What happens to you in yoga when you can’t do something?
Let’s say, you are stood up balancing in some asana and then you fall over… What do you do?
Your mind might start to feed you a narrative, ideas like “I can’t do this” or “I should have stayed at home” etc. Maybe emotions stir inside of you, frustration or embarrassment.
But what now? This is the moment where you continue with your yoga practice, or you leave it. If you continue the thought train, or hold onto the emotions that have stirred inside of you, you are no longer in your practice. You have become distracted and though you are still in the class, You is not.
Sometimes we see an asana as too much for us and we give up after an attempt. I see it often, someone sat waiting for the next part of the practice, resigned to the idea they are not able to do what the others are doing.
If being sat there having given up is 0% and the asana is 100%, why are you not at 50%? Or even 20%? You are still able to explore the limitations of your body if you stay with your practice.
So your 100% isn’t the same as someone else’s? Your attention should be inside of yourself to the point that there is nobody else in your practice. If you are looking around the class, comparing yourself to others, you are not in your practice, you are in theirs. Your yoga practice is a unique and personal experience that you must immerse yourself in to find true union with the Self.
When thoughts and feelings stir inside of us during our yoga, all that is required is to take another breath and carry on. Whatever thoughts arise, whatever feelings stir, see them and carry on. Stick with your breath and they will pass on the same way that they came.
In this way, you will find your practice need never end.
