One of the things I feel really passionate about is that yoga is for anyone and everyone. Many people have recently said to me that they can't do yoga because they are not flexible enough. I always challenge this by telling them that I can’t do many of the poses that other yoga teachers display with grace and ease. I wobble and fall. I can’t contort my legs and arms to wrap around my body several times and my transitions from one pose to another are often clumsy, heavy footed and ungainly. When I started the yoga teacher training course I was so anxious about my lack of finesse that I nearly withdrew from the course. I was blessed with a wonderful teacher on the course and a wonderful teacher whose classes I regularly attend and they both encouraged me with reassurances that it didn’t matter! And they were right, it didn’t matter! It doesn’t matter. We all start at the beginning anyway.
Many yoga poses go beyond our functional movement so popular images of yoga can misrepresent yoga in real life. This is fine for some people. It is enormously satisfying to experiment with movement and it’s fun to rediscover one’s inner child and play! But as a beginner, some of the images might be intimidating and heighten thoughts that you can’t do yoga because you can’t replicate the shapes found on instagram. For a healthier life we don’t need to push our bodies beyond our functional movements.
Functional movements are the way we move in real life and yoga is brilliant at promoting many complex functional movements that it’s a good idea to maintain as we get older; getting in and out of chairs without heaving ourselves up by our hands, climbing stairs, getting in and out of the bath - all the things we might take for granted until our later years when parts of our bodies might start to get stiff and more difficult to move.
Normal day to day activities can impair our functional movement such as carrying a bag on one shoulder, carrying your wallet in your back pocket, carrying a child on a hip, rounding the upper back by sustained computer work, gaming or studying, wearing high heels, prolonged periods of time sitting…
As we know yoga is about balance in all things including the way we move; do the right side, then the left side! Your yoga teacher will design a sequence that will include poses that will enhance and support your functional movement because the asanas will encourage your body to bend forwards, backwards, from side to side, twisting, rotations, stretching, strengthening, balancing (this is not an exhaustive list!); moves to keep you mobile and as a bonus keep you mentally nimble too! You don’t need to go beyond functional movement for yoga to be hugely beneficial.
The Yoga Sutras is a text on yoga that talks about the limbs or threads of yoga. Patanjali wrote these about 1700 years ago (more of him in a future blog). There are 195 aphorisms (words of wisdom). The reason I mention these is that the first one roughly translates as: ‘now we begin’. So, to those of you who think you can’t do yoga because you are not flexible enough, I invite you to just begin. Take the first step onto a yoga mat and accept what you can do and don’t compare yourself to anyone else.
Love
Karen x
Kommentare