I’m not very good a yoga.

This phrase comes up quite often when meeting new people and I tell them what I do for a living. Either this or “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga.” Here and now I would like to offer my thoughts and feelings towards these sentences and to hopefully guide your thinking in a new direction.

Let’s start off with the thought that there is no good or bad when it comes to yoga. There’s no right or wrong and if someone tells you otherwise, I implore you to ask why. 

Ashtanga Yoga

In yoga, there is something called Ashtanga Yoga, otherwise known as The 8 Limbs of Yoga. Essentially these 8 limbs or pathways will lead you to liberation. Now, why is this relevant to the ‘not being good at yoga’ statement? This is because there is so much depth and scope to yoga, that you needn’t use only one aspect of it. The aspect most people are referring to when they say “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga”, is asana (postures). 

Asana

Asana is the 3rd limb of Ashtanga Yoga. It focuses on creating and maintaining a strong and health body in order to achieve a meditative state. If the body is at an un-ease, then the mind will become so. Therefore the practice of asana is import to keep the body strong yet agile enough to withstand the way we live. Focusing on asana, yes there are ways to do certain poses and doing them in a different way may induce an injury. That begin said, as long as you practice with awareness you will avoid most incidents.

Yamas

Back to The 8 Limbs of Yoga. There is so many options to choose from when it come to yoga. So many different styles, practices and ways in which to apply it in your daily life. The first limb is called Yama or the do’s of yoga. There are five do’s of yoga, one of them being Ahimsa (non-violence). If you just adhered to this practice of non-violence in all its forms, then you are practicing yoga. If you attach yourself to an aggressive way of living, then maybe try Astaya (non-stealing). By practicing one or all of the Yamas, you will most likely be lead down a path in which you cannot help but follow. This is another beautiful thing about yoga, one thing leads onto the next in an almost seamless way.

The great thing about yoga is that it is a tool that everyone can use.

The meaning of ‘bad’.

The only reason we believe we are ‘bad’ at yoga or at anything for that matter, is because we have set ourselves a bar of which if we don’t reach, we class ourselves as bad. This bar has been implanted into our conscience by the media and wrongful education. At points it is good to challenge ourselves and get out of our comfort zone. However, we shouldn’t exert ourselves or apply stress to the body-mind system. It is well known that stress is the number one cause of death and yet we are surprised when athletes fall ill or a race horse collapses. It all due to too much stress. If we remove that bar or expectation, then nothing is good or bad, it just is and in that we can find comfort and acceptance. So many of us are attached to our ego and have lost the simple art of being. We’ve become absorbed in our own creation, rather than connected with creation itself. 

Conclusion

So know that you’re not bad or good at something, you just require a different approach in order to see things as they are, without judgement. Yoga is a tool to be used to give our lives balance. Use it correctly and you will begin to know true harmony.

Thanks for reading.

To keep up to date with the latest blog posts, please subscribe to our newsletter.