Bikram's class, consisting of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises in 90 minutes and 105 degrees is for beginners. Bikram himself even calls it "Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class." The same elements of this class that make it great for beginners make it bad for more advanced practitioners. Here are 4 specific examples: the mirrors, the heat, the dialogue and the constant effort.
1) The mirrors. Each Bikram studio is outfitted with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, so we get to watch ourselves do every posture and sweat every drop. For beginners this is great because it encourages a connection between what we look like and how our body feels. We can start to associate what a straight leg looks like with how it feels. The same is true for straight arms, even hips, straight spine, engaged muscles, right angles, etc. With the mirrors, we can see the alignment and then our body can remember how it feels. As our practice becomes more advanced, we can get rid of the mirrors and even our eyesight altogether, using only the feeling of our body to do the postures. If we continue to use the mirrors, our eyesight draws our attention out of our body, away from inner presence and feeling. 2) The heat. Bikram's yoga is hot. We sweat like crazy, our blood pressure drops and our heart rate increases as our body tries to cool itself. The heat is great for beginners because it warms and loosens the muscles. This means that we can stretch further and faster than we ever could at room temperature. With the heat our progress into flexibility is very fast. We gain confidence quickly. As our practice becomes more advanced, the heat becomes our enemy for two reasons. First, it short circuits the nerves in our muscles, so we can't feel pain or sensation in them. While this was helpful to get beginners to stretch farther, once we are moving deeply into the postures, our muscle-nerve feedback is of the utmost importance. It is how we relate to the posture and know when we are going too far. Second, the heat drains our energy. When our body is in such a hot environment, it sheds energy (as heat) as quickly as possible. So after a class, our body is depleted of its life force and, as any yogi will tell you, a significant element of yoga practice is retaining and working with our body's natural energy supply. 3) The incessant dialogue. In Bikram's class, the teacher talks non-stop. Every second is filled with instruction and guidance. For beginners, this is wonderful because it prevents us from thinking about anything else. It is impossible for our minds to wander when the teacher is talking at us constantly. Our minds become present, and that is important. As our practice becomes more advanced, our minds can be present and free from wandering without the constant talk from a teacher. When this peace and stillness can be achieved in the mind, the Bikram's dialogue actually becomes the distraction, pulling the attention into the ears and the brain as we listen. We want our attention to be internal, not drawn outward by the senses. 4) The push push push. One of the hallmarks of Bikram's class is the constant demand for more effort. We are never working hard enough, never pushing far enough. For beginners this is great because we generally have far greater physical capacity than we think we do. We are fearful so we don't stretch very far. We are insecure so we don't push very hard. By demanding more effort, Bikram's class pushes us past what we think we are capable of doing. This is another reason why progress is so fast for beginners - the mental barriers and limitations get broken down quickly. As our practice becomes more advanced, we become more familiar with the limitation of our bodies as we approach their true capability. At this deeper level, pushing can lead to injury almost as easily as it can lead to progress. As we move deeper we must listen to our bodies more than we tell them what to do. Aside from those four elements, Bikram's class is brilliant and powerful yoga for all levels, even the most advanced practitioners. The postures, the sequencing, the second sets - it is hard to find fault with those elements.
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This weekend Ida and I went to Chicago to spend 3 days with Ana Forrest. The weekend was split into 5 classes with slightly different focuses: Celebrating Your Practice, The Heart, The Core, The Back and Inversions.
The first thing that a person notices about Ana is her no-nonsense style. She is not afraid of plain language, even cursing. She tells us not to indulge our usual 'shit' and to stay present and in our bodies. She tells us to be stronger, because letting our weaknesses define us is selling ourselves short. The room is full of women. In a group of about 100 students, I am one of 5 men. The energy is palpably feminine. Ana's love yourself, heal yourself message apparently speaks very strongly to women. In regards to the postures that Ana teaches, she is set apart by 4 things: 1) Long holds, and I mean long. There were times when we spent more than 10 minutes in variations of Warrior 1 and Warrior 2. 2) Abdominal work. Every class has substantial ab strengthening near the beginning. It warms the body and strengthens the midsection. 3) Active Feet. She encourages engaged feet with toes spread and pulled back at all times, in every posture. 4) Relaxed neck. Almost always, she doesn't want us holding up our heads or twisting our necks. They stay relaxed and drooping, stretching the neck muscles and staying away from tension. Every class started with a significant Pranayama/Breathing section. She usually put us into a hip opening seated posture like Cow Face (she calls it Knee Pile). We proceeded to practice breath retention, balancing breath, even Uddiyana Bandha. I was so happy that she taught Uddiyana. I haven't found anyone else that incorporates it into their classes. She even did Agni Sara (Breath of Fire) during two of the classes. Ana's practice is very advanced. She can demo every single posture that she teaches, and her demonstrations are deeper, stronger and stiller than any of the students. Certainly a mark of a great asana teacher. There were 3-4 assistants for every class. They walked through the students, adjusting postures and assisting. Their strength, calm and understanding was amazing. Their touch and guidance never failed to move a student deeper or more correctly into a posture, and their control of energy was also apparent. If nothing else, the depth of understanding of the Forrest Assistants speaks very highly of the training that Ana offers. My least favorite part of the experience was the boisterous way that many students approached the classes. There was more than a little moaning during long holds, loud sighs of relief on their release, and all out cheering when the abdominal section was finished. It was a bit tribal for my conception of yoga practice. Over the course of 5 classes, I grew very fond of Ana herself. She is tough and uncompromising while also being incredibly gentle and patient. Her joy and generosity in teaching is inspiring. Yesterday, Ida taught the Core 40 at our home studio in Madison, Inner Fire Yoga. The class was for teachers and regular practitioners only, who also happen to be some of our closest friends. Basically it was to show the Core 40 sequence as a progression from Bikram's 26 - to share this knowledge and these postures we have been practicing for 8 months and that we learned firsthand from Tony Sanchez in December.
Doing the Core 40 class in my home studio, in the same room where I have practiced "the 26" hundreds of times, and where I have cleaned the floors and mirrors hundreds of times, was a beautiful experience. Ida was teaching the class, I was simply in the front trying to demonstrate the new postures as well as possible, but I felt like we were giving back to our community. We have something unique to offer, and we offer it gladly. Those who took the class were excited by the new postures and the more advanced style of the teaching - less dialogue, more stillness, more advanced grips and alignments. It is a bit of a relief for all of us who love the more traditional style of hatha yoga, where each pose is separate from the next, interspersed with stillness. We have been aching for some new postures beyond the 26 and some more advanced instruction. A response to 6 Reasons You Should Stop Obsessing Over Alignment In Yoga Class by Maya Devi Georg.
1) Alignment Connects the Body and the Mind Before we can become connected to the community around us or to the divine, we must first become unified within ourselves. This is the first separation that Yoga (union) strives to overcome: the separation between the body and the mind. To connect the body and mind we must get them to work together, so we practice Asana. In Asana practice, alignment is simply the mind's way of understanding what happens naturally in the body. When we understand the body’s anatomy and the proper alignment of its parts, we strengthen the connection between the mind and the body. If we ignore anatomy and alignment and teach the student only to be comfortable, the separation between the body and mind will not be broken down. The separation will only be reinforced as the student avoids discomfort and does what makes them feel safe. 2) Alignment Is Necessary To Avoid Injury. If we understand anatomy and kinesiology, which deal with how the body is put together and how it works together, we have a much better chance of distinguishing between what is uncomfortable and what is damaging. There is a right way for our spines to curve when we stand, and there is a right way for our shoulders to move when we lift our arms. When we understand the body and its proper function, we can use it more effectively and more safely. Without a thorough knowledge of anatomy and alignment, how will we know when we, or a student, is doing a posture in a way that will hurt us/him/her? 3) Proper Alignment Will Take You Deeper, Safer When we put our bones, muscles and tissues where they were designed to be, and when we ask them to do what they were designed to do, it is remarkable how they accommodate us. When we align our bodies properly in the postures, the body and mind relax and our energy becomes unhindered. We end up being able to move deeper into the postures simply because we are using our body correctly. It may start out uncomfortably as the muscles try to do what they've never done, but when our body is in alignment, ease and steadiness appear. 4) Proper Alignment Will Allow You To Practice For Your Whole Life We can push ourselves into mis-aligned postures for a while, especially if we are young. Over time, a few years perhaps, this takes a significant toll on our joints and our connective tissue. Our tendons and ligaments will become strained, our joints will become loose and imbalanced. (Our muscles will probably be fine because they can heal so quickly.) Yoga can be a lifelong practice, not just acrobatics for the young. If we intend to practice into old age, we need our bodies to be strong and healthy. We cannot be pushing them in ways they were not meant to be pushed. We must learn how our bodies are designed and work with them using proper alignment. 5) No Two Bodies Are the Same, But They're All Similar We have physical differences, but we are mostly the same. We all have tibias and femurs that connect in a hinge at the knee. We all have vertebrae with discs in-between, muscles that wrap our shoulders, and muscles that run down our stomach. It is our job as teachers to recognize the diverse physicality of the students - where are they strong? where are they tight? - and modify the postures for their bodies. By teaching the students what is happening in their bodies, they can begin to connect with what they are feeling. When they understand both the intent of the posture and the unique limitations of their own bodies, they can modify the posture for themselves. Until then, it is up to us to uphold the integrity of the posture and adapt it to the student's unique body and mind. 6) We Need More Alignment, Not Less With so many bodily variables in mind, we need to consider alignment and anatomy even more deeply and with more complexity. We need to understand each different body and be able to respond to any limitation. While there may not be one single way to do a posture, ignoring anatomy and alignment is running away when we should be staying to fight. As teachers and as yogis we should understand the body, the mind, and the connection between the two with as much sophistication as possible. And we should pass that knowledge on. We must promote an expansion of knowledge instead of an abandonment of it. A beginner yogi's journey is mostly one of physical struggle and psychological reformation. Building strength and flexibility, beginning the conversation between mind, body and spirit. Seeking, identifying and becoming familiar with that connection.
The intermediate student (where I think I am) has established the mind, body, spirit connection. Their physical awareness and development allows for them to continue on a deeper, more complex journey of connection. More finely tuned awareness, more powerful physical postures and physical presence, more profound release. I think (though admittedly I don't know) an advanced practitioner (or perhaps and advanced student) is someone who can do all the postures. Or, more specifically, one who has leapt over most or all of the physical hurdles. Once the physical obstacles of strength and flexibility are overcome, a new journey of union can begin. One that is focused more acutely on meditation, completeness and transcendence. I have been led to believe that extreme physical prowess, like doing advanced postures, is not necessary for profound awareness and connection. I have no choice at this point but to believe that this is true. The physical nature of the postures is certainly not the ultimate expression of them, but it makes me wonder: can there be union without the physicality? Perhaps, once our union has become effortless and ever-present, our yoga transcends the physical realm, making asana unnecessary. As I imagine teaching classes of students at different levels, and as I create posture sequences for myself, I am face to face with what all this means. What postures to do and why? What intention to seek and why? What is the journey? What direction should we go? "It is not that the person needs to accommodate him or herself to yoga, but rather the yoga practice must be tailored to fit each person. This implies that progress on the path of yoga means different things for different people. We must not obstruct this progress by deliberately setting certain goals. Yoga serves the individual, and does so through inviting transformation rather than by giving information."
From "The Heart of Yoga" by TKV Desikachar. From my teacher Tony Sanchez.
"A good and responsible teacher is a guide to the student on the path of yoga. To provide students with the right knowledge, experience and technique is a must to create good students. There is a way to use the rational mind when practicing asana. Mental association with physical mechanics and performance is necessary for good results. As a teacher to understand all the different body types with their variables is a blessing. To come up with the right approach and technique to teach asana with clear understanding is the goal." Tonight at Puja, I led a beautiful little group of yogis. We used chairs to assist us in Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow, and Balancing Stick. So great to see the alignment improve and the body open up with the use of the props.
Then we futzed with arm variations in Standing Separate Legs Stretching and tried Guillotine. We worked on Half Lotus Tree and Toe Stand and even tried Short Man. A really lovely, intimate and generous class all around. Makes me feel like I might be able to do this teaching thing after all. As I learn, my understanding grows and my questions get more demanding. I continue to find depth and completeness in the Ghosh system and specifically in Tony's approach to the yoga.
Today I am appreciative of the balanced physical approach to the body. Two things: the strength and flexibility of all areas of the body, and the therapeutic compression and extension of the internal organs and structures. These two focuses, which are significant in and of themselves, make what I perceive to be a complete physical practice. They will make the body healthy and strong. Of course, physical practice, physical health is only one part of yoga. One of the first steps. Ghosh/Tony also focus on stillness, and I am now realizing that the stillness is less for the physical benefits than the mental. Creating stillness in the body calms the mind and connects it to the body. This is Pratyahara, turning the focus inward. What of the breath? During posture practice, Ghosh does not emphasize the marriage of breath and movement the way that other traditions do. There are specific Pranayama exercises for this, but it is not at the center of the posture practice. I am beginning to think of Pranayama (breath/energy awareness and control) as linked to Pratyahara (inward awareness). Our breath is something we can observe or we can control. When we observe it, Pratyahara. When we control it, Pranayama. As I move forward with my practice, I think about what to present to students of yoga as I become a teacher. What of the physical aspects, the anatomy and physiology? What of the breathing, inner strength and focus? What of the calm mind? What of the integrating lessons from yoga into life at large? Here are some things that Tony Sanchez said during our time with him.
ON YOGA IN GENERAL: The only thing we are going after is health. The foundation of yoga is nutrition. Are you here to master the postures or are you here to heal your body? Most people, teachers included, have been trained to look at postures from the outside in. We must look at the postures from the inside out. ON PRACTICE AND PROGRESS: Go to the place where you can be proper and find stillness. This will give you the greatest benefits. If you push past this point to your extreme, the benefits will not be as great. The postures that are the most difficult are the ones that you need the most. Go into them slowly. Let your body adjust, strengthen and stabilize. When doing the exercise, when you reach the point where you feel your body go out of alignment to go deeper, stop there. The objective is not to do the exercise perfectly, but to do it as perfectly as your body can at this moment, then to find the stillness. Even if we can never put ourselves into the postures perfectly, the struggle, the process makes us learn, makes us wise. The postures don't adapt to us. We adapt to the postures. Don't modify the posture to accommodate the weakness in the body. Modify the body to fit the alignment and posture. As you practice, certain things that you had to focus on before will be unnecessary. That is progress. Allow yourself to embrace new techniques, new concepts. ON TEACHING: When you teach, you have to be able to work with people as a group and with people as individuals. If you present a violent, aggressive class, people become that way. If you present a still, calm, focused class, people become that way. Teaching begins with individual understanding. When the path is maintained for a period of time, a certain clarity is achieved. With this clarity, one can begin to explain steps or a path to other people. Communicate with the students. Find out about injuries, what may not be working for them. Don't be afraid to say you don't know and then do research. We must find what the student needs. If they have showed up there is some sort of desire on their part. There is some openness. Start there. When you practice yourself, you use discretion in your choice of postures and how hard you push yourself. Many students, especially beginning students, won't have that awareness or discretion. As the teacher, you have to be extra aware and act as their discretion. Focus your energy on the people who are struggling with the postures. Make the corrections. They need your help more. The advanced practitioners are already on their own path. Help the people that need help. If people benefit, that is your reward. You don't have to get credit for it. ON KNOWLEDGE: Share your knowledge. Give it to the world with no strings attached. Behave the way you want to see the world behave. Everything from the outside is borrowed knowledge. From the inside is true knowledge. There is no longer a need for a guru. So much knowledge is readily available, all you need is the discipline to seek it. In other times, if you wanted knowledge you had to surrender to a guru to get the knowledge. A lot of people have been taught to be dependent. They have not been empowered. |
This journal honors my ongoing experience with the practice, study and teaching of yoga.
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