yogas citta vritti nirodhah --slowing the fluctuations of the mind via the body...

Patanjali defines yoga in his second sutra, and states: “yogas citta vritti nirodhah” –yoga stills the fluctuations of the mind…  which is one definition of yoga, and one that we often don’t think of oddly, when we define yoga.  Whenever I ask a class to tell me what yoga means, the most common answer (and it IS a good one!) is that yoga means union, which it does, but it means other things as well. I would like to take a look at stilling the vicissitudes of the mind via the body.

Patanjali is referring to the process of meditation, or moving our attention inwards, so as to slow or stop the many different ways the mind has of jumping around from thought to thought. We can never really stop the mind from thinking –that is its job, after all, and to ask it to stop doing that is self-defeating. That doesn’t mean we can’t train it to be less “monkey-like” –flitting from thought to thought with little awareness of what it’s doing. In meditation, and indeed, in the recitation or singing of mantra, or even in the execution of asanas, we are offered the opportunity to allow the mind to slow down and focus. The key here is slowing down enough to learn to focus.

I am all for whatever brings people through the yoga door, so-to-speak. And if that is in a room full of hundreds of people, with loud music and heat, well, whatever! That sort of practice can be really beneficial to many people (not everyone, to be sure, but for many, already fit people, it’s a way in). That said, at a certain point, we all need to slow it down, start to pick it apart, and really pay attention to the movements being made, so that it becomes more of a deliberate meditation rather than an exercise class done to yoga music with some “yoga speak” in the background. Don't get me wrong --i love those classes; they're fun and challenging. But I know what I'm doing! And I've done the work. Years of it, in fact.

I know what I’m asking is difficult. It’s hard to move slowly; it’s hard to pay attention. But if yoga is anything –it is certainly about paying attention. I’ve heard many people going into or out of vinyasa classes, saying “I just need to flow today” –which I totally understand, sometimes your body just needs to move, and then the mind can start to settle (I used to run 7 miles to ashtanga vinyasa practice and then home –so I get it, I really do!) And I used to HAVE to do 2 hours of asana before I could sit to meditate. I was just not capable of sitting still until I had completely exhausted my physical body.

I still prefer to practice asana first, as I find that it does help to quiet my mind (and in working with juveniles at the detention center, they do much better when we can work out the heebie-jeebies first –then we do yoga nidra, which they love!) The point is: we need help getting the mind to settle. And one of the ways we can do that is to slow down the physical practice and really start to learn the postures. Similar to what happens in a Mysore-style classroom in the Ashtanga Vinyasa system, where a student is given each pose in the sequence one at a time, so she has time to really learn it. 

Interestingly, but not surprisingly though, most people don’t want to start at the beginning –so we have students with little or no yoga experience landing in challenging vinyasa classes where the only instruction they’re given is the name of the pose. This is fine for many people –they can probably sustain that for a while before they get injured from doing a pose in a way that is not suited for their body at the time –or even maybe ever! I’ve seen some headstands that would make anyone who knows anything about the spine cringe if not cry out loud. But again, try to take those students and actually get them to see that a fair amount of work has to happen before their body really should be doing said posture –well, they ain’t havin’ it. They want the big, sexy poses, and we, as teachers, let them.  Because we’re afraid that if we don’t offer the flashy, sexy stuff, they won’t come. And you know what –we’re right. Many of them won’t. I’ve had a lot of feedback from people who when they actually start instructing people in the correct execution of the postures for their bodies (“you need to do some work before you’re ready for that” to use our headstand  example –the shoulders need a fair amount of opening before bearing weight on the head can be done safely) are met with outright resistance, and then they just go to another class where they’re allowed to do what they want. I am in no way saying that we shouldn’t be teaching these poses –but the point is, they need to be taught!!  Calling out “come into headstand” is not teaching the pose, and unless we know every single body in that classroom and know that each one of them is bearing weight correctly through the vertebral bodies and not in any other way, we have no business using that pose in a flow sequence. 

I’m picking on headstand, but there are myriad other postures that also apply. “Pigeon” is another. Unsupported hanuamanasana another, pincha mayurasana another. The human body can sustain much abuse, but eventually –over time, the joints will suffer if these poses are not learned properly, and by that, I mean slowly, with attention and lots of supports if necessary. Now if we want to teach headstand, or pigeon, or any other posture that could be potentially dangerous for the joints, we can certainly do that –but it would necessitate stopping the flow of the class and doing what Patthabi Jois, and my friend and teacher Nicki Doane call “research”, which is essentially breaking the pose down into its components and preparatory movements to actually teach the body how to do the pose safely and appropriately for each individual. I’ll admit –this requires some knowledge of anatomy –and likely more than you got in your 3-week, 200-hour teacher training. It is our responsibility as yoga teachers to actually teach the postures. So you may need to get some more education to be able to really teach people those poses. Just because you can do it yourself, doesn’t mean you can teach it; and similarly, you don’t really have to be able to do each pose you teach if you can understand the basic structure of the pose and how it works in the body.

I guess I’m agreeing with Leslie Kaminoff in his call for a differentiation between those who have memorized a sequence and put together a playlist, and learned how to tell cool yoga-related stories while offering a fun flow, and those who are actual teachers of yoga. But no one wants to learn it the old-fashioned way. Or few do. Few in this culture of immediate gratification are willing to slow down, back up if necessary, and do the work! I was not born with my leg behind my head or balancing on my arms in forearm balance. It took YEARS of hard, persistent work –every damn day, before I could do any of that. Or at least in a way that could be described as yoga.

Yoga takes years. I’m sorry, but it does. And 5 years of practice is nothing. You’re still a beginner. Which is a good thing!! We want to maintain what they call in Zen practice "the beginner mind". Sure, some people are more in their bodies and can learn the poses safely and properly more quickly than others, but even they need to take the time it takes to learn the poses in a way that is integrated and, yes, yoga! Execution of “advanced” asanas does not a yogi make… nor does calling them out in a flow sequence make you a good teacher. Teaching them does.

To return to Patanjali and stilling the fluctuations of the mind –yoga is many, many things, and there are many ways to still the mind, but all of them require paying attention –if only to the fact that your mind is wandering again! We train the mind using the body –and the only way to really do that in a sustainable way is to do the work. Slow down and do the work. There are no shortcuts, I’m sorry to say. There are ways of distracting yourself to be sure, but there is no substitute for deliberate, slow, and attentive practice. But you know that already deep down inside.