When I opened my yoga studio over two years ago, I realized that yoga (of all things in the world) is intimidating to like, everyone. It always catches me off guard and im still surprised that people are intimidated by the idea of someone else judging them so much so, that it keeps them from something joyful. All I hear when I tell people to come to class, it’s good for the soul, is “Oh, I could never i’m not built for yoga” to which I always reply yoga is for EVERY-body. I also constantly hear, “Im not nearly flexible enough for all those poses!” To which I always reply, Saying your not flexible enough for yoga is like saying you’re too dirty to take a bath. It never seems to be enough, our personal limitations that we insist on setting for ourselves hold us back from doing things that ultimately would heal ourselves from those limitations. All expectations that you set for yourself create disappointment in some realm of our mind. That being said, for two years I’ve been searching through books and podcasts and my mind for the proper way to make a PSA to all people who are afraid to come to yoga. I’m going to do my best here to clear the tension in the air between you and what is ultimately holding you back from freedom. Let’s start with a quote,
Sometimes I try to picture myself in my very first yoga class. Ambitious, driven by the wonderment of the yogic world. It was all so exciting to find a new depth in life and a path that I could self express through. I suppose I was so caught up in a place of wonderment that I didn’t give a shit if I was doing something wrong or if someone was judging me. Hell- I plopped myself right up at the front of the room and stared into the instructors soul waiting to be deeply guided. And for that I am thankful. I have so much gratitude for my journey and the teachers that embraced and helped me, that sometimes I forget that attending a yoga class can be daunting. I forgot all about my insecurities and physical limitations because I was searching for something more in life and yoga gave that to me. Sometimes in life we have to be willing to put up with uncomfortable things in order to get to the other side of peace. We have to be willing to place ourselves in challenging situations to reap the benefits that lie on the other side of the dark tunnel. Your internal limitations are your own private politics, and I think you should vote for the better candidate; the health of your soul.
Some days I walk into class to teach and I sit on my rug, look up, and every student in class is 7 rows back set up all the way to the back of the studio. There is this common misconception that if they don’t set up in the back row they will be judged or confused in class with no one to watch and everyone to watch them. PSA; It does not matter one bit where you put your yoga mat down in the studio, you will still be the only person judging you. My advice to you is to walk into the studio and look around for a spot that has surroundings which invoke calmness and inspiration. Set up next to someone that has good energy. Set up close to the wall if you want something to support your balance. Set up next to your favorite plant. The only time you should be looking on someone else’s mat is for guidance if you missed a cue or are unsure of the placement on your own mat. Don’t ever set yourself up in the back of the room because you think that’s where you belong or how confident you feel. Being in a studio class is all about invoking connection and driving us closer to the source that lies within us all. Setting up far away from other yogis and the daunting front of the room only limits that for you.
When yoga first travelled to the west, it first landed in larger cities like LA and NYC. These big cities did yoga a disservice by molding it into this glamourous illusion that it wasn’t all inclusive, and you did need the name brand yoga pants and expensive mat and go figure the perfect body and practice. In India yoga is practiced on dirt floors, with robes or sometimes rags and the only thing they are working on is transcending suffering and studying the self. They are all taught that the physical body and physical practice is just the tool to get you deeper. Even though the body is involved, our yoga practice is spiritual. Somewhere in its journey to the west the true meaning of yoga got lost and redefined. Everyone takes their practice so seriously that they miss the real productivity; joy! From the book Happy Yoga, author Steve Ross perfectly verbalizes this,
Yoga is a spiritual practice. It’s not about becoming more spiritual in the way you look or the terms you memorize, it’s about how you feel at any given moment. It’s about your experience. The point is to transcend suffering, not endure more of it. It’s not necessary, in my opinion, to develop a hernia in order to have a great yoga practice. The pretty girl next to you may be able to wrap her legs around her head, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy, nor does it mean she has a better practice than you. You don’t know her inner state. I suggest that you set your own pace and go as far as you want to go with your body. Many of the happiest people I know are stiff as boards, and some of the really flexible ones- yoga teachers included- are neurotic and unhappy, so don’t get stuck in superficial displays. The real practice is deeper than appearances.
Ross, S., & Rosewood, O. (2003). The Only Prison is Perception. In Happy yoga: 7 reasons why there’s nothing to worry about. essay, Regan Books.
Everything that you do on your yoga mat is yoga. The perfection of postures, the falling all over the place out of balance. The ideal pranayama technique in perfect rhythm with your soul & the class where you forget to breathe the entire time. The most still mind and a picture of serene bliss on your face, and the scrunched eyebrows and tense jaw holding the side plank. It is called a yoga practice, not a yoga performance, and my studio is a safe space for you to practice however you need to on a day to day, moment to moment basis. Our yoga studio is a place of community and acceptance. If you came to class and laid in savasana the entire hour, that would be your practice and no one would have anything to say about it. Quite frankly no one cares one bit what your practice looks like, everyone is working and breathing focus on ourselves and our own space we have enough to think about. Not to mention you’re upside down half of class and cued to close your eyes anyway! Yogis that would waste their energy on judging someone in class, aren’t yogis at all. I believe that I’ve created a space where those thoughts aren’t welcome. The only person judging you is yourself. Come to yoga class often enough and the physical body loses its wonderment, were all sweaty, some are releasing with a cry during savasana, other are shaking in down dog. No one, myself included has a perfect practice and believe it or not you’re the only one that cares. Bodies are just bodies, and feeling judgement or anxiety about coming to a yoga class gives your ego power over your heart. Our bodies are containers for the heart and soul of life, and if we let it limit us then we are foolish and missing out on a deep reward of a healed soul.
Ultimately our practice is empowering and provides us with a fierce examination of ourselves that can sometimes become the real intimidation. If we let the illusion of perfection hold us back in our lives our souls suffer, and yoga is the relinquishing of just that. Yoga is so much more than the body. If you really think that you, the self, is just the body and nothing more or less you’re really missing out on the special and magical parts of life. To practice yoga deeper we can eventually send our awareness on an ocean cruise set off far from boundaries and physical limitations. You become less likely to seek, and more aware of knowing. You find yourself in a state of freedom more often than fear. Yoga allows a shift to happen in your life from a point of suffering to a point of surrender.
I truly cannot recommend it enough.
Thanks for reading, Maybe I’ll see you in class sometime
Peace
Finn
SoulWorks Yoga 