Am I Seriously Sore from Yoga??

Despite the calm, happy, feelings I often get after practicing yoga, the practice itself is sometimes far from “calm” or “happy.” As a novice yogi, many of the poses we do in class are difficult. Sometimes I lack the flexibility, or the strength, or the balance to perform a pose without serious effort. For example, the first few times I did Downward Facing Dog, my calves and quads hurt as the muscles struggles to stretch. I still have a hard time with Tree Pose, because I find the act of balancing on one foot enough without having to stretch my other leg up to my thigh. Even when we lie down at the end, I cannot always focus my mind on remaining calm enough to create a steady breath.

Yoga is hard. Even though I’m not running, or lifting weights, or tackling other men for the possession of a ball, my body strains and struggles to pull my leg behind my head, or stretch and contort my body in seemingly unnatural postures. Practice helps, as does further instruction, and helpful tools like bolsters and straps; at the end of the day though, perfecting and refining the poses to be more like my teacher’s or Iyengar’s requires the same exertion and effort I’m used to exhibiting in organized sports or the gym. What a strange practice is yoga, that can strengthen the body and the mind so deliberately at the same time. 

The Dog Ate My Attachment

     I vividly remember the first day of yoga class, and I should, since it was only a few weeks ago. At the end of class, after we had done “the lying down pose,” our instructor told us that we would be receiving eye pillows to help us relax in practice. I was eagerly anticipating their arrival date, and when they finally came I was ecstatic. I was given a richly colored, burgundy eye pillow that smelled like lavender and the essence of relaxation. The very small beads or seeds or kernels inside were enclosed in a slightly stretchy, and very smooth, fabric. Needless to say, I became very attached to my wonderful eye pillow, and used it often before dozing off for the night (Shamefully though, I must admit, because I always felt it had a sacred and reserved use for yoga only). Some may say that my eye pillow and I were inseparable, and they would be right. My eye pillow was always within reach, or at least in a spot on my desk that I once believed was safe.

     One day, after I came home from class and began to work on homework, my roommate’s black lab puppy came to visit me in my room. While I was absorbed in my work, the dog stole my beloved eye pillow and began to chow down. By the time I realized what nefarious deeds took place behind my back, the pillow was utterly destroyed. The pup had chewed through the soft and delicate fabric to access the sweetly scented beads beneath. I was devastated.

     However hurtful this feeling may be, I took it as a lesson. I had become very attached to my eye pillow and that had become a problem. I had started to rush through my poses in anticipation of  my eye pillow time. The attachment I held for the eye pillow I was given had become detrimental to my practice of yoga. Now my eye pillow is gone, as is my attachment for the object of comfort, and I am better for it. The eye pillow was a nice luxury, but pleasure is fleeting, and now I practice every pose with the focus I once paid to the pillow.

Suffering in Yoga

In the beginning of his second group of sutras, Patanjali tells us about the five impediments to yoga, karma, and the nature of suffering. While all of these topics were interesting, I found that Patanjali’s description and diagnoses on the cause of suffering really piqued my interest. Patanjali says that ignorance and the Ego are the root causes of suffering. Ignorance causes suffering because it causes us to confound the nature of our beautiful and perfect souls with the nature of our temporary, unclean, and painful bodies. When we are ignorant, we believe that what is happening in the world and in our lives is truly important. In ignorance, we forget the beautiful, unchanging nature of our soul and become absorbed in the world. Ego, then, is the aspect of ignorance which mistakes the mind for the true self. Patanjali places great importance on realizing the true self, and the Ego prevents yogis and yoginis from doing just that.

And just where does Patanjali say we experience suffering? Everywhere.

Patanjali says that everything in life is suffering, and this suffering takes place in four ways. The first is suffering caused by our actions, the second is suffering by pain itself, the third is suffering by the samskaras, and lastly, suffering is brought about by the turmoil of the vrttis. Basically, if we aren’t suffering in one way, the other three options probably remain open. Suffering is perhaps the most essential aspect of life on earth, and even when you think you are happy, Patanjali would argue you are still suffering in some way or another.

While receiving all this knowledge about my suffering, I became very thankful that I was also given yoga to help relieve it.

"Otherwise, at other times, [the seer] is absorbed in PoliSci"

As I sat at my desk, almost frantically finishing a Political Science report, all I wanted to do was yoga. The uncontrollable urge to break into a Tree Pose doesn’t strike me often, but in this particular moment, I was all but powerless to resist. I completed the bare minimum required to finish the assignment and broke out my yoga mat.

            I began my Mountain Pose, the first in my practice sequence, and suddenly realized that I had made a mistake in speeding through my other classwork. My brief foray into the world of yoga has shown me the light! My mistake wasn’t in being excited for yoga, that excitement should be cherished. The mistake was in the careless and rushed manner with which I wrote the report.

            Standing on the mat with my quads squeezing up and toes stretched out, I realized that the themes of mindfulness, patience, and serenity belonged in my everyday life as well as my yoga practice. Instead of rushing through the work I had to do, I should have stilled my mind and body the same way I try to do while performing my poses. Patanjali may have diagnosed my issue as the result of overpowering rajas, and it was also Patanjali’s teaching that helped to cure me.

            After a long and particularly difficult practice, I sat back down to complete the report, this time with Sattvic energy and a better understanding of the nature of the gunas.

Patanjali says practice

“Long, interrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluxuations” says Patanjali, and my numerous other coaches from the past (but not always in such a wise and well-chosen words). We’ve all heard it: “practice makes perfect- no, perfect practice makes perfect” and now we must be told by an ancient sage too?! If I’ve learned anything through the philosophical discussion portion of class, it’s that Patanjali is pretty much always right when it comes to yoga, and so I came to the conclusion not to overlook sutra I.14 as cliché.

It turns out that the type of practice that Patanjali is talking about is much more specific than the simple repetition of an action, because he’s talking about the actual physical practice of performing yoga poses. This context brings us back to the deeper ideas that yoga rests on, that we perform the poses to still the mind. This particular sutra expounds further into how the calming of the mind occurs and, in a way, links the actual practice of yoga poses to the ideas Patanjali has been discussing.

To me, sutra I.12 means that when I practice my poses, I must truly focus on the actual pose, rather than how others look doing it, or how the room feels, or whether or not it’s almost time to rest. Patanjali tells me that the only way to reap the rewards of yoga is to pay attention to the pose while I perform, which brings us back to my less eloquent coaches of the past. All my soccer, wrestling, swimming, and football coaches told me to practice often. They emphasized practice above all else, but didn’t always specify how crucial the mindfulness of the practice is to achieving results. Although I should “practice, practice, practice” my yoga poses, I must also remember Patanjali’s advice to practice in a meaningful and focused way.

            

From "zzzz" to "ohmm"

I have a three and a half hour break between my first class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and yoga class. Although I would like to say I spend this time studying, or reading, or bettering myself in some way, I usually just take a long nap. I try to put about forty five minutes between nap time and class time, but even with that amount of time I often arrive at class feeling a bit drowsy or lazy or tired.

            Yoga in class always seems to wake me up and forces me to become more awake. During the practice itself I’m too focused on trying to form the poses to worry about getting back to bed, and afterwards I typically feel energized and refreshed. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons have become my most productive time of the week because, after yoga, I feel alert and focused enough to work on the tasks that seemed too boring or menial just hours before.

            The uplifting energy that yoga gives me through practice is a huge benefit that I’ve noticed from my yoga practice in class. 

More "Ouch" Than "Ohmm"

Everyone that practices yoga will tell you that the poses relieve stress, ease pain, and improve flexibility, but no one seems to warn Novice Yogis that yoga sometimes hurts. Occasionally in class, we'll stumble upon a pose that forces me to move my body in ways my body has never moved.

The Downward Facing Dog pose is one good example. In this pose, my quadriceps and calf muscles are being stretched long and thin so that the backs of my heels may touch the ground. At first, when we tried this pose in class, this stretching caused some pain. It still does in fact.  However, I have noticed that the more I practice stretching my heels all the way to the floor, the less the pose hurts when I perform it next.

Yoga Practice in class is often difficult and occasionally painful, but I've found that the positive effects of the practice are more prevalent after a difficult session with the class.

At Least Its An Easy Read...

How Yoga Works isn't going to win a Pulitzer Prize, but it could teach a Yoga Novice like me what yoga really is all about. It turns out, yoga isn't Buddhist, as my first blog post inferred, and it's a lot more than just a hipster exercise. 

How Yoga Works treats yoga like The Force. Yoga has the power to cure pain, ease stress, unclog bureaucracy, and inspire compassion. The novel switches between a story of a detained Nepalese girl teaching the practice of yoga to her guard, and an explanation of yoga philosophy (Inner winds and channels), and how to practice the poses.The narrator explains yoga simply enough, but the awkward story line and clumsy language keep me from "abiding in the true nature" of what the novel has to teach. 

Despite literary criticisms, How Yoga Works is crystal clear in yoga philosophy and practice instruction. The explanation of how breathing provided in the book has helped me to perfect one important aspect of my practice. The propagandist says, "The breath should always be in motion,deep motion- all the air being exchanged, in and out" (Roach 73), and so I practice. 

I'm thankful for How Yoga Works, and I find myself smiling at both the awkward story and the lessons learned. 

Practice Makes Poses

When I unroll my mat at home, with my bedroom door closed and feet bare, I get to work through the poses I've learned in the past two weeks at my own pace. I'm truly amazed at how easy it is to learn and remember the poses we've been taught. I find myself repeating the words and phrases that I hear in class verbatim as I stretch into Downward-Facing Dog or a Warrior Pose.

On the first day of class, even Mountain Pose felt strange and almost uncomfortable. Slowly, through practice and repetition at home, Mountain Pose has begun to feel natural and almost relieving. At first, the Tree Pose was extremely difficult, and now.... well... I still wobble and sway like I did before, but my moments of steady calmness are longer and closer to the way Iyengar looks in Light On Yoga.

One thing I can count on when practicing yoga at home, is a relaxed body, clear mind, and positive outlook upon completion. After home practice I feel ready to conquer the world, but I'd have to put some shoes on first.