On Having a Teacher...

My teacher arrives in 2 hours! A week of practice with him starts tomorrow morning.

These weeks of practice with my teacher are something that I look forward to like nothing else. Months of quiet home practice alone mean that a week of practice with my teacher stands out in stark relief. I work harder; practice is more intense and digs just a little deeper than in the quiet mornings alone.

I've managed to tweak my SI joint again...arg. I'm mentally preparing to modify leg-behind-head if needed, but still hoping I won't have to...ahhh attachment (*wry smile*).

So as I look forward to the upcoming week of practice with my teacher, I want to share a couple posts from other Ashtangis who've written recently on what it means to have a teacher and to be a student.

First from David Garrigues: Guru Purnima 2011

and then from Alex Medin interviewed by Deborah Crooks: Talking with Alex Medin

Practice posts to come this week!

Thoughts on Time Away from Yoga Practice

I started the new year off with a nice long yoga practice and long unhurried rest at the end...ahhh. Practice has been a little stiff for a couple days as I returned from a 4-day camping trip earlier in the week. The hiking and cold weather certainly made itself felt!

It got me thinking about what happens when there is some time off from practice though. Generally, I practice 6 days/week, taking 1 day off per week for rest. The first day of each new practice week after 1 day off is usually a little tighter than other days. As an experiment I have tried not taking a rest day off. Not surprisingly, I was tired! I know a few practitioners that don't take rest days and it seems to work fine for them. I definitely feel better with a rest day...but what about several days off?

I was away camping and hiking for 4 days. I went with full intentions of doing some practice each day, but the weather changed my mind. We were in the midst of a cold snap, in fact the coldest weather we've had all year! Outdoor practice when lows were below freezing and the highest daily temperatures were barely making it to 50 F was not something I could bring myself to do. I am a Floridian after all!

Four days was the longest that I have gone without any yoga asana practice in years. The result? I am all the more convinced of the benefits of regular daily yoga practice with 1 day off each week for rest. Four days without yoga asana practice left me very aware and very grateful for all the benefits that this extraordinary practice provides!

More thoughts in the next post on the balance between practice and rest!

Effort and Ease in Practice

Recently, I've noticed that a lot of teachers (myself included) have said some version of the following to students: "It doesn't matter if you ever do "x". In this case "x" is some challenging pose or transition. Leg-behind-head is a popular one to insert into the sentence. What I mean is: "Don't obsess over poses. Yoga is more than poses."

Lately, though, I wonder if this is a disservice to students. If there is anything that "doesn't matter" then, why try? If we don't put forward any effort towards the places, poses, tansitions that are challenging, then half of what makes up yoga asana according to the yoga sutras is not there. The yoga sutras say "Sthira sukham asanam" Yoga asana is effort and ease.

So back to legs-behind-the-head...and the question: Does it matter? Full disclosure, yes I can put my leg behind my head and on most days I can put them both back there...but does it matter? On the one hand, no. Of course it doesn't. On the other hand, this has been one of the most challenging aspects of practice for me. The effort required, the attention needed, and the patience to practice these poses for years while seemingly no progress was made were transformative. In that sense it matters.

So, does it matter if you put your legs behind your head, come up to standing from backbend, or hold a handstand? No, of course not. It matters that you do what you can do with attention and breath. Does it matter if you try to do what challenges you in practice? Yes, I think it does. If there is no effort involved, then it is not yoga asana. The work to make the impossible become possible is where the yoga happens.