My personal yoga practice has changed massively over the last 6 months for various reasons. I have blogged about my dreaded migraines, so this has affected my practice and I have been having some physio to help my neck pain which could possibly be linked to the migraine problem.
After the first physio session I felt completely and utterly deflated as she told me how stiff my neck and upper back were, my reaction was so ego driven it was untrue - what me?? A yoga practitioner with a stiff neck/back - how can it be?? But then when I started to think about all the stuff I have done in the past which have contributed to my neck issues it's hardly surprising I am experiencing neck troubles now, things like driving 6 hours straight without a break, swimming breast stroke with my head out of the water, head-banging in rock clubs(I kid you not!) and also a life long habit of sleeping in a prone position (not good apparently) My physio advised me to lay off the headstands for a while, so it has been about 2 months since I have been into a headstand, at first I was itching to do it because I have been doing different headstand variations most days for many years. So there I was facing up to my ridiculous attachment to a yoga posture......again!
It has given me time to embrace other aspects of the practice, my meditation times have increased, and I have been using some healing mantras which are amazingly therapeutic and soothing. My physical practice has become more like the yoga which I teach, which is gentle, nurturing and with an occasional invitation to challenge. My balance has been very difficult due to the dizziness and complete deafness in one ear but each day I try to practice at least one balance posture and have no expectation of a result and I think it is improving.
As time goes on everything will change, kids grow up, people die, shit happens and yoga practice changes whether we like it or not, it's when we become resistant to change that problems arise. If we are too attached to anything including our yoga practice - then we suffer.
I recently attended an amazing pranayama workshop with Pranayama Master Sri O.P.Tiwari and he told a story about attachments which really resonated with me:
'There once was a dedicated yogi who was told by his teacher that if he practiced each and everyday for 3 hours that he would eventually meet with God. So for many years he practiced diligently, one day there was a knock on the door - it was God "just wait a minute" he shouted "I've only done one hour of practice - I haven't finished yet!"
He had become so attached to the practice itself he had lost sight of what he was doing it for! This can happen so often in our lives - we miss the bigger picture, we can become obsessed with the minutiae of life.
So whether change happens outside of our control or whether we need to instigate it ourselves, we need to accept it as an inevitable part of life, let's have a flexible mind and allow ourselves to be carried along with the flow but gently guiding that flow if we need to......
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