CHAPTER 7
GETTING STARTED AND KEEPING IT GOING
In stages, the impossible becomes possible.
—T. K. V. DESIKACHAR
Yoga is a systematic methodology for achieving greater health and contentment. The key to yoga as medicine is to establish a regular practice. This is what forges new grooves of thought and action, new samskaras, to help you overcome the bad habits you have formed over time.
Establishing a Personal Practice
As discussed in chapter 1, I believe that a home yoga practice is generally the most efficient way to build your yoga groove. In my experience, class is where I learn, but my personal practice is where I make what I learn in class my own. As useful and healing as a relationship with a great yoga teacher can be, ultimately what you do in your own practice is the most important determinant of success in yoga therapy. If you are taking yoga classes but not practicing at home, you may be missing the best—and potentially most therapeutic—part of yoga. Your personal practice is where the deepest work happens, when you go inward, and go at your own pace.
There’s no denying, however, that for those who find it difficult to practice by themselves, classes can be an invaluable means of finding the discipline to practice. Some people also really benefit from the feeling of community that can arise in a class. Ultimately, whatever best motivates you is what you should do. As Nischala Joy Devi says: “Better to do it the way you like it than not do it.”
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO GET STARTED
The props you’ll need will depend on the style of yoga you end up doing. Most people these days practice on a sticky mat on the floor, which provides a tacky surface so that your hands and feet won’t slip. In many Indian settings and some classes in the West, students practice on a small rug instead. Most beginners also need a pillow or folded blanket to put under their head when they lie down, and to prop themselves up when they sit cross-legged.
At first you may just want to get a mat. (Following the principle of ahimsa, many yogis choose to buy ecologically nonharming yoga mats, avoiding ones made with PVC plastics and other potentially harmful chemicals.) You can buy other props later on, as needed. If you are willing to invest a bit more you could buy one or two blocks and a strap, in addition to the mat. They’re easy to find separately, or you can buy all of these as part of a starter kit, available in some stores and catalogues, though often the items in a kit are lower quality than those purchased separately. It’s entirely possible to start doing yoga without buying a thing. In a pinch, you can practice on the bare floor or a carpet. If you need props, you can use chairs, pillows, books, and old ties lying around your house to improvise what you need. You can allow your practice to convince you when and if it’s time to upgrade.
If you plan on making restorative poses part of your home regimen—and I highly recommend that you do—consider buying two blocks, one six-to ten-foot strap (depending on how tall and broad you are), three yoga blankets, and a cylindrical bolster (ideally with a firm filling like cotton batting). For some supported poses taught in part 3 of this book, you’ll need a metal office chair that has had the back removed (figure 7.1). These are available from a number of yoga equipment suppliers (see appendix 1), but you can simply buy a standard metal office chair and have the back removed. An eyebag may also be worthwhile, to increase your ability to go inward when you relax. These props will run over a hundred dollars, but once you experience what restoratives can do, you’ll likely consider them an excellent investment. Think of what a single month of most prescription medications costs.
WHAT TO WEAR
The proper clothes for yoga depend on where you will be studying. If you will be attending a class where adjustments are made or proper anatomical alignment is stressed, I recommend formfitting clothes, so that the teacher can see your body well enough to check your alignment. You may be compressing your spine when you bend backward, but if you are wearing a baggy sweatshirt the teacher may be hard-pressed to detect it. You should also learn to be an observer of yourself. Rodney Yee says he tells all the teachers he trains to wear as little as possible when they do yoga at home. “You’ve got to be able to read when your knee is aligned, and you’ve got to see the skin, where it’s white, where it’s flushed.” He thinks being able to see your body helps you do what you’re doing more accurately. In India and in some ashram settings, however, modesty is considered paramount. People favor baggy clothes and generally do not wear shorts or sleeveless shirts.
Although in some yoga classes people wear socks, unless you have a good reason to do so, I strongly encourage you to do yoga postures with bare feet. A major component of asana practice is going deeper and deeper into the fine sensations of your body, and you simply get a better feel with bare feet than you can through socks. One exception is Savasana and restorative poses, in which it’s vital to stay warm to sink into deep relaxation. In the fall and winter, you might do the active part of your practice in bare feet and then put on socks before doing Savasana or other relaxation poses.
WHEN TO PRACTICE
The short answer is: whenever you can. For many people, first thing in the morning is an ideal time to practice—before the phone starts to ring, the interruptions start piling on, and you get caught up in your day. Also, since yoga is best done on an empty stomach, particularly if you will be doing twisting postures, forward bends, or inversions, a prebreakfast yoga session is ideal. If you do need a morning snack, most teachers recommend eating something light no less than ninety minutes before you practice.
Afternoon or early evening may be better if morning stiffness is a problem (though a hot shower first can help you feel more limber). In the late afternoon, the body tends to be more flexible and you may find yourself able to go more deeply into the poses. Afternoons may be the best time for people with fibromyalgia; those with asthma may find breathing a bit easier then.
It can help when establishing a routine to book time for your yoga practice as you would a business appointment or a lunch date with a friend. The day before you might think about what else you need to do and where your yoga can fit in. Many people discover that scheduling their practice time for the same time every day helps in digging the new groove, though not everyone’s schedule allows this.
If you have days that are so busy that you can’t find time to practice, try to fit in a few poses or a couple of minutes of breathing exercises. While walking through a doorway, for example, you could grasp the sides and lean forward into a gentle energizing stretch of the chest, shoulders, and arms. Standing in front of a desk or countertop, fold forward into a simple spinal stretch for a few breaths (figure 7a). While sitting in a chair, you could twist to one side and then the other (figure 7b). If you are under the weather or ill or injured, do a simple breathing exercise or lie on a bolster in a supported pose.
Here are a few more possibilities. Before you get out of bed in the morning, why not lie there and do yogic breathing for a couple of minutes? Later in the day, could you take a minute or two while sitting in your chair at work to tune in to your breath, notice your posture, and sit up a little straighter? If you are in line at the store and find yourself feeling a little stressed, could you gently lengthen your exhalation or notice the way your feet are pressing into the ground? Once you get into the spirit of exploration, you’ll find you can fit many little yoga moments into your day.
Quick yoga poses. a) Countertop stretch b) Chair twist
WHERE TO PRACTICE AT HOME
Try to find a place to practice that is as quiet as possible and where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Turn off the TV and the phone. Make sure the temperature is warm enough that you can relax. Dim the lights if possible during the quiet parts of your practice, as partial darkness can lessen the stimulation of the nervous system and facilitate deeper relaxation.
One way of honoring your yoga practice, if you can spare the room, is to set aside a dedicated place for yoga. If you practice again and again in the same spot, you deepen the samskara. Creating a little shrine with photographs, religious icons, candles, incense, or fresh flowers helps create the right mood for some people. Anything that increases your odds of sticking with a regular practice is worth doing.
The Yoga of Action Applied
Chapter 1 outlined Patanjali’s Kriya yoga, the yoga of action, which consists of tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study), and Ishvara pranidhana (giving up the illusion of being in control). Tapas can also be thought of as what you do, svadhyaya as noticing what happens as a result, and Ishvara pranidhana as accepting reality, whether it’s what you’d like it to be or not. These three combined with the yogic tool of intention, sankalpa, provide a road map for building a yogic groove and with it transforming your life (figure 7.3). As you cycle through these four steps again and again, you steadily deepen healthy samskaras.
To effect change in your life, the yogic prescription is to cycle repeatedly through the four stages of noticing, accepting, planning, and acting.
SEE CLEARLY
To change dysfunctional patterns of behavior or thought that may be undermining your health and well-being, you first need to be aware of them. Future suffering, Patanjali taught, can be avoided. The key is to begin with accurate perception, or what yogis call “seeing what is.”
Part of seeing clearly is to notice the way your mind resists establishing a consistent yoga practice. You’ll find yourself coming up with a million reasons why you don’t need to practice today, how you don’t have the time, or really should do something else instead. Observe your mind as it attempts to bargain, but unless there is a truly compelling reason not to, practice anyway. One of the most powerful ways to establish tapas and to overcome bad habits is to do what’s good for you even when you don’t feel like it.
ACCEPT WHAT IS
You may not like what you see when you turn the spotlight on yourself and your patterns. That’s okay. A willingness to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality is a huge step toward changing it. Your reality may be that you are stressed beyond the breaking point, your diet isn’t good, you’ve got a self-defeating attitude, or you are seriously ill.
If you are ill, a fundamental reality you must confront is that you cannot control if you are going to get better—though you may well be able to improve your chances. When you accept that you cannot control what happens, it can relieve you of the tremendous burden of trying to control the uncontrollable, allowing your mind and nervous system to relax in a way that can actually increase your odds of recovery.
SET AN INTENTION
Sankalpa is the yogic tool of intention. Setting your mind on doing something, yogis believe, greatly increases the chances that it will happen. There is a subtle distinction between sankalpa, what you intend to do, and what you want to happen as a result. Thus “I intend to lose ten pounds this week,” “I’m going to beat this cancer,” and “I plan to be able to do Lotus pose” are desired outcomes, not intentions. They are what you hope will happen in the future, and yoga says you can’t control that. What you have much more influence over is what you do.
To get off automatic pilot and get out of the ruts worn by powerful old samskaras, it helps to make a promise to yourself about what you plan to do, and keep reminding your self of your pledge. Sankalpa is about planning, with as much specificity as possible, a course of action. Your intention might be to practice yoga for twenty minutes a day. It might be to cut down on junk food or spend more time with your kids. If you combine your intention with imagery, visualizing yourself doing what you intend, you may further increase the likelihood that it happens.
TAKE A STEP
There’s a saying, “No farmer has ever hoed a field by turning it over in his mind.” Yoga is not about theory. It’s about what you do. To make progress, you must practice steadily. There is no other way. Regularity is more important than the length of each session. The more you can keep the practice up, the greater the fire you’ll generate to strengthen your body and mind. That’s tapas. It’s the force that helps you overcome the samskaras that keep you stuck where you are.
Just as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so does yoga. B. K. S. Iyengar says, “Take a step, no matter how small.” The only step you may be able to take today might be to get your yoga mat out and spread it on the floor. It might be a single Dog pose. Once you’ve really established your yoga groove, however, just taking these initial steps—even if you don’t really feel like practicing—will probably be enough to get you going. I sit every morning for an hour of pranayama and meditation. Some days when I get up, I have no idea how I’m going to be able to make it for that long. But if I simply begin, I’m almost always able to complete the entire practice.
A Plan for Yoga for Life
Unless your health precludes practicing on your own, I suggest an experiment: commit to practice every day for one week and see what happens. Decide in advance how much time you intend to practice and write your intention in a notebook, which you can also use to record your observations about the effects of the practice.
Don’t be too ambitious in your commitment. If you promise yourself that you’re going to practice two hours a day and you don’t, your failure to live up to your intention could end up being counterproductive. Better to start small and work your way up. For most people fifteen to twenty minutes a day is a realistic place to begin.
If you don’t have a teacher guiding you when planning your practice, look over the practices described in this book and try to include some exercises that build tapas, such as Dog pose or Sun Salutations, along with others that allow you to relax and experience calmness of the mind. When you set your intention, imagine exactly which practices you are going to do, the order you’ll do them in, where you’ll practice, and at what time of day.
If you are a complete novice at yoga and want to study with a teacher before getting started on a home practice—which is not a bad idea—start asking around for recommendations. Since finding a suitable teacher and getting an appointment could take a while, you could perhaps start out with few simple practices from this book and then modify what you’re doing after you’ve had a professional evaluation.
At the end of your first week, I suggest you take stock. How did your experiment go? How often and for how long were you able to practice and how does that compare with your intention? If you’ve kept brief notes during the week, they can help jog your memory. Ask yourself whether you feel more relaxed after your yoga practice. More peaceful? Energized? Any other changes? If you weren’t successful in practicing some days, what obstacles got in the way? Is there a way that you could anticipate such problems in the future and work around them?
Decide for yourself whether what you have seen so far is promising enough that you are ready to commit to the next step: establishing a daily practice for another predetermined span of time. My guess is that after one week, you’ll notice enough change that you’ll decide that committing to a month is worth it. If so, I suggest you go through a similar process and set an intention for how much time you’d be willing to commit to for the month. Perhaps you’ve seen enough benefit already that you want to increase your time to half an hour a day. Whatever feels right to you. Once again, though, be as specific as you can in setting your intention, and write it in your notebook. Keep building from there—week by week, month by month, setting your intention, recording the results, evaluating whether to continue.
At the end of a year, look back through what you’ve written, noting the regularity and amount of time you were able to practice, and any changes in symptoms or outlook you’ve experienced. Do you have lower levels of stress? Fewer headaches? Less stiffness? More patience with your kids? Almost everyone who gives yoga a serious try with a year of steady practice will stick with it. They find that life is so much better that no matter why they came to the practice, they don’t want to give it up.
After a year of steady practice, your yoga groove will be well dug. With the yoga habit established, you may find other less beneficial grooves beginning to fade away. You may be eating a little better, taking more walks, or not getting as worked up if you get cut off in traffic. In all likelihood, you will continue to do yoga in some form or other for the rest of your life. If you give it up for a while, you’ll probably find yourself missing it and coming back.
Well-known in the yoga world are the students who come to yoga because of a health concern, take on the practice, get better, decide it’s okay to stop practicing, and then have a relapse of symptoms. When patients ask Dr. Karandikar, who runs a huge yoga therapy center in Pune, how long they need to keep up their yoga practice, he responds with a question of his own: “How long do you need to keep brushing your teeth?” To avoid losing what you’ve gained, whenever possible, continue your yoga no matter how bad or how good you are feeling.
If the plan laid out above is more than you can commit to right now, that’s okay. If you can only give five minutes a day to practice, do that. If all you can do right now is read a little of this book, okay, that’s where you are. Maybe next week you’ll do a couple of doorway stretches and maybe the month after that you’ll start doing a five-minute Savasana a few times a week. Take the first step into yoga and it could take you on a much longer journey.
The path of yoga can transform your life. Yoga can improve your health, reduce bothersome symptoms, and as part of a broader plan, even reverse some medical conditions entirely. It can bring calmness of mind, help you discover a sense of purpose and a connection to the world around you, and improve the quality of your life in many, many ways—whether you are cured of what ails you or not. Establishing the kind of steady practice that can bring these benefits begins with a single step from wherever you are right now. Are you ready to take it?