Sometimes things don’t go as planned. But honestly, do they ever?
Losing yourself in a yoga flow.
Thoughts on being elsewhere in a sequence during a group class…
I am sure that if you’re reading this, you’ve found yourself at least in one yoga class at a yoga studio. Now, picture yourself there, one human amongst many, on the mats lined out across the room. The teacher has a beautiful creative sequence for you, the music is speaking to you on a deep level and you are able to reach that Zen spot, where you feel united in your body and mind. You are not thinking about what comes next, you are not thinking about what to have for dinner, you are not thinking about that annoying argument you had at work before you reached the yoga studio. Well first off, congratulations and deep gratitude towards yourself for reaching such a place of peace and comfort and awareness for the moment and yourself. Every new posture your body adopts, you are truly welcoming, feeling all the sensations, listening to your breath. You might even close your eyes.
Now, at some point, you lose that focus off of yourself for just a moment and you gaze around the room. And you realize everybody, or let’s say most of the class, is doing a different posture. Maybe they are ahead in the sequence, maybe they are one step back or just doing the alignment completely differently. And you start to think “Oh shit, I messed up”.
Well, here is a provoking thought for you: It doesn’t fucking matter.
Wherever your body might be at that point, in whatever position, in whatever asana, is really not any indicator for a successful yoga practice. I’ve said it many times before and I will happily say again and again and again until you’ve internalized it so much that I bore you: There is no such thing as being good or bad at yoga.
When you have reached a point in your practice where you are in tune with your feelings, your breath, are able to focus on the tiny little (or even very big) sensations of your body as it flows through the different postures, embrace it, love it, cherish it. And if that means you are in a different physical alignment than the rest of the class or the teacher, fuck it. Go do your own thing.
A lot of times as a teacher I have felt the urge to correct students physically. If I had seen a student like that in my class, I would have probably gone there to correct them. But there is a big difference between correcting an alignment with a student and actually helping them, and taking them out of their flow. It requires a lot of time, practice, awareness and ease to catch situations like that. To understand that difference. So maybe your teacher, and myself included, doesn’t see that you actually arrived to your fucking sweet spot, well go with the flow. Let them correct you, be open and try to learn maybe even a little bit. After all that correction might help you feel even better. But my main point and takeaway here is: Do not give a damn about what the other students are doing if it feels good for yourself. Enjoy. Embrace. And know that you have done yoga that was nourishing to your mind and body.
