People feel a lot of pressure to be perfect in their yoga practice. I can’t count the number of times that I have spoken to people about starting yoga, and they said, “But I don’t know how to do yoga, I wouldn’t be any good at it.” I also can’t count the number of times that I have seen others, as well as myself, hold back during a yoga class for fear of doing something wrong.
Unrealistic Ideals
The hesitation and self-limiting ideas that many of us struggle with in our yoga practice seem to be symptomatic of the larger social pressure, and arguably innate struggle for perfection. Whether we are told we should have perfect skin, perfect bodies, perfect kids and work performance, this unrealistic ideal can be to a greater or lesser degree an ever-present part of our daily life.
When we step onto our yoga mats, we carry all of the baggage of daily life with us — our fears, our insecurities, our strengths and our weaknesses. So it is often the case that when we practice yoga, we are practising from an internal, mental space of judgement, of fear of failure, and of self-criticism that very obviously surfaces in how we hold our bodies and move through yoga poses.
Take Chances with Failure
Watching students — and more importantly, watching myself — doing yoga poses, it becomes clear that we often practice yoga within the safe boundaries of what we know we can do. This allows us to avoid making ‘mistakes’ (which I will put in quotations to make the point that there are no mistakes in yoga) and to therefore succeed in our perception of what it is to do yoga ‘right’.
However, as with our activities off the yoga mat, if we never take chances that may end in failure, we never grow as individuals. If we never take chances on the yoga mat, we never grow and evolve as yogis. A major result of practising yoga is self-transformation and personal growth. This is the gift of this ancient practice. And so, I invite you to evolve your yoga practice by making mistakes.
Falling Out of Tree
The next time you are hanging out in tree pose, experiment a little! Try raising the arm opposite to your bent leg above your head. Then, drop the other arm down by your side, resting the top of your hand on your knee or lower thigh. Now, start to slowly come into a shallow side bend towards the side of the lowered hand and bent knee. Did you lose your balance and fall out of the pose? If so, good! You are now exploring another edge of your yoga practice: learning how to embrace imperfection!
Another challenge to try is to come into tree pose again and then slowly begin to close your eyes. You can imagine your gaze at the third eye, right between your eyebrows, as your eyes close. Did you lose your balance again and fall out of the pose? Yes? Good!
It’s alright to laugh at ourselves, and it’s very important to see how serious we take things — how judgmental we can be. Soften your ego, embrace the places in your yoga practice that you struggle with, and compassionately let your practice grow.