Mind-Body Connection Optional?
I continually assert that yoga practice encompasses more than physical fitness. As much as I generally try to avoid admitting it, this does implicitly question whether the use of yoga poses for physical fitness alone can even be considered yoga practice. My interpretation of what constitutes a yoga practice aside for now, I am thinking of a specific example where a principle of exercise science is at odds with a holistic perspective.
In Yoga, the principle of Adaptation refers to the ability of a practice to meet the individual needs of the student, not just in physical terms but in every sense of the person. Adaptation in yoga is not only considered a good thing but the hallmark of a skilled teacher.
In the physical fitness realm, the principle of Adaptation refers to the concept of when an exercise is repeated often without variation, the body assimilates and the benefits are diminished. Adaptation in physical fitness is considered an impediment to continued growth and is the basis for another principle, Overload, which states that a greater than normal stress or load on the body is required.
My intent here is not to parse semantics. It’s just that there seems to be a lot of yoga classes that embrace the physical fitness sensibility. The enticing arsenal of classical yoga asana has made for a perfect marriage. Many yoga teachers are less concerned with any interpersonal realities that exist and instead see their role as someone to forever challenge students to do more with interesting sequences and playlists.
After a recent class of mine, a vinyasa teacher asked: “If we don’t take ourselves to the edge and beyond, how will we ever grow?”
I think of growth in yoga like I think of growth in plants. Watering a plant more does not necessarily make it grow faster or better. In fact, over watering plants will kill them. In order to grow, plants need the right amount of water on the right days and it happens over time like the way wind and water shapes mountains. Granted, some plants require more water than others.
I embrace a measured engagement in my practice. I’m not interested in pushing mine or anyone else’s physical limits. I discovered that it’s possible to be very strong and flexible, have amazing asana alignment, accomplish all kinds of miraculous feats with your body and still have lots of pain and feel miserable. It makes no sense to me that the body needs to be pushed, stressed or imposed upon in order to serve a persons growth. In my experience, forever taking the body to its “edge” leads to chronic pain down the road.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to take anything away from anyone. If you enjoy physical challenge and want to provide that to yourself by forever changing up and increasing the intensity of your work out, rock on I say. I’m merely suggesting that yoga practice is not cross-circuit training. These two things can be complimentary but are not the same. Although, going to most yoga classes today, folks have no way of knowing.
In layman’s terms, the aspect of yoga that makes it different then just working out is often referred to as the “mind-body connection.” This is a rote acknowledgement that the health of a person cannot be objectively measured in physical prowess. Recent studies in exercise science state that: “Low intensity exercise improves health but may not be very beneficial for improving physical fitness.”
When it comes to physical fitness alone, the “mind-body connection” is optional. If you’re training for a marathon or particular sport activity, you need to tough it out and do that boot camp stuff if you want your body to be conditioned properly for the task. How your feeling, whats going on in your life or whether or not your enjoying the work out are largely irrelevant.
I maintain that yoga practice is not concerned with developing physical fitness beyond what is necessary for a healthy functioning body. If we use the forms beyond that, for physical fitness purposes alone, then I think it ceases to be yoga practice and becomes something else. Lose the mind-body connection and you lose the yoga.
I definitely experienced the difference between American “physical fitness” yoga vs. the more internally-directed, awareness-oriented yoga in India. I find that in yoga classes in America people often become impatient after holding poses for a few seconds longer than normal, whereas in India poses were frequently held for minutes at a time, in total silence! In my heart I know yoga is much deeper than physical prowess and aesthetics alone, but as a yoga practitioner and teacher here in the States, I struggle with finding balance in my classes, since with the high $ of yoga classes here, it seems like people often come with the attitude of “getting their money’s worth” in terms of accomplishing acrobatic, measurable feats with the body and not “wasting time” in silence/meditation/deep awareness.
I hear you Julia. Here in the NYC area, the “I paid now give me the yoga, and I want the good yoga, the kind that Madonna gets…..” is common. I have found that there are ways to assuage this expectation some without compromising ones principles. At the same time, some folks are just not interested and that’s fine too.
I remember a time when I had stopped going to yoga classes and was only doing a therapeutic self practice at home but was still teaching power vinyasa classes to pay my bills. That’s when I met Mark Whitwell (see him on youtube) and he told me that if I don’t teach what I am doing at home then I am a fraud. And he was right.
When I first changed my class, a lot of my regulars were not into it and left. As time went on, a whole new sort of student started showing up. I have found that if you are able to utilize practice for yourself and can share your experience with others in an honest and giving way then the folks who are to be students to you will come.
For whatever its worth, you might explore coming up with the right name for your class (if you have some say in the matter.) I now it sounds silly but if you’re teaching in a place that has a lot of different types of classes, the right title can often bring the right students.
Cheers.
Well said J. This, combined with our earlier discussion on the subject has me thinking about what other factors make yoga what it is as opposed to something else. I think that even a very physically demanding practice can be yoga, but it depends on the practitioner and their intention. One of the very popular teachers in Houston teaches classes that are too fast-paced for me – I know this by experience (kicked my butt). However, what I observed was that for the students who were fit enough to do the class, it became meditative – and indeed that was her intention. The movement was challenging enough for them at their level that it requiired intense concentration and moved other thoughts out of consciousness for a while. This is the same basic princile of focusing on the breath to calm the mind. So, definitely two aspects of yoga are that its is differenmt for different yogins and it involves intention. On the flip side, there are students who attend the studio where I learned yoga and now teach yoga who put as little effort into their practice as possible complain about the room being too hot or too cold, or a practice being too hard, etc, etc. These folks may say that they want something more out of their yoga, but they aren’t willing to put enough into it to get what they claim to want. I’m not at all certain these folks aree really doing yoga either. In our previous discussion, I think we agreed that Ahimsa is requirede for Yoga to be Yoga. Thse folks who continually push to hard and are unmindful of the effects of this aren’t really doing yoga. Likewise, those who practice without sufficient Tapas are also not really doing yoga. Maybe the answer really in right in front of our faces – The Yamas and Niyamas came first in Patanjali’s yoga for many reasons.
Namaste’
Scott
J, There seems to be an international resonance with your writing. I have stepped back from commercial studio teaching due to my own questioning. My question being what exactly is happening in commercial yoga studios? What are we teaching really? Acrobatic and ‘ego’ development. G Feuerstein the respected ‘scholar’ said it clearly when he spoke of a modern day narcissism within the obsession of performing postures.
May the tradition that we are all learning and developing from be honored. May our questions lead us all deeper than a ‘cool playlist’ and ‘perfect posture’.
Hi J,
Thanks for a great blog. I am going to steal your watering plants theory and use it in my buisness life (I have an eco friendly clothing line). I find I am always on the edge with it trying to keep up with everyone around me. Thanks again, you have shed a new light for me.
Jenn
Hey Jennifer- By all means, steal away. I am grateful to be of some use. Thanks for taking a moment to read and respond.
As I am also a fellow online blogger I know it’s extremely difficult to come up with worthwhile article ideas all the time! And so I just briefly wanted to say: great work, I enjoyed this one very much!
preaching to the choir. again.
and I LOVE Mark W. he told me the same thing in the very first workshop I ever did with him. gotta keep it real….
J., I’ve visited your blog a few times now and really enjoying it. I especially like that you are “real” and share from your own experience. Keep up the good work!
I agree with you completely about the mind-body connection versus mere “physical fitness.” The mind-body (or if I dare say it, “spiritual”) dimension was implicit in the hatha yoga I learned as a child and I was actually surprised to find modern yoga schools completely ignoring that aspect and treating yoga as gymnastics. Even though in my youth (and to a lesser extent now, at 48) I could do the gymnastics, it was more about how it made me feel inside than about physical fitness per se. I have always emphasized the mind-body connection to my students, even those who are fitness-oriented and eager to do the more advanced asanas, like headstand.
I was happy to discover Mark Whitwell’s Heart of Yoga supporting the adaptation of yoga to the needs of the individual, as well as the emphasis on the breath as opposed to gymnastics. Interestingly, since adopting his subtle refinements to my practice, I have discovered, to my surprise and delight, that the more “difficult” asanas have suddenly become much easier for me! For example, dropping into a backbend from standing used to give me a feeling of real fear, but breathing in the HOY style has made it nearly effortless (well, at least on the beach). At a workshop with Mark he mentioned pushing ourselves just to the limit – of our breath. Being very conscious of my breath has allowed me to know just how far I can safely go in asana without hurting myself. As a result I am actually getting more “fitness” out of my practice despite my advanced age and even though I’m doing it (as always) with a “spiritual” intent!
So, I think the mind-body connection is is also valuable from a “fitness” standpoint.
Here in northern FL most of my students are actually RELIEVED that the yoga I teach is not primarily about “physical fitness.” Some of them have taken a “gymnastics” type yoga class in the past and were quite intimidated by it. Others had never even tried yoga, assuming that they would not be able to do it. I’ve heard comments like, “It hurt just LOOKING at it!” These students desire relaxation and a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection, and are pleasantly surprised to find their fitness level increasing despite the relatively “easy” asanas. For other students who are more fit and desire a “challenge,” I offer more difficult asanas, and for real “fitness,” Pilates (or as my students call it, “torture.”) But we always end the class with shivasana and meditation.