Falling Off the Yoga Horse

“I can't do Yoga anymore-- there is too much going on in my life and it is an emotional time for me.”  confessed a student recently.   I remember when he started his Introductory month of Yoga-- his shoulders slumped forward and his eyes drooped as he pushed the pen across the sign-in sheet. After a few months of coming to class regularly I saw him walk into the studio one day-- I had to look twice-- he was walking tall, shoulders back with a big smile on his face as he greeted me. His whole energy had changed and it was obvious that he made a positive shift in his life. 

Why fall off the Yoga horse now? The most common reasons I hear “ I cannot afford it or “I am too busy” that is my personal favorite. But deep down I know time or money is not the real reason I conveniently fill my time with everything but Yoga.  Typically, the impulse to stop my practice signals to me that something is coming up-- an inner obstacle, so to speak. The masters know this well-- resistance appears when we have bumped up against ourselves.  We can either become present and dig deeper by investigating what the block is or do a complete 180 and high-tail it the other way!  I have run many times by over-indulging my sweet tooth or over-booking myself-- “Oh, can’t practice now I am busy eating chocolate and saving the world!” It can look quite funny as I zoom off to teach a class with my thermos of chai balancing on my bumper.  But I know that running does not work because the obstacle will appear again down the road.

Inner obstacles are habitual ways of thinking or acting that are not serving your Highest good and the way in which these habits play out in your life tend to impact yourself or others.  Let’s tackle the obstacles of boredom and doubt. You are on an upswing in your Yoga practice and filled with feelings of great expansion and euphoria. You say to yourself “ Yoga is the best thing ever, I going to do this for the rest of my life!”. You even go out and indulge in $120 Lululemon yoga pants and $100 Manduka mat and make a pledge to practice 5 times a week.  After a few weeks or months you reach a plateau and the big openings subside.  You wonder if Yoga has just stopped working.  

Before you recycle your new mat, inquire a little deeper.  Why? Because, if you are bored in your practice you can bet there is a sense of dullness in your life.  There may even be a deeper pattern of incessantly looking for the next best thing by switching jobs or changing partners or getting a new iPhone every few months.  Changing out your phone may not do much harm to yourself or others but certainly being dull or disengaged in your relationships will. 

The good news is that Yoga does help you face life’s challenges with an incredible amount of strength, grace and skill but first it reveals what is blocking the flow of vital energy inside of you. Sometimes a limiting pattern and all its repercussions are difficult to look at, hence the resistance to practice.  When these obstacles arise-- this is a critical moment. If you choose to focus on your practice in the very moment you want to leave it-- you have direct access to shift it. And, you may find that the obstacle turns into a doorway that once opened it reveals a glimpse of your True Nature or the Self, Spirit, or whatever you call it. It is a state of awareness within that is completely free and infinitely joyful.  

Yoga in its true form is a purification, self-reflective, and devotional (not religious) practice. I have to mention that most of the Yoga in the West is grossly devoid of the deeper aspects of practice that can lead to real transformation-- searching for a rich, authentic and grounded Yoga class is essential.  The tools of Yoga, not only asana (postures) but also pranyama (breath), sound and meditation are designed to spiral you into your center and bring you closer to the truth of who you are by burning away what you are not.  The practice connects you to the ever-present, pulsating life-force within you that is part of the Divine energy of the Universe called Shakti. Through self-refection and consistent practice or sadhana in Sanskrit, this intensely wonderful process allows you to experience greater states of freedom and joy. Now we are talking! (I have relaxed my sweet-tooth and put away the chocolate bar.) 

This does not happen over night, nor does it happen in a linear fashion. (Ok, I will eat just one square). Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.14 says that with sincere and proper practice over a long period of time that the fruits of yoga are revealed.  Like everything else in life your Yoga practice has its ups and downs too.  But quitting when you are down is not the way to go.  When you feel like quitting, this is precisely when you should engage your practice with vigor and compassion as transformation is at hand.  

Yoga is a profound path of knowing your self-- both your strengths and the habits that limit you and using them as a doorway to connect  to the Higher Self. And as Patanjali’s first Yoga Sutra says “Atha Yoganusasanam” -- And now the practice of Yoga can begin.  Yoga is a beautifully winding road with the perfect obstacles to help us realize who we are.  The journey will challenge us but the inner freedom and outer smile show that the choice to engage our practice fully was worth it!


Namaste, 
Sienna Smith RYT
yoga therapist and owner YMS  

Help! Is Yoga Good or Bad for Me?

Help! Is Yoga Good or Bad for Me? 

With the recent snow storm in the press about Yoga I can’t tell if Yoga is good or bad for me? Signed~ an open-hearted, hand-standing, stretchy-pant wearing, wheat-grass drinking yogini. (Oops...that could be me!)  Actually, I think the better question is Why do Yoga?  With news reports on falling Yoga gurus and Yogas historic link to sex cults (not true) hot in the mainstream presses I have to say I am thankful because it has spurred many people to question Yoga.  Good! Less blind followers and more awakened inquirers.  Now we can focus on what Yoga really has to offer.

Occasionally while teaching, I ask students while holding a rigorous pose like plank or chair-- Why are you practicing Yoga anyway? Why are you doing this pose, what is the point?  Spontaneous awakening occurs!  What do you mean, Why?  You can sleep through your vinyasa flow, you can check-out in downward dog but as soon as you question what you are doing, while in the act of doing it,  you are surged into the present moment.  Super!  Yoga is all about waking up and becoming aware of your actions and habits. Now the practice of Yoga can begin and healing is accessible because attention is channeled into the here and now. Yes, Yoga is a path of real transformation and healing by way of presence.

Back to the current Yoga media circus-- now John will juggle 5 balls of fire while hula-hooping and dropping into wheel pose-- admit, it would be fantastic to see!  On the bright side the New York Times articles, even though poking ruthlessly at Yoga, has turned up Yoga students’ inner inquiry machine which I am happy to see. As we get more in touch with the Why of Yoga we fling the door of attention open and can see the real intentions for Why we practice. I want a nice butt, I want to meet hot women, I am depressed and lonely... now we are getting somewhere. Questioning is a doorway to the room of truth. Do you enter?  Not the truth of whether John Friend (a worldwide Yoga superstar) slept with wiccan women or consensually sex-texted a student but the deeper inquiry of “How can I use all that I encounter to learn more about myself and my own intentions thereby offering me the gift of developing my personal truth.  In the end, honest self-reflection will not only reveal the root of our deepest desires and motivations but will make us better leaders, teachers and students of Yoga and of Life.

When I heard the news flashes in the NYT, Huffington Post, and FB Blogs about falling Yoga rock stars, yoga as risky business, sex and yoga I realized it was time to ask myself again-- Why Yoga? I have asked this question throughout my 17 year practice and needless to say-- I am still practicing.  Here is why.

From childhood trauma, accidents, bed ridden whiplash, cracked sternum, two births to heart break Yoga has been the best healing salve I have ever applied.  This practice empowered me to step up and be my own healer. Yoga delivers a tough love punch and says~ buck-up whiners and realize that nothing or nobody is going to save you.  No teacher, no pill, no-thing outside of myself is going to do it for me.  Yoga is a relentless truth illuminating practice that calls for nothing but my full and complete honesty and presence.  It is an intense inner cooking process whose high-heat and pressure has produced a brilliant inner diamond.  This brilliant gem I speak of is  the development of a deep inner knowing-- a connection to an unwavering, blindingly bright light within that continues to astound me.  As you can imagine-- it has changed my life.  

My hope is that students buy neither the hype nor the criticism of Yoga.  That we turn to our spiritual practice whether Yoga or some other tradition to develop a process of self-reflection that leads to a revelation of our personal truth. That we listen to our own body, heart and mind and continue to evolve a living truth within. That we are less mesmerized by flowery language or the perfect asana of a rising star teacher-- and more trusting of and rooted in our direct experience. That we practice Yoga because we feel ‘something’ unmistakably beautiful unfolding. They we feel the flow and grace that inevitably comes with dedicated Yoga practice and the exhilaration and clarity that comes from nothing bought, borrowed or sold. 

YOGA is a path to awakening and it has helped me to question myself and the world I live in. To search for my own truth, to root deep in my own soul and to connect to the universal energy that is luminous and never changing.  Yes, never changing.. even if all the Yoga gurus decided to have an orgy, burn Tantric yoga flags and party all night long.

The media will move on to the next more sensational thing that comes along... and I will still be practicing and teaching what I know to be a deeply meaningful and life affirming path of Yoga.  I bow to my teachers however flawed they may be. Ultimately, they have taught me to rely on my own experience and trust myself as my own guru.  With deep respect for all yogis and yoginis. Practice on~ Namaste!