Why I Practice Yoga The Way I Do…
Whether it is a Vinyasa Class, Gentle Yoga, or a soothing and restoring Yin session, my intention as a teacher, is to bring the asanas of yoga to the students that are currently before me. Students may be at differing levels of physicality, of mental stress or emotional turmoil. Assessing the energy of the class during the opening moments gives plenty of clues as to the states of mind and body before me, and will inform the choice of postures, the sequencing and the methodology by which the postures will be taught.
My approach is Gentle. It’s slower than one would find in many studios these days. With attention to feeling and to function, rather than to form. Trying to fit one’s body into what the pose looks like in a book is not intelligent. Yoga was never meant to be a struggle. Goodness knows we have enough struggles (Sanskrit – Dukha) in our lives! Additionally, dynamic movement into and out of the postures is often taught to warm the musculature and joints before staying in the pose….and to calm the nervous system.
In my somewhat extended life of both practicing yoga, and in teaching it, I have found that many of the conventional modern approaches to the practice of yoga seem to be too fixed, too rigid, too difficult, too fast. Yoga was never meant to be a fitness workout. The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘yug’, which means ‘to join’, to ‘bring together.’
In the beginning, there were only a few postures. Three. Sitting. Lying Down. And Standing. Before being taught the postures, one learned different breathing techniques (pranayama). The postures of yoga were taught only after learning about the breath, and how the breath can act as an anchor for the fluctuations of the mind. The breath is the tie that binds body to mind.
Only a handful of postures were known. Then, by the 18th century, according to the Yogapradipyaka, some 84 postures had made it into being.
And now we have many variations of the postures. And insane names!
