Yoga Teacher Training Forum

8 Yoga Secrets
By Zahir Ananda

I was kissing my friend Good Bye, when she said something like "It is funny how practice can be so easy some days and so difficult some other days, and it seems there is nothing we can do about it"... yes, I must agree, that is pretty much what I have been experiencing myself especially after moving back to France.

Back at my apartment I wrote my 8 Points text in a flash and named it '8 Yoga Secrets'. In many ways these 8 points are no secrets, but rather things we concretely experience on the mat. It is not that hard to see that life works pretty much the same way. By keeping in mind what we learn on the mat and applying it in everything we do, we can make our life much more readable, easier and fuller.

Good Days follow bad days and vise versa. Some Days we have a dream practice, we simply flow from one posture to another without much thought, we bend deeper than ever without any effort. Some other days, from the very first Sun Salutation, we know that every single posture gonna be a challenge. This is the way it goes on and off the mat. There are some good days when everything runs smoothly and a couple of pleasant surprises might catch us along the way, but there are also some others days when everything goes wrong, and the only thing we can do about it is complaining. When we have a difficult day, let's keep in mind that better days stand on the line, when we have a great day, let's not take it for granted, but appreciate every minute of it! What's important is the long-term outcome.

Nutrition is Power. Let's eat pizza, french fries, meat, processed and junk food, dairy products, sweet, bread and sponge cakes, drink coke and coffee, then see how we feel on the mat, let's switch to vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruits, water, fresh fruit juices and veggie soups, then see how our practice goes. When we get into a traditional yoga routine, meaning getting up 3 hours before everybody else 6 days a week to do our practice before going to the office or driving the kids to school, we don't wanna make it be harder than it is, and if turning into a vegan can help, we do so. Then we start feeling lighter, more flexible and awake, our skin and hair glow with health, no more upset stomach or bad digestion... Once we have experienced the power of nutrition on and off the mat, we think twice before feeding our body, and the unexpected surprise is: our Starbucks' starts tasting different, it tastes twice better because when we have something only once in a while, we love it for its true value.

Everything is Possible. On my first yoga class, as I, just like - it seems to be - most Westerners, thought that yoga was all about stretching a bit and half-sleeping on a blank mat, my teacher introduced me to Shirsasana (or headstand) and encouraged me to try. "No kidding, is that yoga???" I refrained from saying. What I couldn't avoid to spit out was: "I will never do that!!! Simple and Clear". Somehow, in a yoga classroom, we do what our teacher tells us to do and they always make sure that we give a safe go to the postures that we dislike most, then somehow we all end up doing some postures that we once believed were beyond our abilities. Focus, patience and perseverance can not fail on and off the mat.

There is Only one way: get on the mat and practice! Thinking about it, talking about it, delaying the start of it won't do much for it. "Practice, practice, practice... and all is coming" Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. All what? All everything? Yes, remember, everything is possible. Skip practice too often and nothing changes much, stop practice and all goes fast away like flushed down the toilets, 'Practice and All is Coming'. On and off the mat miracles come from faith, passion and devotion.

WE can't GO against Nature. All yoga postures would seem easier to a former olympic gymnast aged 27 than to an overweight 45 year old smoker who has never practiced any kind of sport before. Some people seem to go faster than others for more or less obvious reasons. Body proportion plays a key role when it comes to yoga postures. It is commonly accepted that people with longer arms have it easier with Supta Kurmasana (when we have to lock our hands in our back and put our legs crossed over our head, that sounds tricky indeed). It is also commonly observed that people with a deep back bend have a harder time with inversion postures and vise versa people who find inversion postures easy have a hard time with back bend. On and off the mat we all go with our strengths and limitations. Doing what we are naturally good at is fun, mastering what has requested more effort is rewarding, being judgmental (with oneself and others) breaks our heart and slows us down.

Our Mind is the Boss. Tarik Thami teaches the traditional Ashtanga yoga practice as taught by Sri K. Patthabi Jois. Students do self practice while Tarik watches and helps when necessary. Tarik is one those few renown yoga teachers who is able to pinpoint our strengths and weaknesses in a blink and helps us to work on them. I was lucky to just start Ashtanga when he visited my yoga school for a week workshop. As I was going through my set order of postures, Tarik came along to correct my "jump through", which I was not giving much effort to. His words made magic, he said: "You are strong enough, you can do it". Within the end of the class, I managed to jump through a couple of times, within the end of the week I could do it as many times as I wanted... to the biggest surprise of others who had been struggling with "jumping through" for months or years. What I did not know at the time, as I was new to Ashtanga, is that most Ashtangis have prejudices against "jumping through" considered as something difficult to do. As a result this "jumping through" routine becomes even harder to do. Cultivating our prejudices is like slamming on the brakes. Keeping our mind open opens every door... on and off the mat!!!

Are we in the Mood for Yoga today? Let's imagine that we are a woman who has just met a gorgeous looking man (whatever that means to you), let's say on the first date this gorgeous looking man takes us wherever we want to go to on his private jet, on the following week he calls us every single day to tell how much he loves us, finds us beautiful and smart, and to make plan to meet again as soon as possible. Guess what!!! This week our yoga practice gonna be awesome. Our friends and teacher do not recognize us on the mat. We master all primary and secondary series at once and feel ready for those advanced ABC asanas Wouzzzzz!!!!! That's when that gorgeous looking man decides to disappear. Suddenly our morning practice stops at navasana (half of the primary series). Well, at the least we did get out of bed!!! Mood is scarcely influential on and off the mat. Let's be aware!

What's our Goal? Yoga teachers tell us that practice is essential, but doing headstand, crossing our legs behind our head, dropping back... this all is not that much what matters. Yes, right! But wouldn't it be awesome to be able to include a split or any other contortions into our salsa routine (or any other routine) and impress the crowd? The truth is that most of us start yoga wishing to achieve this or that supposed to be difficult posture. Once we manage to do our first dream postures, we go after more... it can go on and on this way and never ends, there will always be more impressive postures out of reach, so eventually we understand that what is fun is not reaching the goal but going on a journey. On and off the mat let's enjoy our journey, let's make every second of it the best it can be!