens us up to different opportunities and experiences. Role playing is a fun, exciting, & enjoyable part of human experience. It is how we play with life here on earth. It only becomes an issue when the game of pretend gets so complex and vivid that we soon forget that it is not real & that the princess costume can actually come off.
When a person is fully connected to their ego, they don't see the separation between the hand moving the chess pieces and the chess pieces themselves. They can only relate to their body and the roles. So when they become a better version of something, it is a better version of what they believe themselves to be which may not necessarily be good.
Yoga teaches us that who we think we are doesn't matter. Everyone is pure consciousness. Some people refer to it as the energy that cannot be destroyed. Some say the soul. Some say the God within us. If we can reconnect to the pure consiousness, all the roles that are destructive to ourselves and others will fall away. Our past no longer binds us and the future no longer concerns us. We can play dress up freely while knowing that it is not truly us and we can take off the custom with no fear of what is underneath.
Many yoga studios, classes and styles have been built on the belief that you don't have to study the spiritual side of yoga. That by physical practice, the student eventually will want to know more & will intrinsically turn inward. This belief may have been birthed from Ashtanga. It is commonly believed that Pattabhi Jois taught this and many modern westernized forms of yoga are based on it. What if this is not true & just a misunderstanding birthed from Jois's limited English?
I have always postulated that Pattabhi Jois would have taught more philsophy and theory if his English would have been better. An interesting artcle released from one of his earlier students seems to suppor this. Below is an excerpt from, Reflections on "Guruji: A Portrait"-Interview with Elise Espat- Part I.
When I arrived in Mysore in the early '90s Guruji used to give regular theory classes, but his ability to communicate was often thwarted by language problems.
Guruji spoke a little English but he had a strong accent which was often hard for English speakers to understand and mostly impossible to understand for non-native English speakers when he started to talk about philosophy.
In the first few years I was there, there were 15-20 students at his theory classes. We were French, German, English, American, Dutch, Swiss… a jumble of languages with varying limitations on the grasp of Guruji's broken English and Sanskrit. So his efforts were often mired in frustration. I felt for him (and for myself - I was also frustrated we were unable to learn more from him in this forum).
There were also increasing numbers of students who did not want to think too deeply. For them being in India with Guruji was perhaps a bit of a lark and not an opportunity to absorb the fullness of what he had to offer. Often they turned Guruji's theory classes into a bit of a circus.
Guruji was a scholar and had the desire to share the gems of the Upanishads or the Yoga Sutra with his students, but as time went by, the quality of the interest was often brought down to a lowest common denominator by questions such as "Guruji, what is the best kind of yoga clothing or mat to use?" or other perhaps important, yet mundane subjects.
In the end Guruji would often shake his head in frustration and resignation and say "You don't understand! Just do your practice and all is coming!" This was accepted by increasing numbers as a motto, and for some, as an invitation not to question any deeper. But I felt it was said in the context of frustration that direct teaching through the mind was not possible.
According to this article, it was frustration that led Guruji to drop the philosophy. I have also taken workshops from Guruji's earlier students that support that he did have these types of conversations and they were dropped later.
Recently Gregor Maehle, arthor of two popular Asthanga books,
"much of todays Ashtanga Vinyasa culture is lost in physical prowess, acrobatics and athleticism. Don’t get me wrong, I do practice asana (posture) daily (including Advanced A if my body let’s me) but after practising one form or aspect of yoga or another for over three decades I feel that asana makes up about only 20% of yoga total. Now the belief that you actually get to the other 80% merely by practising asana I consider a myth. In my practice life I found that you get to the other 80% by practising them.
Another myth of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga that I would like to dissect is the belief that any practitioner, if they only would practise enough, could progress through to the Intermediate and Advanced series and from there straight into yoga heaven. After having taught thousands of students including being able to observe their progress I have to say that the single greatest determinant factor of your progress is your genetic make-up (including shape and articulation of your bones) followed by the age with which you start (the younger the faster the progress). Only after those two factors come things like the frequency of your practise and your ability to technically improving your practise either through your own insight or input from your teacher. Additionally the practitioners that look the most flexible are often not even the most healthy as there flexibility is often linked to ligamentous laxity deriving from a liver and metabolic imbalance. Often these very flexible people have greater instability problems later on and their flexibility represents imbalance.
Through my 10 years of practicing and my 4 years of teaching, I am starting to see this as so. As more and more people come to studio just for a workout, I have been discouraged from speaking about the higher limbs of yoga in my classes. I am told that, "The students just want to move. They are not there to hear you talk. They will naturally progress to the other limbs on their own." I bought into it because I am an Ashtangi and Ashtanga classes are not about theory. After all, I did started to study yoga philosophy on my own, so it must be true, right?
However when I started to look back on my years of practice, my most influential teachers managed to get some philsophy into a highly physical practice. My first Ashtanga teacher, Adele Gail, used to always so "Yoga chitti Vrritti Nirodha, yoga is the cessations of the fluctuations of the mind". While I was attempting to bind or stand on my head, these words were sinking into my mind. If it wasn't for her and many other teachers, giving little nuggets of yoga philosophy throughout class, I am not sure if I ever would have seen my practice as more then exercises that help me with stress and focus.
For this conversation, over the years, I have taught two different classes. These are Strictly physical & Physical with philosophy thrown in. The Strictly Physical group usually stays that way. Their yoga evolution usually takes them to harder more intense forms of physical yoga. The group that gets a little bit of philosophy either heads down the intensely more physical path because the philosophy is not for them or they continue wanting classes that include philosophy and eschew classes based on physicality alone.
Don't get me wrong, if people want to teach and take yoga just from a physical standpoint, it is fine. There are still alot of benefits to be gained. I am also not saying that I will starting incorporating sutras into all my current classes either. However, the argument that a strictly physical class will take you into the spiritual realms of yoga is a little flawed. I know yoga teachers who just call out poses and talk about anatomy and alignment. They barely talk about breath & they would never quote from the sutras. It is hard for me to believe that if the average student looking for a good workout only took from that person, that they would eventually start asking questions about the other limbs.
The idea that Guruji felt that physical practice is enough, which actually may not be true, may have set the foundations for our strong physical yoga culture today. It let teachers, studios and wanna be yoga Gurus off the hook. Filling up a studio or class with the same rhetoric you would use to fill a gym aerobics class is much easier then getting students to listen to you talk about the sutras. Is it a coincidence that once Guruji went more towards the physical side that Ashtanga took off? Reading the book, Guruji or talking to his older students will reveal that his classes were extremely small in the beginnings. Now Mysore is so packed that people are now doubting if there is any real benefit to going. I am no Ashtanga scholar. As a matter of fact, I have never been to Mysore to study with him, Sharath or Saraswati. I am however an avid scholar of yoga. What do you think? Weigh in below.
I have written about this ad nauseum, but after the whole Anusara Yoga Wiccan Sex Cult crap lately, I had to comment on it again. When practiced as a system , yoga balances us out and makes us better people. When the focus is just on the physical, the ego continues to grow. Some teachers even speculate that the energy transfer that happens in Yoga actually compounds everything that is jacked up about you.
You don't have to spend hours in meditation, chant Hare Krishna or get rid of your strong sweaty hot yoga practice to miniaturize your ego. Lucky for you, Patanjali, wrote the yoga sutras and laid out the Yamas to keep you sane. The Yamas form the universal morality code for yoga. By practicing just these 5 observances, many unpleasant situations in our lives can be avoided. Below are 6 simple questions , based on the Yamas, to keep you from doing something stupid.
1. Will This Harm Myself or Others? (Ahimsa)
2. Do I Know This to be the Truth? (Satya)
3. Am I Taking Something That Doesn't Belong To Me? (Asteya)
4. Am I In Control of My Emotions or Are My Emotions Controlling Me? (Bramacharya)
5. Will Having This Make My Life Better or More Complicated? (Aparigraha)
1. You Only Have One Life To Live -Even if you believe in reincarnation, you might come back as a bug or a house cat. You will never come back as the person that you are now. This is it. You don't want to be on your death bed full of regrets.
2. You Never Know When You Will Bite the Dust-You could die today or 50 years from today. You don't have time to waste!
3. Those Who Matter Don't Mind and Those Who Do Don't Matter-Dr. Seuss was right. People who really love you and support you want to hear what you have to say. They may not agree or like it, but they want to hear it. Anyone who chooses to not associate with you afterwards, was not meant to be in your life anyway. We are all in different places. In order to grow and prosper, you need to be surrounded by people who want to lift you up. If someone is not "smelling what you are cooking" it is okay to let them go. That doesn't mean they have to agree with you 100%. It means they need to respect you & give you space to have that experience.
4.“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker-This goes right along with number 3. A friend would want you to express yourself and blossom. People who aren't your friends want you to conform and be quiet. You deserve better friends.
5. You Create Your Own Life- If you are not speaking truth, your life is built on lies. One day you will wake up and your life will be one big unrecognizable mess. Your energy of confusion will manifest confusion. A few years back, I was looking for a job because I needed money but deep down I didn't want one. I went into every interview with this confusing energy and I kept getting passed over for positions. When I finally landed a job, management was confused. Everyday there was a new policy. Everyone was two faced and the business closed down before I was even there a year. I really didn't want to work, so everything in the universe conspired to make that happen. If I would have lived my truth and found an alternative way to get the cash, I would have saved myself some stress.
6. No One Reads Minds-I was watching an old episode of Desperate Housewives and Lynnette's husband was passed over for a position. She asked him, "did you ask for it?" He explained that he assumed that because of his tenure and hard work, he didn't have to it. Many of us live by this erroneous assumption. In fact, we were raised to believe it. Many well meaning authority figures told me, "if you work hard and are a nice person, people will notice and you will be rewarded." Not true. People see you through their own mental filters. You may leave an apple on someones desk to be nice and they assume you are trying to say they are getting fat. You can never assume that people understand you. Not even your closest dearest friends and family members. Marriages break up every day over this. Christmas Dinners are missing an uncle because of this. You have to open your mouth and let people know how you feel and what you want.
Once upon a time there was a girl named Tammy. One of the best yoga teachers in the world opened up a yoga studio right down the street from Tammy's house. Tammy hears that yoga is the happening thing. Madonna and Sting do it. It is how celebrities loose baby weight. Whats not to love!!
Tammy purchased her Manuduka mat, monthly unlimited auto draft studio membership, a couple of Lululemon outfits, a Yogitoe and a BPA free water bottle. She is ready to go. She is super strong. She does not want to be spoon fed. She wants it now. Tammy looks at the schedule. She picks two of the most challenging classes to start with; Hot Yoga and Primary Series Ashtanga Led. Tammy nods her head as the teacher talks about modifications, taking your time and child's pose but she is not listening. She just did a half marathon & that does not apply to her. She finds the story of Pattabhi Jois quaint, sweet and colorful. Who cares if he taught one pose at a time, she is going to rock this Led primary and she can't wait to try led secondary.
As weeks progress, she has sets her mind on handstand, jump backs, jump throughs, & full lotus. She will absolutely do the full version of all the poses. No matter how jagged her breath or how many stars spin in front of her eyes, she will not take child's pose or modifications.
After giving Ashtanga a go for awhile, tweaking a muscle and still not being able to do jump throughs, jump backs and full lotus, she determines that it is the devil and must not be for her. Her teacher tells her to practice Mysore style & focus on breathing & proper technique but she is not interested in memorizing a sequence or practicing on her own. The self deprecating moments she has as she watches the 90 pound girl beside her, who just started last week, effortlessly float through poses is not something she wants to deal with. It is absolutely Ashtanga's fault that she limps a little bit when she walks.
To take her mind off of Ashtanga, she arranges her schedule to take a few more Hot classes a week. The heat masks the fact that she still limps when she walks so the hotter the better. That way, she can't feel the pain in her body or mind. Hotter,Harder, Faster, Stronger. That is the way to go. The classes soon replace her workouts. She notices that she is still limping a bit. She asks a teacher what to do and is told to slow down ,to focus on alignment & **gasp*** even consider taking a break from physical yoga. Perhaps she should focus on meditation and pranayama for awhile to quiet her mind & speed healing. Tammy mentally reminds herself to avoid that teacher's classes because that person is definitely not for her. She is totally glad she did because, score for yoga, her limp goes away! Then a few months later, she injures her shoulder. It is definitely Chaturanga's fault. Hotter, harder, faster, stronger....but with a few less Chaturangas. She heals that and hurts something else.
She continues to come to class and notices people who started at the same time as her, are surpassing her in strength and flexibility. She still can't do that handstand. To take the focus off her own issues and thoughts, she starts to focus on everything that is wrong about each teacher, class and the studio as a whole. She is almost positive she saw the 9:15AM instructor smoking a cigarette outside of Wal-Mart and the 11AM instructor is definitely sleeping with the 12:30 PM instructor. The 1PM instructor talks too much. Terry already knows how to get into poses & who cares about the Yoga Sutras . The 4PM instructor makes her hold poses way too long. That is for beginners. Advanced students do it hotter, faster, stronger. She searches for the teachers & classes that make her feel good about her conflicted thoughts & behaviors and avoids those who make her face them. Her favorite teachers just call out the poses & the choreography is masterful. This works for her. The cool kids are starting to talk about Cross Fit. There is one opening down the street. As her current choreography based teacher starts to mess up yoga class with talk of breathing and meditation, the cross fit class is starting to sound real good.....
Trip Hop is electronic music mixed with Trance, Techno & Hip Hop elements. It is perfect for people who like upbeat music but don't enjoy listening to the top 100 while they practice. If lyrics in music distract you or your class, you can find many trip hop artists who use very few words, if any, in their compositions. Here are a few of my favorites.
Group: Little People/ Album: Mickey Mouse Operation
One of the many jewels Rod Stryker laid on us during his recent trip to Charlotte is that yoga has the ability to multiply the current energy & issues that the practitioner currently has. If a neurotic person starts coming to yoga class and the neuroticism is not addressed, they just become a bigger neurotic. Without practicing the other limbs of yoga, the emphasis stays in the physical & the fires of the ego are stoked.
This conversation came up when Stryker touched briefly on scandals in the yoga community. He said they didn't surprise him because whatever a person brings to their practice only gets bigger when the internal work is not done. Now that physical yoga has become increasingly popular, these occurrences will become even more prevalent.
Many people come to yoga through the physical. It is tangible and they can easily relate. It is the perfect doorway to the mind and it keeps the body healthy so the practitioner can spend energy on greater pursuits. When people stop here & don't take yoga study further, the mind they see is the ego. The layers are never pealed back enough to see the pure being beyond that.
I came to yoga through Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga which is very physical. My early teachers constantly dropped jewels on me to remind me that the poses were not the end of the road. The name Ashtanga itself, which means 8 limbs, alludes to the other parts of yoga & is a constant reminder that there is something else to be found. My first teacher, Adele Gale, would always say " Yoga Chitti Vritti Nirodha" which roughly translates into "yoga is the cessations of the fluctuations of the mind". That line kept me focused on the bigger picture and reminded me that the definition of yoga has to do with the mind and not with the body. The body is just the tool.
Without constant Study or Svadyaya, the ego always reasserts itself. The road to hell is paved with self help books and little slogans that people speak but don't live by. The yoga world is also full of ego maniacs who don't practice what they preach. The key word is "practice". When the darker parts of ourselves make themselves known, we recognize them & quickly get back on our paths. Everyone is human and perfectly imperfect. Through studying the more spiritual side of yoga, balance is brought to the practitioner.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions many of which came from A New Earth, Abraham Hicks & the Yoga Sutras. They were laid down by well meaning people looking for spiritual & mental growth only to get side tracked by the hard knocks of life. When it was time to make the hard decisions from a new place of awareness, they faltered. They fell back on old egoic patterns but this time they covered them in flowery words. Bits and pieces of things they picked up on their spiritual journey. The parts that bring true change are buried deep. In order to make decisions from total open awareness, spiritual study & mental preparation has to be a daily practice
Without daily reinforcement, our old decision making patterns stay dominant. When situations arise that require action, we fall back on them. Fear also keeps us rooted in these old patterns. Many spiritual teachings are so prolific, that to live by them, would render our current lives unrecognizable. The person we spent 30, 40, 50 years building would no longer exist. That is scary. It can seem to be much easier to just dabble in the self help section & use the teachings sparingly, then to radically change who we are and how we think. This is an illusion because the unhappiness or need for change that prompted us to delve into the world of enlightenment in the first place, just comes back putting us on a roller coaster of unfortunate events & we wind up in hell...figuratively.
Svadyaya, self study, is one of the five Niyamas, observances, laid out in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 100% of the crazy events that happen in the yoga world(any world for that matter) like lying, cheating, philandering, guru worship, mistreatment of teachers and staff, happen because there is no study of self. Decisions are made based on fear, attachment & instant gratification. It is not that these people don't know there is another way, they just take the easiest path which is usually the same one they came to yoga trying to get away from.
Anyone who is serious about change, has to engage in Svadyaya, self study, daily.
Daily Svadyaya, Study & Reminder Practices
The World Wide Spirituality Web -Subscribe to inspirational blogs ,You Tube channels Twitter streams etc. Every day, little reminders will be dropped into your e-mail , Google Reader, Facebook page & Twitter Feed that will help keep you on track.
Meditation-meditation helps us to make decisions from a clear place
End of The Day Review-Lay in bed and look at the decisions you made that day. Were they in line with your deepest desires and the person you really are deep inside?
When Making Decisions, Ask Yourself This Question-
What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
The pure consciousness within you has no fear. The answer to this question is usually the real you talking. This is what you really would do if you lived outside of conditioning and self limitations. You also discover what it is that you are afraid of that is keeping you from making decisions out of awareness.
This does not mean that you should go full throttle with the answer. If you are not prepared for the result of your actions, you will have disaster. For instance, if you know that you really hate your job and want to leave it but you know that you would be terrified if you did, then you should sit tight because you are not in a place to accept the decision and more internal work is needed.
Daily Contemplation Practice-Pick a book that brings you inspiration, read a paragraph a two a day and contemplate the words
Surround Yourself With Like Minded People & Make a Pact With Them to Be Brutally Honest-Many times, it is my husband who lets me know when I have lost my mind. Sometimes when we are in the midst of the storm, it is hard to see events objectively. Like minded friends and family can keep us on track by pointing out our illogical emotional behaviors. I recommend designating a code word or phrase that keeps emotionality out of it. Eckhart Tolle uses "pain body". In my Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga training, we would say "past" to signify that we were making statements grounded in past events. Agree that when the code word or phrase is given by a friend, that you will immediately step back and reevaluate where your actions are coming from.
When Disturbing Thoughts Pop Up In Your Mind, Ask Yourself:
Do I really know this to be true?
A few days ago I was reading a Facebook notification that was a bit snarky & I swore it was about me. There were some key phrases in it that sounded like something I had said a few days previous that the person was privy too. Before my mind went crazy, I stopped and asked myself, Do I really know this to be true? My name wasn't on it. The person didn't inbox me, call me, e-mail me or stop me after class to say it was about it me. It was not a direct quote. The answer was no. I didn't know without a shadow of a doubt that it was about me so I took a few deep breaths & let it go.
You will find that 80% of the thoughts in your mind cannot be proven to be true. You should let those go.
Choose the Right Teacher/Pastor/Imam/Guru- I am not saying you need a teacher, but if you want one, pick one that brings your ugly bits to light and forces you to work with them. They are usually not the most convenient, fun, or exciting choice but they are the one that you need. I recently wrote a post on practicing with Rod Stryker & how he prepared my body for meditation. What I didn't write about was how difficult it was for me to get to that place. It is much easier, convenient, exciting and fun for me to go to a Power class & do a straight physical practice. I also believe in the value of Asana practice for spiritual development but that is another blog post. I would be a lier if I said that, if Rod Stryker would to move to Charlotte, I would only study with him. Lets face it, I love the feeling of just moving my body, loud music and intensity. However, Rod Stryker is what I needed. If he were closer, I would definitely consider possibly making him my "teacher".
In the west, we use the word teacher really loosely. Many times, they are just the instructor. They tell us how to do it and keep us safe but they don't really change or effect our daily lives. They are replaceable. A good teacher, often like a good parent, gives you what you need which is not necessarily what you want. They aid in self study by using teachings and practices to show you where you need work & what you could become if you applied yourself. They are such a strong part of our daily lives that they are not easily replaceable & their wisdom is invaluable.
Video of the Day: The Top Ten Most Mispronounced Sanskrit words
Before the advent of the Yoga Alliance and teacher training programs, you learned how to teach by practicing & observing a senior teacher. This is still the most effective way to learn. Using a teacher training manual to teach is like being dropped in Brazil with an English to Portuguese dictionary. It helps, but you don't master the language or the yoga until you fully submerse yourself in the culture.
Like many high school and college students, I took two years of French. My High School French teacher admitted to us that even with her degrees and intensive study, when she went to France, she could get around okay but she definitely could not carry on a good strong conversation. Her French was extremely basic and formal and she could never make a strong connection with anyone while using it.
The same goes for teacher trainings, workshops & occasional yoga practice. You can definitely teach a basic well rounded class but it is hard to fully connect with your students because you really have no clue what language is being spoken in the real world of yoga. All you have is theory. If you only plan to teach in gyms, churches, and do corporate gigs, that will work. If you plan on actually going to France where everybody knows the language, ie, teaching in yoga studios or amongst people who already have a strong background in yoga, you have to take your knowledge deeper. You need some "street cred".
Yoga teaching skills you can learn just by regularly attending a good teacher's class:
How To Teach a Particular Style
How To Do Adjustments/Assists
Sanskrit
How To Pack a Class-If you have a person in your studio or town who consistently packs out a room, you should definitely attend their classes regularly & see if their is anything they do that can be incorporated into your own style in an authentic way
Alignment
Chanting
Pranayama
Sequencing
Yoga Sutras
For more information on learning through absorption, Read this article
I told myself I wasn't going to comment on the whole John Friend,founder of Anusara yoga, thing...and I am not...sort of. This has to do with all public figures. We have got to stop putting people on pedestals and allowing celebrity status to take away all of our good common sense. All the people below eat, go to the bathroom(and do number 2), fart, put their pants on one leg at a time, make mistakes and just straight mess up sometimes...just like you:
Obama
Oprah Winfrey
The Pope
Barbara Walters
Johnny Depp
Beyonce'
Martin Luther King
Any anybody else you are star struck by...including your yoga teacher.
If Obama was really an alien from the planet Voltron who has a diabolical plan to blow up the United States...that would be a problem. If Obama cheated on Michelle but he was doing an outstanding job running the government, that makes him human & has nothing to do with the job we need him for.
So John Friend had sex with his students and married women? I am not going to have sex with him so what does that have to do with me? Even if I did want to sleep with him, what does that have to do with my yoga practice? I don't look to my yoga teachers as moral compasses for my life. That is my job. Sex does not negate the principals of Anusara yoga. I admit, I don't understand half the stuff my Anusara teachers tell me (Open to Grace...Inner Body Bright or is it Outer Body Bright...WTF?) but never once have I heard someone say that one of the principals was, "don't have sex with married women or your students". What does that have to do with my alignment in Down Dog or Triangle?
Yes it is yoga and there are moral principals outlined in the Yoga Sutras but again, he is human and everyone falls short sometimes. If someone doesn't want to practice with him after this, that is their prerogative. I mean I get it. That makes him a major douche in many people's books and why would you want to study with a douche? However, if he still teaches a damn good yoga class and he comes to Charlotte for a workshop, I will attend because It would interesting to learn about Anusara Yoga from the source. Maybe he can actually explain to me what "opening to grace" or "inner body bright" actually means. However, I will not be asking him for marriage advice .
