Self Practice
by Evan Kenny
Popular Western culture is governed by a societal demand for achievement and production, and those outcomes are readily and repeatedly measured against those of others. Under this regime it is important to take time to reflect upon how we define success in our yoga practice and throughout our lives, lest we end up perpetually falling victim to falling short by comparison.
While the evolutionary basis for the thinking mind’s constant judgments and analysis of our self in relation to others is warranted for survival and social unity, it is imperative to switch the track over, and to focus our appraisals on a basis of self in relation to self.
Every yoga class we attend offers ample opportunity to contrast our bodies and postures against any other in the room. Each time we give or receive an adjustment into a shape, we are juxtaposed between the teacher’s guidance and the alignment we feel in our own form.
Showing up to this polar environment with awareness takes courage and willfulness, to recognize the comparative arena that we are in and then stand sovereign ground within it.
As important as it is to take instruction and be led, external metrics cannot be the sole basis for our worth. By building the bank of personal authority, we gain the confidence to discern when we feel complete in a posture, what our limit might be for the day or when we can push a little further than normally, and can actually listen when our body tells us that it’s time to take rest. A strong and safe practice holds this in balance.
Only through internal measurement can a true standard of Self be attained.
"Yoga Karmasu Kaushalam" is another synthesized definition of Yoga from the Bhagavad Gita, (Chapter 2, Verse 50) which can be translated into "excellence in action is yoga."
This provides a standard for what it is to practice yoga, but the specific benchmarks we use are left for each of us to establish on our own.
If we think about excellence as being ‘the best’ in something, we can strive for that best in anything we do, in all our actions or karmas. But the trick here is, that best is relative. It’s relative only to ourselves, in our own lived experience. Many body anatomies are unlikely to breathe with bliss in a bound Supta Vajrasana. Choose to find and expand the compartment that fits the water of your own body, rather than conforming into containers meant for others.
Be excellent in ways most resonant for the dimensions of your unique Self.
By finding the equilibrium of your own personally identified Sthira (steadiness/effort) and Sukha (ease/comfort), the ownership of your practice cultivated in the Mysore room intensifies. The series transforms from a competition of self progression along a sequence of postures, into an opportunity to meet and communicate with the body every day in a familiar dialogue. Here we might find that those relative bests are once again subject to differentiation, because even with a sample size of one, variation arises between each day.
Yesterday’s asana does not define the value of today’s, nor does today's asana define tomorrow’s.
With consistent Ashtanga practice, we may become expectant of progress and success, but once again I’d offer a moment to pause and consider how you define those two terms.
Change and growth are as nonlinear as grief, so trust in your slow unfolding.
Let your practice be directed inward, and the arbitration of your outcomes be uninfluenced by the results or expectations of others. Let your best efforts be relative only to you, and hold the space for them to be different each day. Offer patience and kindness throughout the process, and know that you are excellent in all your actions as long as you give your best to your Self.