Tapas
“Sometimes the body says, “Yes,” and the mind says, “Excuse me today.” Sometimes the mind says, “Yes,” and the body, “Excuse me.” I always say “Let’s go ahead.” BKS Iyengar
The new year tends to come with a few resolutions - hopefully one of these is to come back to yoga classes! Maybe a couple of you have even resolved to start a daily yoga practice. Yoga practice - practising on your own at home - is a funny thing. Sometimes you long for it, at other times it is the last thing you feel like doing. Guruji’s quote above tells you how he managed these moments. “Tapas” is the third of Patanjali’s Niyamas (Niyama is the second “limb” of yoga, Asana and Pranayama being the third and fourth.) It can mean cultivating a sense self discipline, passion and courage to make sure we keep up our practice on our journey to the true self. We have to be disciplined even to come to class - and at least in class you are helped along by a teacher - but we have to be extra disciplined to pursue our own practice alone at home. The photo above is of Emily who comes on Wednesday evenings and to the 16-25s class. I have included it because I know she has struggled with Sarvangasana and probably didn’t enjoy it at all to begin with. What you can see in the picture is a result of her tapas - just sticking with it and working at it and around it. Often work on other asanas seemingly unrelated to the one you are aiming at can bring pleasant rewards when you come back to the original one.
So why do we need to practise? For beginners, a class a week is enough for a while. Then you might enjoy it enough that you want a second class in the week. The more yoga we do, the more we tend to miss it if we don’t do it. In theory you could find a class every day and have it covered that way, but really a class is to inform you, keep an eye on what you are doing and hopefully teach you something new. The real work - the work you do on yourself - begins after the class with your own quiet practice. These days the word “practice” has notions of needing to improve - “you haven’t practised much this week” is what my violin teacher would often say, a comment laden with a good dose of judgement. I prefer to go to the word’s root in ancient Greek, which is “something pertaining to actions and doing” as opposed to something theoretical. That means all we have to do is get on the mat and DO some yoga. In my twenties I learned with a lovely teacher called Lynda Purvis. When I asked questions about an asana she would say, “Just do it!” before addressing my question. Our practice is just something to be done, for our own benefit. Yes, it could be that you are struggling with an asana and want to spend some time on it to see if you can become more cognisant with it, but better not to get into the “I’m really bad at this one compared with so and so and I should practise it and try and get better at it” mentality. Just do it! You might have done enough yoga that you have a plan of what you want to practise and a rhythm to your practice to make sure you include a good spread of asanas, or you might not have a clue but have a few favourite things that draw you to your mat.
If you don’t know where to start or have never practised at home but think you might like to try, unroll your mat, start with Adho Mukha Svanasana, dog pose head down and see how that goes. You might settle into it or if you are a new student or very stiff, you might want to touch it for a few seconds, come down and then try again. Then see where that takes you next. Adho Mukha Svanasana is a great asana for getting you out of your head and connected with your body and as soon as that connection switches on you will find that your body might remember what it has done in class and lead the way. You may try something, find that it is hard work and hurts a bit (a good “hurt” rather than an injurious one), think “ouch” and stop. That is fine - don’t feel guilty if once is enough for that day. The pain will have woken something up and sown some curiosity to make you give it another go next time. As Prashantji and Rajiv always say - “Better luck next time!” 10 - 20 minutes to begin with might be enough. Don’t forget that restorative asanas and Savasana are also an important part of your practice. Aim for nourishment and integration of mind and body rather than working for muscles and joints alone.
A few guidelines:
Shoulder stand (Sarvangasana) should come later in the practice, always after rather than before any backbends.
If you do headstand, include some sort of shoulder stand in your practice, later than the headstand. If you are planning backbends, headstand is helpful before these.
Don’t try anything you really aren’t sure about or copy difficult arm balances etc from photos unless you are under the age of 30 and reasonably fit!
If you are tempted to use props or home furniture make sure it is safe.
And most of all - yoga is not an endurance test! Sensitivity in your work is far more important than performing fancy tricks or forcing yourself to hold an asana for ages. Listen to your body, be honest with your mind. Yoga practice should be nourishing and sweet enough that you want to come back to your mat tomorrow to try a bit more.
