Yoga, REALly

I couldn’t help but relate this to my practice, like I often do. I thought, how much of my practice has been to please and receive the approval of others? What is it all about? Is it so others see me as disciplined and knowledgeable? Sadly, much of Western yoga today is all about what it looks like and rarely about what it feels like. I remember what those first yoga classes were like–fresh and new, I wasn’t at all concerned with how anything looked. This is one dimension of what Suzuki Roshi calls, beginner’s mind.

I took a class a while back from someone whose name and face escape me. She said to dedicate my practice to someone else, rather than making it “all about me.” I did what she said, and unfortunately that person hasn’t reaped the rewards of all those up-dogs and down-dogs. Today, practice is “all about me”–my feelings, how I get on in the world, my attachments, aversions and how to diminish the fluctuations of my consciousness. Yet, I don’t feel selfish for that. Each time I peel back a layer to uncover some hurt or some attachment is ten more people I have compassion for.

Now then, being yoga teachers and practitioners in this modern era, how can we cultivate this movement inward and empower students and ourselves to go beyond layers of clothing, special diets, and even beautiful asanas? Because if we are too attached to the idea of perfection, we may never enjoy the soft vulnerability of our real selves.

I found this short clip of Angela Farmer, an long-time yogini who I hope to have the honor of practicing with one day. She aptly describes what drew me to yoga so many years ago.