Ashtanga Yoga consists of six series of postures, which greatly increase in difficulty. In my experience of teaching over the past 30 years, the majority of students won’t complete the first or Primary Series in this life-time. The first series already involves very complex movements. Such as the lotus posture; putting one’s legs behind the head; lot’s of ‘chaturangas’ – push ups; a headstand etc. They are all fun postures, but require regular practice, determination and an overall healthy physical and mental body to be able to master.
This kind of set-up gives the impression that Ashtanga Yoga is goal oriented, and that it would not be suitable for practitioners who are for any reason physically less capable, injured, disabled, or of an ‘older’ age. I believe this to be a great misconception, especially in the Mysore style setting: the practice can be individually adapted to meet the student’s needs. This is how it should be – the practice needs to suit the practitioner and not the other way round. And, if you can breathe, you can practice Yoga.
Nevertheless there often is in the back of one’s mind the ‘next posture to get/to achieve’. This easily traps us in competitive thinking: may it be in competition with others, but more-so in competition with ourselves. The reason for this is usually an underlying constant sense of discontentment. In Yoga as well as in all other aspects of our life, we wish for something else; we wish for more, or we wish for someone or something to vanish, or for someone or something else to manifest. If any of these longings or wishes happen to become reality, we soon construct another wish and goal. In Yoga this could be a posture, the next series, or the next certification. Our mind works this way, it likes certainty, being able to categorize and label things. But as Michael Stone puts it in one of his brilliant lectures “…the mind desperately wants to create permanence in a dazzlingly impermanent world”.
So Ashtanga challenges us through its ‘progressive set-up’, to be contented, peaceful and present in the moment. With continuous practice we come to understand – not just intellectually – that the extent of our physical practice at this time, is most likely exactly right and appropriate, considering our current circumstances. We can trust our body’s own wisdom to know what is right for it. What we are working on is worth pursuing with patience and resolve. It is most likely linked with and reflects a current situation in our life and this needs as much time to be resolved as is appropriate. We all know that once we have mastered the posture we have been longing to be able to do, that the next one is waiting. There is no end to it. There is this great misconception that if we find the right romantic relationship, earn a certain amount of money, look a particular way, etc. our life will be perfect. Unfortunately our mind will never be fully satisfied with those kind of achievements, and will immediately look for something else to strive for.
Therefor we can relax into the current moment with all its joys, challenges, and misgivings, knowing that nothing will ever be perfect or the way our mind likes to believe it should be. Each and every moment is already perfect.
The mind struggles greatly with this concept, but as one of my early teachers Mark Whitwell used to say: “Everything is good as it is”.
Of course we set ourselves realistic goals and with effort, aim to improve as human beings on all levels. This is a healthy approach as long as we detach ourselves from a wished-for outcome and are contented with the results of our efforts.
OM Shanti,
Angelika