I write a lot about asana, the physical practice of yoga. The yoga we all know from our classes. I also write a lot about yoga as therapy, how it helps my scoliosis, my sore back, the physical symptoms of fibromyalgia.
But asana is only a small part of this yoga. The most common part, granted, but still such a small part. And I feel I don’t address the other elements of this amazing, life-changing practice enough. I realised this as I wrote Friday’s post. And I realised that I don’t address these other parts because they are so much harder to write about, so much harder to find clarity in.
I have been teaching Hatha Yoga for nearly five years now. I can create asana sequences off the cuff. I can tell if someone has tight hips or a sore back or neck issues as they walk into a room. These things have come to me naturally after years of practice, practice, practice. 90% of the classes I teach focus on asana, and because of this I feel I need to push myself to write more about the other parts of yoga. Create clarity for myself before I teach to others.
Yoga, like many mystical practices, was originally practiced by renunciates; those who chose to live away from the world to find oneness with Spirit. Consequently, it can be hard for those of us who want to live in the world, watch TV, listen to rock music, drink Pina Colada, get caught in the rain, whatever AND live a life dedicated to yoga. It can be more than hard; it can be downright overwhelming to try to incoporate yoga into ordinary life.
As most of you dear readers already know, sometime around 4000 years ago the great sage Patanjali (or many great sages going under the pseudonym of Patanjali) decided to compile the Yoga Sutras; a series of verses covering this all encompasing practice which have arguably become the foundational text of yoga. In the second chapter Patanjali lays out the 8 limbs, the 8 important parts of yoga that the practitioner must incorporate into their lives, of which asana is just one.
Over the next 8 Tuesdays I want to look at each of these limbs in turn and write about my interpretation of them, how I try to incorporate each limb into my very westernised, very chaotic life; a life very much rooted in the real world.
I hope you will enjoy my ramblings!
“Now the practice of yoga begins”
Yoga Sutra 1.1
