When you take a yoga class, you have no control over what poses or sequences are offered. You do, however, have control over how well you live in each pose. Getting caught up in the group mindset of pushing through even if it hurts or trying to get to the ideal of what a pose ‘should look like’ holds us back from exploring how we are truly living within a pose. Ignoring or accepting tweaks, pinching or stuck points or even plain old pain in a pose is practicing getting used to what doesn’t feel right.
Think about your own yoga practice and picture in your mind a few poses that are your least favorites. Chances are they are your least favorites because either they cause you discomfort or even pain or they make you feel bad because you have zero success in them. I’ve written many a blog on finding success in challenging poses and why they are actually fabulous to practice, so I’ll concentrate on the former reason – pain/discomfort in a pose. Granted, you have to know your way around a pose in order to find a way out of discomfort. But before you mitigate the discomfort you have to identify it and then make a choice to change it. Those are three separate steps, so let’s take a look at the first two in this blog.
Identify the discomfort
For some this is a no-brainer. They know exactly where the pain or discomfort is coming from. For others, every time they practice an ill-fitting pose they simply ignore it, assume it is just part of the landscape or think it’s supposed to feel nasty. “My lower back always hurts in Cobra, doesn’t yours?” “That pinching in my hip is just the way my Half Moon feels.” “Isn’t your hamstring supposed to cramp up when you grab your back foot in Pigeon Pose?” I’m joking with some of these, but I want to illustrate how many times we as yogis give up our right to find good alignment and live well in a yoga pose. We get ‘practiced’ at experiencing the discomfort and it no longer registers as an issue.
Next time you are practicing, practice staying alert to sensations that are less than optimal. Adopting a ‘Beginner Mind’ can help you experience your pose in a fresh light. We practice a pose over and over in order to gain experience so coming into a pose and pretending you’ve never been there before is not easy. However, if you implore a Beginner’s Mind as one aspect of the experience you’ll gain a very valuable perspective. As a character within you, Beginner’s Mind is merely one aspect of yourself. In order to identify what if any discomforts you are simply accepting, ask ‘Beginner Mind’ to step in and lead you around afresh. You might just discover that you’ve been accepting some lesser quality of living in a pose than is possible. This leads me to the second step.
Make a choice.
You don’t have to accept that ‘butt bite’ in Half Moon. Your Cobra without back pain does exist. Cramping can be avoided. You can only change how you experience your pose if you choose to experience it well. This sounds like it would be an easy step. Once you’ve identified a problem you solve it, right? Well, not really. You’d be surprised how habitual living with pain or discomfort can be. And then there is the idea that if you have no pain, you have no gain. There’s even an idea of having a ‘good pain’. When we have a large deep sensation in our bodies we have to discern if it’s helping us or hindering us. Yogis not used to using certain muscles may register discomfort when they are under load. This type of ‘good pain’ is muscles working correctly and getting stronger or perhaps experiencing a good, deep stretch. This is not the kind of discomfort I’m talking about. When preformed in good alignment, muscle building and stretching is even and balanced. I’m referring to sensations that pinch, feel blocked, are uneven and in general send out a loud or mild ‘red alert’ notification.
Our relationship with pain is complex. You’d think we’d want out and that’s that. But it’s not that easy. Many yogis are willing to accept pain, even after knowing full well what causes it, because it gets them something they want. Sometimes that’s simply keeping up with the group, other times it’s the pursuit of the ‘ideal’ form of a pose. Once you’ve made up your mind not to put up with a level of discomfort you are ready to move onto figuring out how to get out of it. And that my friends is the topic for my next blog.
As for our practice this month, you can be sure that we will be exploring poses with Beginner Mind and discovering new ways to find freedom and joy in our poses. You, dear yogis, deserve your best practice.
