As the new year rolls in we often have lofty expectations of what we are going to achieve in the next 12 months and this can include expectations of our yoga practice.
But the reality is that after a heavy December workload followed hopefully by a well-earned break with too much food and drink with little or no practice, this is easier said, than done.
One of the problems Ashtanga practitioners can have is placing too much pressure on themselves to return to their ‘full’ practice too quickly, making the prospect of returning quite daunting.
The physical Ashtanga yoga practice can seem, for the most part, linear. We get one pose, then another in the right order etc. Some students seem to think that because this is the way things went in the beginning that it will always be this way and that doing anything other than a ‘full’ practice is somehow pointless or a failure of some kind.
At it’s heart this is a system of self-practice that enables us to tailor our physical practice to ever-changing physical, mental and emotional needs.
In Mysore classes we don’t have to keep up with a teacher or a group of students all doing a class at the same time. We can go at our own pace and do as much or as little of the practice as is appropriate at any given time.
But this requires that we leave our ego out of it and accept that there will be times when we need to do less.
Because whether we like it or not we will have to let go of our asana (posture) practice from time to time. Life happens and whether it’s because of injury, illness, pregnancy, or age, at some point we will have to adapt, evolve and move forward in a different way.
This is what yoga teaches us! Resilience in the face of challenge and change.
So how do we come back to practice after a long break or too much Festive cheer? Start gently. Do a shorter version of the practice. A good guide is to go back to a version you did earlier before you ‘got’ a whole lot of new poses and slowly build up from there with a few poses at a time over a few weeks. In Mysore, Sharath ensures all students do a week of gentler practice prior to commencing their usual practice because of the long time spent travelling to get to India and to help adjust to the climate and dietary changes. The festive season is another time where there is lots of travel and dietary changes so it makes sense to take it easy at first.
Remember that yoga is a therapy, but not if we place our expectations and attachments on top of it. Listen to your body and your breath and let it be your guide. The purpose of yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind, not use it as another way of creating mental anguish.
The Bhagavad Gita tells us that ‘No effort in Yoga is lost’. This means that whatever we manage to do is still better than nothing at all.
So it really is very simple. Get on the mat and see what happens. You might be surprised.
xL