“You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.”-Sharon Gannon, Yoga Guru
The ancient practice of Yoga is now a several billion dollar industry, churning out ever growing numbers of certified Yoga teachers, Yoga studios, Yoga inspired holidays, Yoga merchandise and various permutations and combinations of the above. At the other end of the barter is the ever increasing number of people that are making Yoga a regular part of their lives and thus seeking the services and promises of the Yoga industry. Yet, despite (or maybe because of) of the huge surge in the eagerness to do Yoga, misconceptions about Yoga are quite widespread too! In this blog post, I have tried to counter some of the most common myths that I have come across as a student and a teacher.
Yoga is not a quick fix solution to body issues and emotional baggage. Physical and emotional imbalances take root as a result of chronic bad habits and/or neglect. Restoring the body and mind to its natural yogic state is therefore a long and arduous process. Going to a yoga class once in a blue moon or soaking in a week long retreat in between weeks of excesses is just not going to cut it! In order to truly benefit from this potentially life changing art, one needs to imbibe the principles of Yoga in their everyday life – not just in the form of regular practice but also in behaviour and the very outlook towards life. Try approaching a yoga class with the intention of improving the self little by little, and not on what the immediate effects would be after 60-90 odd minutes. Making yoga an integral part of life sets a chain reaction – with little positive changes now and then, here and there. From a heightened awareness of ones own body right to gazing at the world with more gratitude, the afterglow of yoga touches on every aspect of life.
Yoga is not about doing crazy or badass poses. We all love to look at pictures of beautiful and athletic yogis and yoginis doing impossible poses. Indeed, in this age of instagramming and facebooking, it is difficult not to be bombarded with such myriad visuals. One may choose to get inspired or intimidated by these badass yogis – either way the most obvious reaction of the aspiring yogi is to tighten the belt, make a bucket list of poses to master and jump onto the mat with vigour! On the face of it, it does not seem such a bad thing at all, right? After all, to be make something out of life, one needs to set goals and chalk out a plan to reach them. The ‘goal’ of Yoga however is not to compete and set eyes on that ‘finished’ and ‘perfected’ (there is no perfect version of any pose!) pose – it is to unravel our hidden strengths as we go through the motions. Borrowing from a popular quote in Pinterest, it is not about reaching the toes, it is about what you learn on the way down! It is not about achieving someone else’s standard of beauty and perfection, it is about being better than we were yesterday. The compliments at the after-work drinks will just be a sweet side effect.
Yoga is not just relaxing or meditating or stretching. When I first started doing Yoga, my reasons were exactly the same as I have been criticizing so far; I wanted to lose weight and look good – end of story! And I remember the mocking and derisive comments that I got from some ‘well-wishers’ – well, isn’t yoga is just sitting trying to look calm?, c’mon, yoga is not an exercise!, why on earth are you wasting time on yoga, go to a gym! Yoga is a powerful practice to tone both the mind and body; while the mental peace and clarity brought about by Yoga is beyond reproach, its physical aspects are often ignored or not tapped to the fullest potential. One possible reason could be that it is impossible to extricate the mind from the body in a Yoga practice – as the mind flows so does the body and vice versa – perhaps this is why Yoga has less appeal than the more puritanical physical drills. But Yoga is as much a physical workout as mental – the focus on breath quietens the mind, the flows of the Vinyasa pump up the heart rate, muscle strength and bone density improve using one’s own body weight and all the lovely stretching protects those hard working muscles.
So listen to your body, keep your minds open for an epiphany and sweat it out! Go to the mat for any reason in the world, you’ll always come out with more….