Even a street lamp
May for a moment blaze full
Brightly as the sun.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
One of the primary themes at the Anusara certified teachers’ gathering this week with John Friend has been how discipline and technique serve our yoga. In keeping with the elemental Anusara principles of “attitude, alignment, and action” (iccha, jnana, kriya), the point has not been to emphasize rules for the sake of rules, form over substance, or technique for its own sake. Mastering technique, by itself, will not bring us to the ultimate intentions of yoga: living liberated (jivamukti), experiencing the very wonder, bliss, and dance of being.
But just playing or seeking freedom for its own sake, while we are embodied in human form, will not likely lead us to the most expansive and steady experience of ultimate freedom (svatantra). It is discipline and technique with the constant remembrance of the reaon for being disciplined about how we practice and live that will take us further on the path.
It can be nice, for example to go to a class where there is little emphasis on form, and the call is just to flow and feel. For me, though, because of my physical limitations (degeneration in my spine, old groin injury, etc–these do not define my being; they just inform how I practice), I feel far freer and more able to expand how much I can play the more attention I give to the physical alignment. In such a situation, the rigorous attention to detail is not for the sake of an external idea of what is right and what is wrong. Rather, it is the constant disciplined attention to alignment that frees me to play as free from injury, pain, and fear of injury as is possible in my body.
The discipline then becomes a way of self-affirmation. It is the limitations that lead me to have to focus more on technique than if I did not have the limitations. That attention then provides a ground for a more expansive practice and a deeper appreciation for the beauty of what the practice can offer.
I found myself thinking about the blessing of being able to ask this question and have a multiple answers: what do you do when your healing place/activity is temporarily or permanently no longer healthy?
I asked this question of myself today because the poor air quality from the wildfires is not good for me, and it is not feeling good to be at the Youth Garden for the full morning. I’ve been grateful before for the panoply of practices—study, meditation (sitting and walking), breath work, asana and other movement, etc., when I have been sick or injured.
My friend Reya posted a good blog entry today on pain. What John Friend says of pain is that it is nature’s way of showing that we are out of alignment. I am in full agreement with Reya that intentionally causing ourselves pain is not what brings the most gain.
We sometimes have to go into discomfort, though, to get out of pain, when we are practicing therapeutically. What I tell my students, when they are seeking to use the physical practice of yoga to heal injuries, is that they want to practice mindfully enough to notice and back away from stabbing, pinching, tearing, or cramping sensations (you might think of other words to add to the list, but you get the idea). On the other hand, intentionally embracing some level of therapeutic discomfort can be necessary to heal and grow. An obvious non-yoga example is getting an operation to remove a tumor or fix something that is broken. The operation is going to be a challenge, but it is better than not healing.
If we are not used to holding poses for a long time or balancing on one foot or on our hands, our muscles may think they would rather slouch on the couch–though slouching on the couch may be what precipitated injury or ill-health in the first place. The discomfort of working muscles more than we usually do, but to the right degree and in alignment, is radically different than the pain of forcing our body to do something beyond its current capacity that exacerbates existing injuries or causes new ones and does not sufficiently heed proper alignment.
I invite you to practice slowly and with sufficient attention to know deeply whether you are just bringing on discomfort from right effort and changing old patterns that no longer serve or whether you are making yourself suffer for no real purpose. No pose or distance or timing is worth injury, but healing and getting stronger and more flexible (as well as more courageous and expansive for what life brings to us) is most definitely worth some intentional discomfort.
