The other day after practice, I was walking and talking with a fellow student at the shala. At one point she mentioned how that in ashtanga, there is no room for grasping bec
ause there will always be something to attain. This made me think for a moment of my own practice and experience with yoga. In terms of asana, I am about half content to practice whatever my teacher tells me without thinking of what's up next and half can't wait for the next thing. I saw someone doing a pose from fourth series and thought to myself, "do i really need to do that to be fulfilled?" Anyway, she's right. There is always something. There is no room for grasping with ashtanga.
As a teacher, it is very difficult to explain this to a student. Especially a New Yorker. The worst is when a brand new mysore student is given a "cheat sheet" of the series. This only implies to the student that they must learn this entire sequence, and instead of feeling that they are right where they need to be, they feel like everyone knows the entire sequence besides them. Additionally, it takes away from the student teacher dialogue. The student looks to the sheet constantly instead of looking to the teacher for help. At this point I wonder why someone is in class at all and what exactly they expect the role of the teacher to be. I think that cheat sheets can be helpful in some situations, but they aren't necessary. And anyway, these sheets don't teach you alignment, or other subtle aspects of the practice.
It is almost impossible for most beginners to be completely objective about their practice and where they should be in primary series. I mean, they are beginners! Mysore is taught the way it is taught for a reason. each pose leads to the next. You master one before another to avoid injury and to practice what is appropriate for your body, not your ego.
Let's say fine, a person has this sheet and decides they have "completed" first series. Do they then demand a second series sheet by which they haphazardly attempt all poses at will? Yikes! Obviously this is not impossible. There are plenty of videos and books out there. But I think most people would agree that it is better to practice under the guidance of a teacher to avoid injury.
So there is this particular student of mine who is actually probably my best student. He comes in every day with one of these cheat sheets and throws himself around doing whatever poses he feels like, in no particular order, of course. I've finally convinced him to slow down and work on standing postures, but even then, he focuses on "mastering"each posture. For example, in utthita hasta, the man can barely balance, breathe, and hold a drishti, and yet insists on attempting to fold. In one recent instance, I decided he was probably stable enough to give a little bit of assist here. Wrong. This gave him enough confidence to again try to fold, swing his leg about, forget drishti, grasp the air with flailing limbs, and punch me in the face before hitting the ground himself, pretty hard. Hmmm.
But, sometimes punching the teacher in the face and hitting the floor hard is what it takes to give in. Swaha. He came in the next day, without a cheat sheet, ready to listen and actually, he turned out to have a very mindful practice.
And then there are the ankles. I think I finally found out what that body block was that I was trying to exorcise in mysore (check my blog http://www.mysoremusings.blogspot.com/) -- it was an aching heart. This realization came to me on Monday. I don't usually talk relationships... My significant other and I had a big fight Sunday night. A big one. The kind that sends someone to another room to sleep. My practice on Monday was heavy, achy, tight, and the left side of my chest was incredibly tight and sore. When I went for ankle grabbing, never have I felt such a sensation. It was as if a squirrel had built a nest and was hibernating in my chest.
The rest of the week was not so bad as Monday, but now that I notice it, it is hard to ignore. Does love live there? Or does heart ache live there? And when you are in love, doesn't that ache, even when it is good?
ause there will always be something to attain. This made me think for a moment of my own practice and experience with yoga. In terms of asana, I am about half content to practice whatever my teacher tells me without thinking of what's up next and half can't wait for the next thing. I saw someone doing a pose from fourth series and thought to myself, "do i really need to do that to be fulfilled?" Anyway, she's right. There is always something. There is no room for grasping with ashtanga.As a teacher, it is very difficult to explain this to a student. Especially a New Yorker. The worst is when a brand new mysore student is given a "cheat sheet" of the series. This only implies to the student that they must learn this entire sequence, and instead of feeling that they are right where they need to be, they feel like everyone knows the entire sequence besides them. Additionally, it takes away from the student teacher dialogue. The student looks to the sheet constantly instead of looking to the teacher for help. At this point I wonder why someone is in class at all and what exactly they expect the role of the teacher to be. I think that cheat sheets can be helpful in some situations, but they aren't necessary. And anyway, these sheets don't teach you alignment, or other subtle aspects of the practice.
It is almost impossible for most beginners to be completely objective about their practice and where they should be in primary series. I mean, they are beginners! Mysore is taught the way it is taught for a reason. each pose leads to the next. You master one before another to avoid injury and to practice what is appropriate for your body, not your ego.
Let's say fine, a person has this sheet and decides they have "completed" first series. Do they then demand a second series sheet by which they haphazardly attempt all poses at will? Yikes! Obviously this is not impossible. There are plenty of videos and books out there. But I think most people would agree that it is better to practice under the guidance of a teacher to avoid injury.
So there is this particular student of mine who is actually probably my best student. He comes in every day with one of these cheat sheets and throws himself around doing whatever poses he feels like, in no particular order, of course. I've finally convinced him to slow down and work on standing postures, but even then, he focuses on "mastering"each posture. For example, in utthita hasta, the man can barely balance, breathe, and hold a drishti, and yet insists on attempting to fold. In one recent instance, I decided he was probably stable enough to give a little bit of assist here. Wrong. This gave him enough confidence to again try to fold, swing his leg about, forget drishti, grasp the air with flailing limbs, and punch me in the face before hitting the ground himself, pretty hard. Hmmm.
But, sometimes punching the teacher in the face and hitting the floor hard is what it takes to give in. Swaha. He came in the next day, without a cheat sheet, ready to listen and actually, he turned out to have a very mindful practice.
And then there are the ankles. I think I finally found out what that body block was that I was trying to exorcise in mysore (check my blog http://www.mysoremusings.blogspot.com/) -- it was an aching heart. This realization came to me on Monday. I don't usually talk relationships... My significant other and I had a big fight Sunday night. A big one. The kind that sends someone to another room to sleep. My practice on Monday was heavy, achy, tight, and the left side of my chest was incredibly tight and sore. When I went for ankle grabbing, never have I felt such a sensation. It was as if a squirrel had built a nest and was hibernating in my chest.
The rest of the week was not so bad as Monday, but now that I notice it, it is hard to ignore. Does love live there? Or does heart ache live there? And when you are in love, doesn't that ache, even when it is good?
But if you can't strive for poses how do you stay enthused? I feel like for teachers they are comfortable with saying this for themselves--that striving is not the goal. But what about the struggling person like myself ( i am a writer) who struggles to pay for classes that after almost 4 years I am still stuck on the marichasynas. I do mysore pretty much every day except saturdays, moondays and ladies holidays. I feel like I am risking much and getting little and am wondering if Ashtanga is just not for me? What would you say to this?
ReplyDeletethanks. your blog is great.
hey elise, sorry about your fight with the so. it happens. emotions are powerful, aren't they? you'll need to live with the pain for a while.
ReplyDeleteanon brings up some important points and it sort of reminds me of cody's recent post. you commented over there as well. but anon may not be your student so you may not be able to help her move beyond.
HI a
ReplyDeletethanks so much for the comments. for the record, I am not a student of Elise's. I read cody's post and will say that my issue with the marichasynas is not knee related at all, I'm pretty flexible.( i also take a supplement called MSM that I have found really helps my overall flexibilty tremendously). I have no problems doing Mari A and B, C and D are the ornery ones. The crazy thing is I used to be able to get C with no assitance last year and my teacher was able to put me in D for a time and then i lost it. This cycle has happened more than once and its really frustrating. I think my real issue is that I am an emotional eater and even though I am not really heavy, practice veganism and stay away from most processed foods when i am depressed I eat more than usual, and it seems to show it's self in my middle area. And with the ever changing evolution of my practice, along with just the frustartion and stress of having to pay for classes so that I can work under a skilled teacher this has been adding to that depression in some ways and I have gone in between having a practice that inspires me to having a practice that ires me. So I'm really trying hard to work on the eating aspect now.
In general to asana practice I try not to think on these things and just try to focus on all the things I can tweak up till Marichasyna D. Theres always a ton-- I still can't jump through or jump back clearly so I try to work on that, I still don't know all of the sanskrit and vinyasa counts of the poses, so i work on that. I try to really focus on strengthening my inhale/exhale, working on the bandhas and my dristi. You'd think that would be enough right? But by the time I get to finishing I am so uninspired I find myself cheating on those poses in terms of enthusiasm, because i just can't wait to lave the room.
Then i spend time thinking that perhaps i should take some pilates classes a few days a week or some dance classes, but i can't really afford that and am really looking for Ashtanga as an overall system for mind, body, and spirit. I used to get a certain thrill from yoga practice that i just don't get anymore and this idea of not reaching for something within the practice-- grasping as elise calls it-- seems not feasible for me.
sorry for the rant.