I was doing my usual daily instagram scroll when a post from one of the many amazing yogi’s I follow caught my attention. The post was a clip from a recent teacher training that they had facilitated and the topic was ‘The issues are in your tissues’.
What she was referring to was how we as individuals respond to yoga poses in such unique and diverse ways and that as teachers it can be tempting to tell the class what response they should or could expect. But that as innocent as that can be, that actually takes away the personal experience of the person in the pose because we don’t actually know how that pose feels in their body or what their response might be.
I felt like I had learnt a valuable lesson here and one that I will be implementing going forwards in classes. It reminds me of the practice of Active Listening in which there is a space for each person to speak uninterrupted and without the listener imparting their own view or perspective, because ultimately we can only offer our own perspective which comes from a place of our own unique experiences, thoughts, beliefs etc, rather than a detached view.
Holding space is a skill that I am always interested in exploring and evolving. Our bodies hold on to our thoughts, beliefs, experiences and more within our tissues. Emotions, thoughts and feelings have energetic qualities as do we. We have the ability to shift and transmute what we are feeling through movement, breath, stillness and so on, which is why when we show up to our mat it can be an expression of how we have been or are currently showing up in our lives. When we bring ourselves to yoga we open the opportunity to create a space for us to connect the mind and body with our truth - sometimes that manifests as a sensation, maybe you have noticed a particular or a load of emotions, perhaps there is a thought or behavioural pattern you have observed and so on.
It is my intention to invite you to explore your own experience when in asana:
What is the sensation? What thought happens while there? What feelings or emotions are present? What is your personal journey with that experience?
When we create space for self inquiry by asking questions within ourselves in the moment we are honouring our own individuality and allowing for more compassion, understanding and empathy towards ourselves. Yoga is translated as ‘yoke’ or union, we begin to transcend asana being just a physical practise and begin to foster an approach that can encompass the multi facets of the human and spiritual experience. We can let ourselves explore and grow in our own unique way.
