Have you heard your yoga teacher saying, "practice, practice and all is coming"? This sentence became a standard phrase, especially if you were practicing Ashtanga Yoga.
There is often a fallacy in the assumption that we can do anything if we only work hard enough. However, some people will never put their ankles on the floor in a Downdog or even do the headstand or lift in a Vinyasa due to anatomical limitations. Simply, some things will not be possible for some of us because of our bones or body shape. It can be very frustrating to a person to hear their teacher saying that they must put their palms together or should be able to put their heels down or eventually, with practice, will put their feet down. The student might think something is wrong with them, whereas their body's shape will never allow certain postures to happen. In my opinion, what is wrong is the lack of awareness of the teacher and ultimately the student!
I offer a series of workshops about the physiology and anatomy of yoga that aims to raise awareness regarding this fallacy:
1) Ankle and knee stabilization and Bandha
you will learn how to activate your feet properly and how can they assist you in protecting your knees; the knee often gets injured because of unstable ankles or forcing the hips excessively in shapes. Learn how to protect them!
2) Hips and Bandha - interrelated with the knees and the lower back - learn that less is more!
3) Neck and Lumbar Spine - most people suffer from neck and lower back problems - learn how your yoga practice can either contribute to this or alleviate it
4) Shoulder stabilization and Bandha
Shoulder stabilization is important, especially if you practice a lot of Vinyasa Yoga. Learn how to use them and stabilize them.
All this moving from the core and respecting your body shape and physiology!
If you are interested in signing up, let me know or if you wish to offer this workshop at your venue! I also still offer every Wednesday at 6:15pm an online zoom class. It's a very relaxing class, often ending with some restorative postures.
We treat everybody coming to our classes as enlightened, perfect beings. Often people feel inadequate because they lack physical or mental strength. It is up to us to challenge this into a feeling of being adequate the way they are at this moment of their life. This encouragement and empowerment releases tension and opens the person up to growing and becoming stronger. It does not matter if a person cannot perform difficult postures designed for natural, flexible people. It is up to you to teach the basic foundations to gradually become stronger and more flexible, without feeling that this depends on their physical performance. Humans compare themselves to each other all the time, so it is up to us to remind our students that we are all on our path, and there is no point in comparing ourselves with others. We can be inspired, but never copy another body and mind. We encourage them to stay in their own body. Humans do this unconsciously to fit in and bond, but we as teachers make them conscious of being kind to themselves.
Want to become a teacher or diver deeper into yoga? The lovely lady in the picture is Manju, and she graduated last teacher training together with other beautiful souls. It's never too late to learn! Remember this and don't allow anybody to say otherwise.
Find out more here.
I need your help! Please help me to disseminate information about my yoga teacher training course, workshops, and weekly class. This is some loving Karma you can do for me.
Afterword:
Practice, practice, and all is coming; it is not about the physical abilities but metaphorically relates to life. Practice patience, love, kindness, gratitude, and enjoy the small things of life. In the case of my student, all her efforts have paid off.
Stay healthy and save!
With love,
Claudia