I had a conversation recently with a colleague. They asked me what I thought about ‘stretching’ and hatha yoga…and they wanted to know how my approach might be different.
Here’s an attempt to put a sensory, visceral, lived experience into words:
“When I teach Yoga it’s about movement, and my students end up moving through multiple repetitions of gradually fuller-range movements, with encouragement to keep it active, dynamic, supported – it’s more about moving through space than ‘seeking stretch sensation’ or ‘going as deep as possible’. I’m interested in integrity. Sustainability.
And if we’re using movement as a tool to train the mind and embodiment, let’s see how subtle and supple we can get.
They {my students} end up possibly doing a whole lot more transferring of weight, changing stances and balance sequences than some other classes…It also depends upon their level of conscious awareness. My cues are directed at waking up their attention, ie nervous systems, and switching on active support, making connections in their body, fine tuning how they move or ‘live’ in a pose. I want to practice with people who want to learn how to fully show up and work with purpose, discernment.
This takes a willingness to slow down.
When we hold poses we build stamina, warmth, etc but I do my best to not ‘allow them’ to check out or go passive…engagement of whole person, yes, please.
And of course, we meet the challenge of a pose/position with the subtle awareness of breath oscillations, that they’re really still ‘moving’ and helping them understand how to feel it, engage with it… Rather than going to and holding a pose at ‘end range’, I ask my students to scale back some and feel the contrasting movements and life in the inhale and exhale.”
Hope this musing was helpful to understand my approach, and to get your brains storming as teachers!
How do you describe your classes or sequences? What’s your approach to Yoga?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Onward, Inward – may your practice light up your life.
Cheri