One of my favorite teachers, Professor Norm Fryman at Parson’s School of Design, began his course by identifying three key attributes necessary for success in any endeavor. They are common sense, discipline, and attention to detail. Here are some suggestions on how to apply these attributes to your yoga practice:
1. Common Sense. Don’t force yourself into a pose. In many yoga postures, joints can be taken to the extremes of their range of motion. Forcing the body into a position can injure the cartilage, ligaments, and muscles surrounding the joints. The Mat Companion series provides guidelines on how to use physiology to safely dissolve blockages and increase joint mobility. Use these guidelines to design your practice. Applying your knowledge of physiology rather than forcing yourself into the pose is akin to the ancient Chinese proverb, “If you have difficulty reaching your goal, keep the goal, but change your strategy.”
2. Discipline. Yoga is about freedom—freedom of movement, thoughts, and energetic flow. Therefore, use discipline in moderation. Balance intensity with consistency. Regular practices of shorter duration are superior to high-intensity binges. Short and consistent practice integrates yoga into your life and produces long-lasting shifts and openings of energetic channels.
A practical way to combine modern technology and yoga is to use a timer. In fact, yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar often uses a stopwatch when practicing his poses. I have found this to be a particularly valuable tool, as it allows me to work each side of the body evenly. Using a timer also sets a limit on the asana (for example, 30 seconds). When the bell chimes, I’m finished with that pose and I don’t think about it anymore. The timer is like a guru.
Another way to apply discipline to your practice is to take a moment to reflect on your session immediately after Savasana, or the final relaxation. Consider what went well and how you have improved; then leave it. Yoga instructors can use this same technique after teaching a class. This short reflection helps to consolidate the training session into your neural circuitry. Remember that the unconscious mind integrates your hard work into the body between sessions. Conscious reflection links your practice to the unconscious and multiplies this effect.
3. Attention to Detail. Art historian Aby Warburg once said, “God is in the details.” When practicing Hatha Yoga with precise alignment, the body becomes the vehicle to union. As we breathe and move through the poses, chemical changes take place that produce a feeling of well-being and relaxation. Our drishti, or focus, combines with these chemical changes to quiet and calm the mind. The Mat Companion series provides a road map of muscles that activate and stretch and a step-by-step sequence of cues that you can apply in each asana. If you concentrate your drishti on the muscles that position the joints, your postures and alignment will improve and your state of mind will, too.