What counts as "real" yoga in the West?

There’s debate all over yogablogland about what constitutes “real” yoga and I haven’t really gotten elbow-deep in that discussion. I know some of the comments I’ve made in this blog haven’t exactly been peace-love-and-harmony yogic, and while I apologize for anything that might have come off as flippant, I’m a human who just happens to really love yoga, not a role model for virtue.

One of the big arguments around these parts is that asana practice is overemphasized in American yoga teaching. I disagree- I think that with the proper attitude, movement can be an incredible platform for emotional and spiritual transformation. Getting into your body, breathing, dealing with the reality that in this moment, that sensation in your hamstring is pretty much everything. It takes a long time to cultivate, but once you get there, it’s more instructive than any text or guru. Yes, I will repeat that sentence in case I wasn’t quite clear: I believe that movement and breath is a complete, transformative practice in and of itself.

There’s a similar debate in art therapy. There’s “art IN therapy,” meaning that artmaking is useful in conjuction with talk therapy, as both a diagnostic tool and a therapeutic activity. Then there’s “art AS therapy,” the idea that sitting down to make art with (or even, somewhat less safely and effectively, without) a therapist guide, is a complete therapy in itself: revealing, allowing expression for, and encouraging integration of any disordered thinking or troubling experiences. You can guess which school I tend to agree with. This can be scary for the yoga or art therapy professional as it really limits their role- rather than guru/expert they become a facilitator/guide/midwife/cheerleader. There’s still a huge amount of responsibility in this role, but it’s significantly more nuanced than it might seem. It is still extremely valuable.

My background in power vinyasa yoga meant that for the first several years I practiced, it was just body and breath. There was a bit of wisdom from the teacher about how life is like this pose or that transition, and what it means to really “practice” in life and yoga. There would be some kind of inspiring text, but not necessarily from the Upanishads. And that was fine for me- a complete sequence. The transformation left me hungry for more and I branched out into other practices and deeper study- reading the Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, trying out wildly diverse yoga schools, participating in workshops, giving serious thought to how I would incorporate the yamas and niyamas (yoga’s “do/do not” list that’s a pretty great template for living) in my life, practice, teaching, and career in a way that makes sense to me. That’s pretty much what this blog is about. Some practices resonated with me, and some didn’t. I let the ones that didn’t work for ME fall away from my daily routine and teaching. For example, I’m not so big on chanting to gods that aren’t part of my belief system- but if the invocation gives you a great warm fuzzy feeling, makes your practice fuller, and allows you to carry a greater zest for life off of the mat, then by all means, do it! But if someone would prefer to really work with their triangle pose (maybe not even refer to it in sanskrit)- well, condemning them as somehow not yogic enough is underestimating their enormous potential for growth.

There is definitely a place in this approach to yoga for studying ancient texts. You don’t need to throw away your neti pot or cancel your kirtan tickets or flight to Ibiza (though I’ll happily take your place!). But when that stuff- and yes, if it’s not making you feel great, it’s stuff- becomes the main dish and confronting the reality of who you really are at this moment in compass pose just becomes the appetizer- that’s when you’ve lost sight of your yoga.

EDIT: Follow up- more on the role of asana practice in The Value of Asanas, Part 2.

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*This Thursday, 11/19, will be our last public class of 2009 in Brooklyn. I’m going on hiatus from these classes for the holidays and will resume on 1/21/09- so be sure to get that last bit of lifebloom yoga in! After this week, keep watching this blog for upcoming classes and other goodies, and I’ll still be around for private/group classes!