Is Yoga Calisthenics, or not?
I have some thoughts to share about what yoga is or isn’t. This is just one perspective, my perspective. Worthy of consideration, and also worthy of longer conversations than a short essay. People tend to poo poo the “Instagram yoga”. The slender body in a bikini doing handstands on a rock at the ocean. That ‘influencer’ calls it yoga. Some other ‘influencer’ calls is #notyoga. I’ve been on both sides of the argument. I used to post videos of me ‘doing’ yoga. Can’t say I won’t ever do it again, but observing comments and conversations over the years has caused me to pause and think about it. Recently I saw a contortion coach share her thoughts about the distinct difference between contortion and yoga. To that I say, there is a difference, but there is also a blend.
Contortion, running, and lifting heavy weights is what led me to yoga. After I tore a rotator cuff at circus school doing 90 minutes of advanced handstands week after week, I was forced to take a pause and give my physical body a rest. In that phase of rest and recovery, I had already completed my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, so it gave me the opportunity to apply it differently. What I realized was this. Up until that point, I had been physically gifted. Fast, coordinated, balanced, strong. I accomplished great things with my youthful physical body, Yay! Go me! But my yoga practice is what made me realize how disassociated I was within my physical body. There was a great disconnect, and I never knew it, and I certainly did not know why, or that I could work with it.
My yoga practice brought me to an understanding of the layers of a person. Not just the many complex layers of the physical body, but the layers of the energy body, emotional body, mental body, and spiritual body. That disconnect is what caused my rotator cuff injury. I didn’t know there was the option to listen as I stretched and moved. To use my breath as a tool to improve my flexibility. To be aware of parts of me that were emotionally injured or stressed from life experiences. Over time, I became aware of trauma and stress that had limited my physical efficiency. Most of it residue from long ago.
For the sake of fitting this into a shorter story, and my own attention span, my point is this. Of course there is much more to yoga than any so-called performative physical practice. Even though nothing about yoga is performative. And yet, a yoga practice/mindset can be applied to and within ANY physical practice. It’s what got me through running races and long distance relays, when my ‘exercise induced asthma’ thought about intruding. When we learn what yoga is all about, even beyond the element of asana, we can apply it in various ways, and in various activities. It helps develop our awareness, so we can do more if possible, how to safely proceed while listening to all the layers of the body, and how to slow down and back off if we sense potential injury.
Though not all coaches and trainers apply a ‘yoga mindset’. Not even all yoga teachers apply a ‘yoga mindset’. By that I mean, some push and push and push whoever they are teaching/coaching, which does not give the students/athletes the opportunity to truly listen to their own body. A yoga mindset can be applied to the simplicity of sitting, walking, standing, lying down AND to the complexity of running, handstands, weightlifting, football, hockey, etc. A yoga mindset can improve our efficiency as a moving body. So personally, I don’t believe we have to separate two things that are actually very much complementary, whatever we think yoga is and other physical practices. After all, yoga is the practice of uniting body, mind, and soul.
As a yoga teacher myself, my intention is to provide a template for participants to explore their own mind and body. After that, I teach what I know about anatomy and alignment, food for thought if you will. I teach them creative sequences and transitions that maybe they haven’t thought of previously. Always with the hope of facilitating and inspiring an opportunity to discover their own capacities by connecting deeply to all layers within themselves; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
On a final note, we know nothing about another person’s yoga journey. Not when they are simply practicing the art of walking well, and not when they are doing advanced back bends. That is because the majority of yoga is an inside job. We should never be comparing our practice to another’s, and we should never spend time deciding whether or not someone is actually practicing yoga, or something else.
What do you think about it all?