In a recent survey I sent out, I asked students how I can help them with their yoga practice. I have been thinking about one particular response I received. I am so grateful for the person who submitted this response because I think it is something we all struggle with. It has to do with the very nature of practice itself.
The comment is: “I struggle between accepting where I am and trying/wanting to do more.”
Are you practicing because you want to be able to achieve a certain pose; or a particular measurement of flexibility? While it is good to have a goal to work towards, it is the journey that matters most.
My family got into watching the show America’s Got Talent. I don’t often watch a lot of TV, but somehow I was drawn to watching this show. Contestants vie to win first the judge’s votes and then the TV audience’s vote to be the one winner who will receive $1,000,000.00 and a headline show in Las Vegas.
In the first round of auditions, a lot of the contestants do very well. It’s as if they feel they have nothing to lose and they give it their all. In the second round, you can feel the fear and anxiety in some of the contestants. The focus seems to shift to everything they could gain and a lot of them choke. The contestants who win seem to be those who are doing what they love to do and they would do it no matter what. They might be nervous, but once they start performing, they seem to get into that zone or state of flow that makes everything work smoothly.
What does this have to do with struggling to be where you are and wanting to do more? If you are doing your yoga practice to achieve a split, for example, you may try and work very hard to get there. But in the process, if you are focused on the end result only, like the show in Las Vegas, you could miss all of the juice in between. One of the main teachings from the Bhagavad Gita is:
You have a right to your actions,
But never to your action’s fruits.
Act for the action’s sake.
And do not be attached to inaction.
-B.G. ch.2, v. 47
Your yoga practice has to be done for the sake of practicing itself, not just to get certain poses. It is fine to work towards certain postures, but you are not guaranteed to be able to perform that pose. Not everyone’s body is suited to do every pose. Patthabi Jois, the father of Ashtanga Yoga, famously said, “Practice, practice, all is coming.” I’ve talked about this quote before. What does it mean? Does it mean if I practice diligently that I will be able to achieve the pose? Or, does it mean in the process of practicing will I learn what is important and what is not important in the pose or in life?
In the last line I quoted from the Bhagavad Gita, it talks about not being attached to inaction. The yogi must take action. The progress one makes depends on the intensity of the practice. In the Yoga Sutras it says this:
To the keen and intent practitioner the result comes very quickly. Y.S - 1.21
The time necessary for success further depends on whether the practice is mild medium or intense. Y.S. – 1.22
Are you a “keen and intent practitioner”? Is your practice mild, moderate or intense? Intense doesn’t necessarily mean hard. It is far better to practice a little every day than it is to go all out once a week. While Patanjali is talking about the attainment of Samadhi (or liberation) in this Sutra, the same principles can apply to our physical practice.
I know that I have worked really hard to try and achieve certain postures. But if I only focus on the goal, I often miss something along the way. If I am doing something incorrectly, and I am not aware of that fact, it may be the one thing that is keeping me from getting that posture. Often, if you have been making progress on a particular pose and then you can’t seem to get past a certain point, it could be a sign that you are doing something wrong. Something is out of alignment and you have to figure out what that is before you can make further progress. Just pushing harder won’t make it happen and could possibly lead to injury.
I once asked my teacher why I couldn’t balance in Handstand without the wall. She watched me do the pose and then she told me that I had too much movement in my shoulders. I would move into alignment and then past it and then I would have to bring myself back to center again. All of this swaying back and forth makes balancing very hard. The way to fix that was to get stronger so that when I lifted up into Handstand, I lifted up right into alignment.
In order to make progress, I have to ask myself a couple of questions. Do I really want to do this pose? If so, am I willing to put in the amount of effort required to master it? Am I willing to look at myself and my alignment and see where I am not seeing myself clearly (Avidya – not seeing reality as it is. The first klesha, or obstacle). Am I willing to back up in order to go forward? Am I willing to do the practices because I enjoy doing so, not because I only want to get the posture? These are the question a keen and intent practitioner must ask in order to make progress. It is not enough to want to do something, it is important to take action and apply oneself to the task. In addition, the task must be joyful, or you won't really want to do it.