ashtanga yoga Yogaphobia

[Guest guest]

Wonderful how you described your current attitude. Better to do one sun

salutation, one conscious breathe than nothing at all. And I agree as well, yoga

is fun time, time for ourselves. Me too, I have to send all these achievement

thoughts far away into a deep forest.

 

Bist wishes - Ursula

 

alpacachris <no_reply> wrote:

 

 

Hiya,

That's a great quote about the canoe and just letting the flow

of yoga take you along.

 

For me, I spent many years struggling to do my daily practice

on the mat. Although I thought I knew the primary series, and

knew that I needed the daily practice, still it was hard to do.

 

My solution: Now I always practice asana at a good studio,

with other good students, and a good teacher. That way the

2 hours is fun, easy, light and happy.

 

When I tried and tried and tried to keep it up on my own, I always failed,

then the guilt of not practicing caused even more trouble.

 

Nowadays I do short practices in the morning by myself,

some opening postures and pranyama and meditation. Short but sweet

and happy (20-30 minutes).

Then any day I am able, I go to the studio for full asana practice.

 

Keeps me happy, balanced, and knowing that I'm doing my part each day.

No more guilt, and no more psyching myself out of practice.

The mind-stuff can get pretty insistent!

 

Peace,

 

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ashtanga yoga

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

thanks, tony, and everybody else who jumped in

to help with the topic. i would have posted too, but i have

this rule about not sending emails while drunk!

 

in fact, i was going through a tough time like you were,

missing practice, drowning myself in liquor and pizza, and

finding it next to impossible to just stand on the

mat and do a sun salutation.

 

somehow i snapped out of it today. below is a post

that i put on my blog about it. i think that the

emails from the ashtangayoga group helped

me get back to the mat sooner. hope you are having

similar luck (actually grace i think).

 

russell

 

BACK TO THE MAT

 

 

 

The best part of breaking up is making up, and the best part of missing practice

for a week is the opportunity to begin again. I don't know why it sometimes

seems so hard for me to do something that I love doing. I do know that

practicing ashtanga, after not practicing it, makes me want to shout from a

rooftop.

 

 

 

This morning it was fear that brought me to the mat. I am grateful for being

afraid. It's a matter of life and death. I know that if I stay on path of

increased drinking and related destruction, I will be committing suicide. I

believe that practicing ashtanga is a lifeline. For me not to grab it would be

like spitting in God's face.

 

 

 

So I stood hungover and trembling at the edge of the mat, hands in prayer, not

knowing how on earth I would be able to go through the practice, but knowing

that the alternative was unacceptable. When I chanted the invocation, I meant

what I was chanting. Just like the Muslims, wailing from the top of nearby

minarets at 5 in the morning, mean what they are wailing.

 

 

 

When I raised my arms in Surya Namaskar A, I did not know whether my practice

would last one minute or two hours. I did not know whether I would bind or touch

or jump or do any of the things that I too often have used to measure success. I

forgot all that, and raised those shaky arms in an act of simple faith. Of

course I ended up doing a full practice. The sweat poured out of me like tears.

When I took a shower afterward, it was like getting baptised.

 

 

 

Who knows what tomorrow, or even tonight, will add to this story. But I do know

that it feels great now to be back among the living.

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who commented and sent me emails after my previous post. I

also have received unconditional support from several people here in Mysore. In

fact, I believe that anyone at the shala would run over and help me in a second

if I had the nerve to reach out and ask for it. What a caring, loving, and

wonderfully non-judgmental group of people we have in this ashtanga community

all over the world. I am so grateful.

 

ashtanga yoga, "sx3tony" <sx3tony> wrote:

>

>

> I am recovering after a bad bout of depression - something that it

> would seem my previous Ashtanga practice 'brought out' as so many

> people have described it. Anyway, after many months 'off the mat'

I am

> feeling (nearly) strong enough to get back into my practice.

However,

> every time I feel the urge to do a session (albeit a very toned

down

> one) I feel this intense fear indise me. Almost as if I am

associating

> the practice with the depressive state I experienced.

>

> My initial intentions for starting a practice was to turn my back

on a

> self destructive lifestyle. i was pretty much living the life of

an

> Hedonist really. I mean it wasn't debauched or anything, just not

> healthy. So out went the smokes. the booze, the women (LOL), and

the

> late nights.

>

> Great, I felt fantastic!!! So light, optimistic and in a good way

> 'proud' of my decision to embark on the path of Ashtanga. Then

> suddenly I became very concerned about the potential damage I had

done

> to my body in the past...it almost seemed I was in denial. Surely

all

> those cigarettes must have done some damage, all the booze etc....

> AGHHHHH! Panic set in and I felt like I couldn't get on the mat as

it

> was almost a reminder of my denial.

>

> Sounds odd I know! But short of going for every test under the sun

to

> assure myself that I had a clean bill of health (unreasonable) I

> couldn't do it anymore. All of this turned into an obsession of

sorts

> and then into a sort of hypochondriac like depression!

>

> So here I am all geared up - with the same worries but equally

> determind that they're not gonna get the better of me!

>

> Can you see my concerns?

>

> Can anyone help or advise?

>

> Thanks!