Yoga is not about touching your toes
I am thrilled to see yoga in the mainstream however I can also see that it’s still greatly misunderstood by many of the people that could really benefit by practicing on a regular basis. I know these same people would really enjoy it as well. One of my new students said to me that she was embarrassed that she had not been this relaxed for a long time. Many of us can relate to this, we are all so consumed by ‘doing’ that we never really STOP. On top of this, people are embarrassed to try a class, even a private yoga class because of the misconception that yoga is primarily about being skinny, uber-flexible and twenty something. They think if they can’t touch their toes then yoga isn’t for them. Thanks to the Accessible Yoga movement and rock star educators like Dianne Bondy these stereotypes are shifting and more and more folks of all body types, health conditions and backgrounds are making it to the mat.
In my twenties it seemed I always had time to listen to whole albums, read entire novels and simply lie in the grass. Life accelerated, and I found myself with less and less time to simply be. I need yoga to tap into quiet space. What I have found is that the specific quietness of yoga is energizing and replenishing in a way other activities are not. For example I love swimming, I love the experience of being submerged, gliding through cool liquid and simultaneously feeling the warmth of the sun. I like swimming as exercise, I can enjoy the tactile experiences described and get a full body work out and some good breath work. As much as I try to make this a moving meditation, as much as I enjoy the sensory experience, as much as I feel great after time in the pool or ocean it does not compare to the clarity, the feelings of fulfillment and energy I hold when I emerge from a good yoga or meditation practice.
Why is this so? A complete yoga practice will take us into the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the rest and digest response rather than the sympathetic nervous system. The fight, flight or freeze response. When we are in the rest part of our physiology our bodies can heal or move towards wholeness. What else is happening? Vital life energy that is stored, prana or chi, is slowly being released upwards through the spine. This awakens us emotionally, psychically and ultimately spiritually. This can be achieved seated, or lying down, one does not need to have a very physical practice, although one could. I can’t emphasize enough that the very physical and at times acrobatic practice that many people see and associate with yoga is only there to bring people to their backs for deep relaxation, and then to their seats to meditate.
If you can’t touch your toes you are really way ahead, you’ll be on your back sooner!
If you are suffering from stress related conditions, if you are in recovery from life or a surgery, or preparing for one, now or in the future you have the power to change your trajectory. You have the power to change your reality. Whether you are 99 years young, 59 years something or19 years old, you can always choose to get to know your body, your mind, thoughts and emotions through yoga and have a blast. The practice on the mat re-calibrates your course.
The judgement you used to hold about a body that is stiff and doesn’t want to bend dissolves. Your anxieties can also fade away. It’s happening for millions of people all around the world. Why not you? Yoga is not about touching your toes. It’s about moving through states of deep relaxation into states of higher living, expanded states of joy. It gives you the strength and the wisdom to move slowly and kindly through the minefields of our emotions and thoughts just going as far as you need to on any given day. If we’re particularly lucky we’ll be airlifted out of these dangerous terrains, integrating life’s lessons and self knowledge as we go. Smooth sailing ahead!
If you want to touch your toes I recommend taking a feather and tickling them.