Why and how yoga works
People want to learn things but they don't like to sit still for them. Think
of your education. All those hours sitting in a chair, in a chair, in a fucking
chair! Do you remember feeling, again, the guilt of turning around to
look at the clock and being caught by the teacher? But all those hours sitting
in a chair, which is such an unnatural position for a human body, well I think I'll
just drop that guilt -- thump, goodbye.
So one of the reasons we like yoga in the West is because we can learn using
our bodies which are a canvas for learning, we can learn the way they move, we
can learn their parameters by going to the perimeters. Sorry if that's too
poetic, but it makes sense, right? We send our awareness out to the edges of our
being, and it's fun! It's fun to move like that. And it's not boring, to see
what your body can do. Of course for this to work the student has to feel safe
and secure, has to enjoy the environment. In fact they are even finally seeing
that schools can use some of this information, for example the Studio Schools
literally springing up in Britain where the students work on projects together
and don't sit all day long at desks anymore.
But it's not just mindless activity, it's mindful activity. In the best sorts
of yoga, Eastern or Western, one moves, but the mind is engaged. There are
reasons for the particular movements and students are told and reminded how to
move, and it's connected to the breath, which is the heart of matter. Some of my
best experiences as a yoga teacher were with mental patients. Now you know these
folks are not going to tolerate anything that doesn't really engage them. I had
a woman who was plagued by hearing voices. I don't know how that occurs, but
that was kind of beside the point, because when I told Margaret, "Ah c'mon
Margaret, raise your hands over your head and inhale!" she did it, and she loved
me for telling her that. Because I was asking her to engage her mind and her
body in an activity which makes sense.
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is the spiritual bit. Now if you know
my writing and personality you know that I'm not an easy mark as regards
so-called New Age stuff. In fact, I hate most of it. I can't stand the
plasticene stuff that passes for spirituality in our Western society these days,
so much of it is just plain fucking hucksterism! But I still think there is
something there! If you strip away the hucksterism, there are people who are
seeking something real and deep, a connection to the Oversoul, a connection to
the peace that passeth understanding, to the nothingness which is all, inside
us. And you can get closer to this in your yoga class. I find that it's really
not that far away, that by the end of a class, if things have flowed, people are
there, they can drop the mind and access that spirit. Actually I don't even like
to talk about this much, or look at it directly, but it's there, and it's one of
the ways that yoga works.
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