Yogaversary and other delights

Last night's class marks one year since I started teaching yoga, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

I think I've gotten the most out of developing my own practice. Sure, going to classes is a great way to learn, but it really comes down to whether you can internalize the lessons, whether you can teach yourself, whether you can figure out what you're doing right and wrong.

I've also drawn inspiration from my teachers. Jed, who I've been studying with the past few years, has really gotten me interested in exploring things a bit more. It's not just doing the same poses over and over -- though there is some of that -- but listening to my own body. I've started off practices just stretching out, seeing what's tight, and seeing if I can make it feel better.

Another way I've approached my own practice is to take something that I learned in class or a workshop and break it down. For example, I have some students who just don't like Ardha Chandrasana [Half Moon Pose]. I've been trying to find other ways to approach the pose, rather than launching from Utthita Trikonasana, as most people do.

It's somewhat similar to Virabhadrasana III [Warrior III Pose], but I wanted to start from a much more supported and stable place, since that was the complaint that I was hearing, that it was too hard to balance. So, I had the class start in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), and take one leg back like Warrior III, but with the hands on the ground, just to keep the pose supported.

From there, we opened the hip up, moving towards Half-Moon, but building it up from the floor rather than launching into it. The other variation, I got from Jed, which is to start at an "L" on the wall with your palms on the wall, folding at the hips, feet on the floor. From there, you can take one leg back. You then open the top hip, and move towards a supported Half-Moon with your hands on the wall.

I've had good results, overall. Some people prefer the original pose & getting into it from Trikonasana. Others feel more supported building it from the floor, or using the wall as a prop. In any case, the exploration has been the key. It's not something I would have done a year ago, and that's the difference.

There's a teacher training exercise where you take detailed notes of someone in a pose so that you can re-create the pose with your body. That way, you can approximate the student's position and perhaps feel anything that's grossly out of alignment.

That's what it's really about, trying to figure out what's going on in your own body, and in the bodies of your students. This way you can do more than just practice the pose the way you first learned it. It becomes about learning principles of alignment, paying attention to what's going on in your body and asking questions.

Then you try to answer them.

Comments

[Max]

I like launching into Ardha Chandrasana from Utthita Trikonasana actually, but my legs seem to be really strong in those poses so it isn't much of a problem for me to do it. Trying out the other methods of getting into it wasn't bad, but I just didn't feel supported for whatever reason.

Which makes me wonder: am I muscling through the launch and masking a support problem?

Either way, great class!

[Christian]

"That's what it's really about, trying to figure out what's going on in your own body..."

I think that is the best advice to give and to live by when it comes to improving one's own body. No two people are exactly alike, and what works for some, may not always work for you. Trial and error, while sometimes frustrating, is ultimately the only way to figure out what works best for you.

Congratulations on your one year yoga-versary. Hopefully, I'll be dropping in sometime in the next couple of weeks.