Teaching trust
The only time I’ve ever injured myself in 28 years of practicing yoga happened when a teacher told me my headstand was incorrect because I was putting more weight on my arms than on my head. I was a novice student, only four years into my yoga practice, and despite the fact that I knew my neck was not very strong due to a previous injury, I decided to trust the teacher instead of my own intuition. I equalized the weight between my head and arms for about five minutes, and for six months after, I experienced constant headaches, stabbing on the inside of my left scapula and neck pain. After lots of acupuncture, chiropractic and deep tissue treatments—and six months of not doing ANY headstands—things got back to normal.
Perhaps the teacher could have worded her comment differently, less judgmentally. But the truth is, it is my reaction to her comment that caused the injury. Being a novice yogi, I was still very much concerned with accomplishing poses, and doing them “right.” As a teacher, I learned from this experience that the most important thing I can do is to empower my students to trust themselves. I teach mindful practice, so that the truth of each person’s yoga will be evident to them in each moment.
What are your experiences with trusting your gut—or not trusting your gut—in your yoga practice?
April 13th, 2010 at 11:32 am
I am thankful to have a yoga instructor who encourages us to listen to our bodies and trust ourselves to know what we can or cannot do during class. We are free to say “I don’t think I should go there tonight” and she will help us choose an alternative pose. The times I have not listened to my gut and pushed beyond what my body was telling me (when my mind takes over and says ‘you’ve gotten lower before, you need to do it again this time’), I end up with sore joints and muscles. I have to remind myself that yoga is not P.E. class - there are no artificial standards that I have to meet.
April 13th, 2010 at 11:49 am
It’s great that your teacher has an understanding of the bigger picture. I’ve observed that it is more often the inexperienced students that want to push beyond their limits in order to meet an artificial standard (that I haven’t set!). Most of my more experienced students feel perfectly fine modifying or skipping poses altogether when they just don’t feel right. I guess the difference is that the more experienced students have learned to trust their guts, and that yoga is not about what your body can or can’t do.