Whys and Hows of Practice Over Time
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
In my last newsletter I wrote (some called it a rant) about the state of yoga teacher training in the US. I grumbled about a few things, one being the short time that so many training programs require for certification. Another gripe had to do with the lack of prerequisites for enrolling in teacher training. My dissatisfaction on these two points revolves around the fact that in so many programs, very little in the way of long-term, systematic practice is required of the aspiring teacher. This, to my mind, is a problem.
Teaching is not just about having information; it is about elevating your understanding of the nature of yoga by practicing the discipline over time and then learning how best to convey that understanding to your students. The “over time” part is crucial and is an integral aspect of classical yoga philosophy. Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, which some refer to as the Bible of yoga, says, “sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih: Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations of the mind (I:14).”
Of course, the importance of practice (abhyasa), let alone practicing over a long time, is not just for teachers and aspiring teachers. Again as prescribed by Patanjali as well as sages over the ages, practice is one of the two essential elements for quieting the fluctuations of the mind and attaining the state of yoga. (The other element is vairagya, which means non-clinging or non-attachment.)
Since I began this article by raising the issue of a long term practice, let’s take a look at the question of time as it relates to practice. For a variety of reasons, establishing a practice is one of the most difficult challenges confronting the beginning (and not-so-beginning) student of yoga. One difficulty in beginning a yoga practice is that everybody is so crazy-busy these days (how did that happen, anyway?!) that simply finding the time to practice can be a big obstacle. One of the ways I try to encourage my beginning students to practice is to start with small bites. To make it as accessible as possible, I tell them that practicing one pose (asana) a day constitutes a regular practice. Now, nearly everyone can find a couple of minutes (literally) to do one yoga pose. I mean, for Pete’s sake, just get out of bed and stand in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) for one minute. There, you’ve done a practice. In the beginning I simply want you to turn your mind to yoga for a moment and include it, even in a minimal way, in your daily life. Seeds are being planted; one thing leads to another. After a week or two, you might want to add reaching your arms over your head for one minute. After all, it feels good to stretch the kinks out. Great! Now you’ve doubled your practice. To find time for yoga, make a small, attainable commitment of time in the beginning.
Let’s say that after a few months, you’ve gradually expanded your practice to thirty minutes, and you’re doing it two to three days a week plus going to a weekly class. At this point, I’d say you’ve got a regular yoga practice. What happens when you establish a regular practice is that you create momentum with respect to your practice, and that momentum begins to help you overcome obstacles that arise. It encourages you not only to find time, but rather to make time for your practice in your daily life. You begin to structure aspects of your day to allow for and to facilitate your practice. In other words, your practice has become truly important to you and is not just another item on your list of things to do.
Staying with the element of time, as you become more involved in your practice, you may find that a thirty minute practice no longer affords you enough time to explore and develop your practice in the way you would like. You may begin to make your practice sessions longer, depending, of course, on the other demands in your life.
Another way to have more time for your practice is to evolve from a regular practice to a daily practice. If we go back to the sutra on practice (abhyasa) I quoted earlier (I:14), “uninterrupted” was a part of the requirements. “Uninterrupted” can have several meanings. One is that you don’t stop in the middle of your practice to answer the phone or pick dead leaves off your houseplants. The time you set aside for your practice is, ideally, time for your practice and for that only. When your practice is uninterrupted in that sense, your consciousness penetrates more deeply into your mind and body. Your level of concentration is not being disturbed by distractions and so becomes more finely attuned.
“Uninterrupted” can also mean daily instead of a couple of days on and a couple of days off. Practicing in on-off fashion leads to the two-step-forward-one-step-backward syndrome. Yes, it is certainly way better than not practicing at all, but not nearly as effective as a consistent daily practice. It is, in fact, better to practice a half hour daily than two hours one day, take off two days, and hour and a half another day, a day off, an hour and half and three days off, and so on. Even though, you may wind up practicing more hours altogether in the scattershot method, the regularity of a daily practice imbeds the things you learn in your practice more strongly into your consciousness than the haphazard approach. You “get it” better, and your practice builds more effectively.
Yet another meaning of “uninterrupted” relates to the long term aspect of practice and brings us back to the earlier part of this discussion. A daily practice, week after week, month after month, year after year, is the most effective way to make progress in your practice. Repetition accompanied by alert awareness leads to depth and refinement in your practice. Physically your body becomes more toned – stronger, more flexible, more integrated. Physiologically, a long term practice purifies your organic body, cleansing your organs so that you function better and thus have more energy at your disposal. And when you have more energy and put more energy into your practice, you get more out of it, which sets in motion an upward spiral of progress that takes you further in your practice. Rather than digging lots of shallow holes by starting and stopping, you come back to the hole you dug yesterday, you dig in it a little more, you make it a little deeper, and it holds more.
I know that all this talk about making time for practice and the value of regular practice can, rather than be inspiring and encouraging, actually become intimidating and discouraging. It sounds like if you can’t practice daily for an hour or two for the next twenty years, why bother? It’s important to understand that any practice you do- one pose once a week- is a plus and is valuable. It is also important to know that consistency is the key to progress and success, and that as difficult as it is to establish a steady yoga practice, in so many ways, it is well worth the effort. Whether you are a teacher or beginning student, your practice is the source of everything that yoga has to offer. It is the key that opens the way to experiencing and understanding what yoga really is.
Needless to say, I have only skimmed the surface when it comes to subject of practice. And no doubt, I have raised more questions than I have answered. How do you find time to practice? What to practice? When? Why? How? In the March 20th discussion group, we’ll delve into some of these other questions and also give you an opportunity to share your own successes and frustrations about your practice – or non-practice. (For details see Courses & Workshops on the website and click on Workshops or see page 4 of the newsletter.) Whatever your experience, others will have similar issues and will benefit from your observations. I hope you’ll come share your questions and insights.
Quote: Persistent practice alone is the key to Yoga. – B.K.S. Iyengar, Iyengar: His Life and Work, p.516
Tags: John Schumacher, John's Letters
Namaste
I live outside DC now so I haven’t been able to attend a class session at Unity Woods in many years. I do go to an Iyengar yoga studio in Baltimore, though.
I fondly remember that these letters used to be on the front page of the newsletter. I recently thought of them so I signed up for the email newsletter. I recieved the first one today and would have loved to find one of these letters in the newsletter. They motivate my practice.
I hope you’ll consider including a letter from John in the newsletter when you send them out in the email. I would look forward to them.
Thank you.
Andrea
Unfortunately we don’t have the space to include John’s letters in our little e-newsletter, but you will always find his letters on the website. For the most recent, go to John’s Letter.