There seems to be a trend toward styles of yoga that are less focused on alignment. My most popular classes are vinyasa style classes, both heated or not heated. People like to move. These classes feel multi purpose, you get the yoga vibe while also feeling as though you've gotten a workout in as well. It goes quite well with the fast paced, always (digitally) connected, lifestyles most people lead.
As a practitioner, I am drawn to a vinyasa practice. I like the flow, the syncing of movement and breath, and I like the physical challenge this style of yoga presents. It is no wonder that I've become primarily a vinyasa instructor. And while I love flow practices, I know that being well schooled in the principles of alignment has allowed me to move through these classes mindfully and safely.
As someone who has trained with a strong emphasis on alignment, there are certainly some moments of uneasiness while I am instructing vinyasa classes. The practice is quick paced, the holds are often not very long, and there is usually not time for detailed explanations of alignment. I help my students find a shape, then we work to refine from there.
It helps a great deal, when students practising vinyasa have taken some alignment style classes (often called Hatha Yoga, Discover, Level One, or Beginner) prior to attending a vinyasa class. I can see the difference between the practices of a student who has taken the time to learn alignment compared to a student who has not. I"ve had many conversations with students who attend hot classes & vinyasa classes exclusively and their reasoning for not attending level 1, or alignment classes is the pace of the class. They find it challenging to watch to an instructor demonstrate or show postures, talk about them, then practice just one concept at a time. It's different then flowing from the start of a class until the end.
This week - I've been focusing on alignment in my vinyasa classes. We've worked through some interesting plank techniques, some arm balances, and some standing postures. Emphasis has been on actions in the pelvis, abdomen & shoulders and how these actions influence the final expression of the posture. We've workshopped our way through these classes, with some amazing results and transformative progress. It's been brilliant watching the student's eyes light up as they see themselves in control of their postures & moving their practice in new directions.
Why is alignment so important? Erich Schiffmann contends that aligning our postures correctly, allows for optimal energy flow in the body. Good alignment reveals where we are tight, where we are weak, or injured. It allows us to see where we need to stretch & open, strengthen or rehabilitate, "cleaning the tubes and airing out the pathways that distribute the life force". He states that, "Stiff and tight areas of your body inhibit the free circulation of energy and there by strangle your internal supply of nourishment. These are areas where you experience pain or discomfort to one degree or another. They are undernourished - crying for help. When clenched tightly this way, they remain separate, constricted, unrelated to the whole" (p. 65 Schiffmann, Yoga, The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness, 1996)
Hatha Yoga is about creating union, it's about integrating the "whole" body. Integrating the thinking mind with the breath, with the physical and the more mysterious subtle body. When we spend time focusing on alignment while we practice - we find ourselves absorbed in the experience of the body. We are engaged in creating wholeness - oneness - union.
Hot classes, or fast paced vinyasa classes may provide the practitioner with this experience of union from time to time. The sensory experience of a hot class can provide students with a very deep sense of integration between the body and the mind. They may also cause dis-integration. Practitioners may find the heat becomes a barrier between the mind and the body with the mind's primary focus being on discomfort. Fast paced vinyasa classes may simply find students doing their best to keep up, with external focus being on the other students in the room. Sometimes the person next to you becomes your "mirror" simply because there is not enough to look inward for your practice.
How can a practitioner prevent the dis-integration that may occur in a vinyasa or hot class? And what are the dangers of dis-integration?
Much of our modern life facilitates detaching from our body. We sit with poor posture at a computer screen for many hours a day (and yes, I just adjusted my posture as I wrote that line), we drive cars instead of walking or biking, we don't spend enough time in nature, and we've lost touch with functional movement. We become wrapped up in thoughts heavily influenced by attachments within our external world. We live with illness, injury, depression & anxiety as a result. Instead of sitting with and exploring this dis-ease, we further detach by distracting ourselves with pharmaceuticals, internet, cell phones, junk food, or television. Dis-integration.
We are well trained to separate from our internal experience of one-ness. Yoga helps us to retrain. It brings us back into our body. We do this by moving in and out of postures, breathing and exploring a physical practice. We guide ourselves through postures under the instruction of teachers that show us where we resist wholeness. The yoga instructor shows you how to make shapes with your body, how to align your body so that you may explore on your own.
Practitioners who take the time to learn good alignment will find more success in this exploration. They will spend their time in a fast paced vinyasa practice absorbed in the experience of the body - not trying to figure out what body part goes where. They will spend their time in a hot class learning to sit with discomfort while breathing through optimally aligned yoga postures. They will have spent time with an instructor who has shown them how to move in and out of postures in a way that works for their body, safely and mindfully. They will know where they are resisting oneness and their practice will become about exploration, and seeking union. Not just keeping up, or coping. It becomes more about integration, and less about physical exercise. The practice becomes safer, more mindful, more meditative, and more like yoga.
I've spent many hours in level 1, 2, 3 classes, workshops, and worked through detailed alignment instruction during my teacher training. I continue to learn something every time I go to a workshop, or to a level 1 class. I set my intention to be open to learning, discovering and exploration. Even after learning tadasana alignment 5000 times, I remain open to discovery within this core standing posture. I encourage the same of my students. I try to integrate as much alignment instruction as I can when I teach vinyasa or hot yoga. But sometimes I feel like I sound more like an auctioneer than a yoga instructor.
My point? Come to level one. Be open to sit with that slightly uncomfortable feeling of being "still" in a yoga class - and open yourself up to a whole new experience of ease, discovery, and wholeness in your practice. Bodhi Tree has the best Level One instruction in Regina. The teachers are smart, awesome, funny & know their stuff.
Mondays - 10:00 am with Colin Hall
Tuesdays - 7:30 pm with Dev Kashyap or Level 2 with Heather Antonini
Wednesdays - 6:00 am with Ali Bell or 5:45 pm with Colin Hall
Thursdays - 5:45 pm with Ali Bell
Saturdays - 8:00 am with Kerri Finlay or 10:00 am with Cara Gress
Sundays - 11:45 with me.
New session started this week - check it out!
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