It’s Not a Circus// Finding Yoga and Maybe Meaning in Architecturally Complex Postures

You know how things start simply, then get complicated, then are reduced down to their essential state again?

I am always talking about this. It’s true.

There is something about the edges– easy times, challenging times– that brings up our patterns, whether in the physical, mind, emotional or energy body. And rather than hide from that, I think it is important to go there… right into the center of it and locate what we are holding onto.

I am not talking about attainment.

I am not talking about turning one’s yoga space into the circus. I do not think that one person’s ability to touch her or his toes is any indicator of enlightenment.

I think that attainment, or more specifically– attachment to attainment, prevents us from being in relationship with the present. It is another place to hide out with the ego. Whether we can or cannot achieve a shape that mimics a shape we’ve seen on the cover of a magazine is often accompanied by a habitual thought-loop steeped in ego attachment, bred by forgetting who we really are.

So should we forgo complicated postures?

Nah. What we resist has a way of showing up again and again, right?

I also witness this when I teach seemingly “easy” poses. Some people get really pissed that I’ve wasted their time steeping in a foundational posture. I don’t see these poses as easy anymore, because they have a tendency to really dredge up a lot of resistance. When it’s physically easy, there is nowhere to hide.

It helps me to constantly remember why I practice yoga– to prepare me for the challenges I will inevitably face in life so that I may abide with grace.

To that end, start the simple//complicated process of noticing.

Where does my mind go when things are easy? What do I do in life when things are easy?

When I’m on a roll, sometimes I get lazy. I let myself have a cup of coffee here, a dairy-laden dessert there. Two glasses of wine. These “rewards” usually lead to challenges.

When things are hard, I forget to breathe. I hold everything in my shoulders and hips. My mind tells me stories like you wouldn’t believe.

Knowing all of this, on the mat, I look for similar patterns. Are they there? Okay. That is normal. I’m normal. You’re normal.

Next, invite what I know to be healing, wholesome and real to inhabit those places. Spaciousness, curiosity, objectivity. They have a tendency to tease out compassion, equanimity, contentment even.

But I can’t even “do” the pose?

Who cares? The pose isn’t the goal, is it? A life of happiness, meaning, service– that is the goal. The shapes have much to teach us either way. There are places for every-body to be along the way.

In my in-person classes, we have been working on this with a series of arm balances over the past few weeks, crane/side crane/ elephant trunk/ etc. After practicing the shapes, we’ve been really honest about how we feel while in and immediately after them.  Students have offered the most wonderful insights– frustration, liberation, exhaustion, boredom, “I bleeping hate this”.  I love all of this– using all of it to help us glean meaning from this work that translates to our lives off the mat.

To that end, I’ve designed a sequence to encourage you to feel your way into Bhakasana– crane or crow– pose. In the coming weeks, I’ll post a podcast related to the mechanics of crane, but in the meantime, you might revisit Episode 78 or Episode 65.

Questions to ask while practicing:

What do I feel right now?

What does this shape have to teach me?

Things to remember:

It’s not a circus.

The pose exists for you.

If you are feeling it, you are doing it.

LOVE.

Asanas

Twisting lunge

Exaggerated cat

Gazing Forward

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana// Extended dog

Rounded plank

Rounded malasana// garland

Bhakasana// Crane or Crow

Reverse Table

Setu bandha sarvangasana// Bridge

Eka pada setu bandha sarvangasana// Extended-leg bridge

Upavista Konasana// Wide-legged seated fold

Bharadvajasana, variation

Rest// Pause

Be in touch.

Take good care.

LOVE. kelly