Sunrise Yoga Day 5

Well... today's class started with a short lecture on "doing your version of the pose" and "being an underachiever."  More and more I get a clear picture of what the Kripalu style is all about.  It's odd... I've been practicing at AlleyCat for years, and have only had vague generalizations to help me differentiate this style from other styles of yoga.  I had even decided that I wouldn't really harp on differences when students asked because oftentimes the way different teachers teach is more where the real difference lies, moreso than any clear divisions between the specific styles they teach.  And, creating divisions is really pointless anyway, as all styles seem to have a lot of similarities; it is all yoga, you know.  However, this morning as Ken used the example of relaxing the wrists and elbows in Warrior 2 (i.e. NOT holding the arms straight out), and explaining that, for him, he could go deeper in the pose when NOT concentrating on alignment, I began to think that maybe this is more different than I thought.  He explained that his Kripalu teacher had to help him "unlearn" all of his Iyengar training.  To be clear, he generally teaches the alignment principles, but today he was indicating that they are not the point.. that you can be doing Warrior 2 without straight arms, or with straight arms, whatevs, but just notice WHAT you are choosing to do, and be present for that choice.

So.  I love asana.  I love alignment.  Maybe too much.  Or maybe not.  I didn't react with resistance to this class this morning, just with new interest.  I've been attending Ken's classes for a good six years now and have heard "do your version of the pose" probably every class, but have always interpreted it to mean "your level of the pose," as in how far your body can go toward what the pose "eventually looks like."  Ken also talked this morning about how, in the Kripalu style, they don't really have levels, unless you mean level of intention.  So.. this makes "your version of the pose" take on new meaning, specifically, your version might relate more to how much you are in the mood to exert yourself, but that the real depth of the pose would come more from your intention to be totally present than from the relative openness of your body.  Whoa.

So, it's almost like "do whatever the hell you want with your body," because the depth of your practice comes from your intention, almost like the body is irrelevant, or something.  Well, sorta, sorta not.  Ken does talk about the safe ways to twist, for example.  Safety concerns regarding the spine and pelvis, mostly.

So even after eleven years of practice, I still feel like enough of a yoga newbie that I'm not ready to give up on what my body can "progress to" or teach me.  I still feel that going deeper into the body will be useful in teaching me something.  I mean, the immediate example my mind (or is it ego?) generates is a wall-less handstand.  Surely I'll have some greater understanding of myself in relation to my fear of falling if I can do that!  Yes?  I wouldn't say that I always measure my depth as a yogini by what I can do, however.  At least not usually.  "Shoulds" pop up now and then, of course.  Like "I should be able to do a headstand in the middle of the room," but I think my "shoulds" relate more to the fact that I'm teaching people, more than they indicate where I expect myself to be in my personal practice.  I don't set timelines for progression in asanas, for example; I know I can't control that.  But I still think "progression" (or whatever word you want to use) can be a physical experience as well as a non-physical "sensed" experience.

Also, it seems that some poses are not physically within your range of possibility until you can perform others.  So, you have to safely develop strength and flexibility in your body using proper alignment to avoid injury as you "train your body."  For example, chaturanga dandasana develops some of the strength necessary for a great many arm balances.  I suspect Ken is perfectly ok with never needing to do arm balances though!  Me though, I want to have that physical experience in my body... to see what the hell THAT is like.  And I think there is value in it.  Not for it's external appearance, but for how it shakes me up inside.

Chaturanga Dandasana (from Yoga Journal)

Eka Pada Koundinyasana (from Yoga Journal)