hostmelissa
06-10-2009, 07:38 AM
By: Dr. Melissa West Host of Returning to the Body Mind on Contact Talk Radio
Wednesdays 8-9 a.m. PST
You would be surprised how many people tell me they can’t do yoga. Guess what? Neither can I. If you compare me to the models on the cover of yoga journal, I would never measure up. Even my students are pretty lousy if you match them up against the super-thin 20 somethings demonstrating king pigeon pose while selling tooth paste or maxi pads. Here’s the thing though, neither my students or I look like Victoria Secret models in a bra and underwear either. We’re real people doing real yoga.
One thing about the popularization of yoga in the media, is that yoga has been exposed to some of the similar marketing techniques used to sell other products. If you think the models on the cover of Yoga Journal haven’t been “photoshopped” then you are kidding yourself in the same way as you kid yourself about not being able to do yoga.
I often encourage my students to look through comprehensive guides to yoga, the kind that presents all the yoga poses. Take a close look and what you will find is that these books use several different models to demonstrate all the poses. No one person can do all the poses picture-perfectly. They choose the people with the really long arms to demonstrate the twists with the arm wraps. Models with flexible spines demonstrate backbends, and the strong muscular men exhibit the arm balances.
One guy actually told me, I’m about as flexible as a grapefruit. What does that even mean? Grapefruits are actually quite juicy and squishy, they would probably be quite good at yoga. They certainly can sit quietly for hours on end.
What does it mean to do yoga? Does it mean to twist and contort our bodies into shapes like circus performers on the set of Cirque de Soleil?
If we look to Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras, the foundational text of yoga, he is transcribed as saying, “Yoga is the uniting of consciousness in the heart” by Nischala Joy Devi or “Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness” by Chip Hartranft. Neither of these translations mentions anything about being able to touch your toes or reach your legs behind your head.
We don’t come to yoga already flexible, we come to yoga to become flexible. Sure, practicing yoga will lengthen your muscles and increase lubrication and mobility in the joints . However, the benefit of increased flexibility is not simply limited to the physical body. Practicing yoga will also create suppleness in the mind, heart and spirit as well. Ironically, once you start practicing yoga you will realize that the limiting belief, “I can’t do yoga” is actually as “inflexible” as your muscles.
Yoga helps to harmonize the mind, body, heart, and spirit. How often do we find we are unable to perform our daily tasks properly because of the mental suffering in our mind weighs down heavily on us? The stiff, aching, rigid, unbending qualities in our bodies are reflected in our minds. The mind, body spirit connection is reciprocal, when we stretch one, we stretch the other.
Yoga is a practice. It is not a point of arrival or a performance of perfection. Yoga classes are not filled with yoga journal models performing beautiful, aesthetically pleasing asanas like a synchronized swimming team. Yoga classes are filled with people just like you and me. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised.
If you would like to see Melissa practicing yoga like a real person, check out her yoga videos (http://www.melissawest.com/index-16.html)which prove that real people can do yoga.
Wednesdays 8-9 a.m. PST
You would be surprised how many people tell me they can’t do yoga. Guess what? Neither can I. If you compare me to the models on the cover of yoga journal, I would never measure up. Even my students are pretty lousy if you match them up against the super-thin 20 somethings demonstrating king pigeon pose while selling tooth paste or maxi pads. Here’s the thing though, neither my students or I look like Victoria Secret models in a bra and underwear either. We’re real people doing real yoga.
One thing about the popularization of yoga in the media, is that yoga has been exposed to some of the similar marketing techniques used to sell other products. If you think the models on the cover of Yoga Journal haven’t been “photoshopped” then you are kidding yourself in the same way as you kid yourself about not being able to do yoga.
I often encourage my students to look through comprehensive guides to yoga, the kind that presents all the yoga poses. Take a close look and what you will find is that these books use several different models to demonstrate all the poses. No one person can do all the poses picture-perfectly. They choose the people with the really long arms to demonstrate the twists with the arm wraps. Models with flexible spines demonstrate backbends, and the strong muscular men exhibit the arm balances.
One guy actually told me, I’m about as flexible as a grapefruit. What does that even mean? Grapefruits are actually quite juicy and squishy, they would probably be quite good at yoga. They certainly can sit quietly for hours on end.
What does it mean to do yoga? Does it mean to twist and contort our bodies into shapes like circus performers on the set of Cirque de Soleil?
If we look to Pantajali’s Yoga Sutras, the foundational text of yoga, he is transcribed as saying, “Yoga is the uniting of consciousness in the heart” by Nischala Joy Devi or “Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness” by Chip Hartranft. Neither of these translations mentions anything about being able to touch your toes or reach your legs behind your head.
We don’t come to yoga already flexible, we come to yoga to become flexible. Sure, practicing yoga will lengthen your muscles and increase lubrication and mobility in the joints . However, the benefit of increased flexibility is not simply limited to the physical body. Practicing yoga will also create suppleness in the mind, heart and spirit as well. Ironically, once you start practicing yoga you will realize that the limiting belief, “I can’t do yoga” is actually as “inflexible” as your muscles.
Yoga helps to harmonize the mind, body, heart, and spirit. How often do we find we are unable to perform our daily tasks properly because of the mental suffering in our mind weighs down heavily on us? The stiff, aching, rigid, unbending qualities in our bodies are reflected in our minds. The mind, body spirit connection is reciprocal, when we stretch one, we stretch the other.
Yoga is a practice. It is not a point of arrival or a performance of perfection. Yoga classes are not filled with yoga journal models performing beautiful, aesthetically pleasing asanas like a synchronized swimming team. Yoga classes are filled with people just like you and me. If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised.
If you would like to see Melissa practicing yoga like a real person, check out her yoga videos (http://www.melissawest.com/index-16.html)which prove that real people can do yoga.