"The yoga postures and breath are tools to rebuild and transform ourselves. The goal is not to tie ourselves in knots--we're already tied in knots. The aim is to untie the knots in our hearts. The aim is to unite with the ultimate, loving and peaceful power of the universe."
--max strom
Sometimes, when I ask strangers if they've tried yoga, they give me a squidgy look and say, "I'm not a pretzel."
Whether it's because high profile yoga marketing (yoga journal, anyone?) typically puts athletic, contorted models on the cover, or because someone sitting in meditation doesn't sell ad campaigns, some non-yogis step into their first class with an overwhelming sense of smallness and/or anxiety.
They are the brave ones. The rest are kept outside the door by their misconceptions of a yoga class.
If they do try yoga and keep coming back with this misconception, it morphs into something potentially damaging. This thought process pushes some students to think the more "advanced" their practice becomes, the more complex their poses "should" be. And so, you will see a group of power yogis who can't breathe in triangle attempting a 1/2 moon balance, possibly reaching back for their ankle to bind. . .
It reminds me of another "max-ism:" He once said, "It's not the pose you can do that matters, it's who you are when you get there."
He is teaching two commonly missed ideas. One, that the journey is more important than the destination (if you are concerned with being perfect in a pose, you are probably missing the mental connection to it, and therefore any possible transformation). And two, that the internal is more important than the external.
Chances are, if we are berating ourselves for wobbling in warrior 3, we are not doing yoga. Chances are, if we are praising ourselves for our new found strength in chatarunga, we are not doing yoga.
If we are seeking only to fold and twist and (remove our lower ribs to fit into a Colonial corset) and pull ourselves into an "advanced" pose, then we are only entangling ourselves further into our spider web-like ego.
Being mindful--without pride or judgment, in any pose, on and off the mat--is yoga. And that is, as Max says, what unties the knots in our hearts.
[what do you think? how has your perception changed? what helped that happen?]
--max strom
Sometimes, when I ask strangers if they've tried yoga, they give me a squidgy look and say, "I'm not a pretzel."
Whether it's because high profile yoga marketing (yoga journal, anyone?) typically puts athletic, contorted models on the cover, or because someone sitting in meditation doesn't sell ad campaigns, some non-yogis step into their first class with an overwhelming sense of smallness and/or anxiety.
They are the brave ones. The rest are kept outside the door by their misconceptions of a yoga class.
If they do try yoga and keep coming back with this misconception, it morphs into something potentially damaging. This thought process pushes some students to think the more "advanced" their practice becomes, the more complex their poses "should" be. And so, you will see a group of power yogis who can't breathe in triangle attempting a 1/2 moon balance, possibly reaching back for their ankle to bind. . .
It reminds me of another "max-ism:" He once said, "It's not the pose you can do that matters, it's who you are when you get there."
He is teaching two commonly missed ideas. One, that the journey is more important than the destination (if you are concerned with being perfect in a pose, you are probably missing the mental connection to it, and therefore any possible transformation). And two, that the internal is more important than the external.
Chances are, if we are berating ourselves for wobbling in warrior 3, we are not doing yoga. Chances are, if we are praising ourselves for our new found strength in chatarunga, we are not doing yoga.
If we are seeking only to fold and twist and (remove our lower ribs to fit into a Colonial corset) and pull ourselves into an "advanced" pose, then we are only entangling ourselves further into our spider web-like ego.
Being mindful--without pride or judgment, in any pose, on and off the mat--is yoga. And that is, as Max says, what unties the knots in our hearts.
[what do you think? how has your perception changed? what helped that happen?]
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