I Themed a Theme....

Whilst on holiday (no, I'm not British) in Seattle, I had the opportunity to finally visit one of that city's most esteemed yoga studios, about which I was super excited, having heard lots and lots of rave reviews about said studio, in particular, reviews about what a sweet ecstatic spirit it has (which are two of my favorite ways for a yoga studio to be).  So, I was prepared for a greeeeeeat class. 

But a great class I did not get.

I'm not going to go in to ALL of the reasons why this class was not great, a lot of that is just personal preference (and maybe a little snarky).  I'm only going to go into ONE reason why the class was not great:

(Well, two, actually):

1.  At the beginning of the class the teacher told us all that he was trying to learn names and would we please all go around and say our names and whether or not we had any requests? Alright, yes, okay, I'm all for teachers wanting to learn names.  I'm not all for having to say stuff out loud at the beginning of class, as it's embarrassing in that "when is it going to be my turn and I hope I don't say my name in a dorky way" kind of way.  But all of that, I can forgive.  What I CANNOT forgive, however, is that after aaaaaaaall that...

He. Didn't. Use. Anyone's. Name.  EVER! 

Not once, during the whole class did he refer to ANYONE by name!  Not once did he refer to anyone, period.  I mean...why?!  Why, Mr. Teacher Man, why would you make us doooo that, prefacing it all with your desire to learn names, and then not try to use any names?!  I mean, there has got to be one person in there whose name you just KNOW...can't you just take a sec to say, "Jimmy, that looks great"?!

Phew.  Okay, I'm done with that. That was really just venting. But I feel better, so thank you.

2.  After we were done with our (pointless) name game, he then moved on to his dharma talk, setting up the theme for class.  This, for those of you who haven't been to a formal yoga class, is the way most classes begin.  The teacher sets up a theme for the class, maybe it's a physical theme (our ribcage!) or a philosophical theme (the yamas and niyamas!) or a more woo-woo new-agey type theme, my personal favorite (surrender! connection! awesomeness!)...and then hopefully this theme is reflected in or woven through the rest of the class, either verbally or non-verbally (some of the best teachers can make a theme resonate all through class without ever having to reference out loud it again.  Suddenly you get to the end of class and you've had some deep EXPERIENCE of the theme, without your mind having to be involved at all.  That's the best.)

But, some teachers have not really mastered the art of theme-weaving.  Some teachers (I'll let you do the math) SOME teachers...okay, this guy...set up a theme, and it might even be a cool theme, they might even have something cool to say about the theme, but then the dharma talk ends, class begins, and the theme is never heard from again.  (Sort of like, I don't know...peoples naaaaaaaaames?)  No reference is made to any aspect of said theme, either with words or with representative poses or even via the general spirit of the class, and this, for me...is irksome. 

No, actually...I hate this.

It bothers me so much, that I have been in a bit of a nit about this class ever since, and so over the last week or two I have been doing a lot of thinking about this whole IDEA of a theme.

Why do we start classes this way?  What is the theme really for?  Why shouldn't it just appear once and then never come back again?  What's the dilly, yo?

And what I've come to is this:  The theme is not just about the teacher giving a kind of mini keynote on some yoga trope.  It's not just a preamble to the class...or at least, this is how I feel about it.  The theme is, for me, the backbone, the hinge-pin of the class.  It is the ground that the rest of the class is built upon.
Because...the beauty, the MAGIC, of the yoga practice is that it facilitates connectivity amongst the whole human system.  It links breath to body and body to mind and mind to heart and heart to breath and so on, and yes, okay, it's entirely possible to come at the practice with a sort of generic intention to yoke these things together, and to relax and surrender and all of the rest of it, but for most beginning practitioners (which I still consider myself, even after nearly 6 years), that vagueness is not enough.  To approach a class with just the clutter of mind and no unifying goal to cut through it all...I think it's asking for trouble. Or at the very least that becomes the makings of a "workout" and not a yoga class.

So, in comes a theme.  And maybe it's not even a very lofty theme.  Maybe it's going to be a class about your shins, but the mind, so hungry for direction, it can hang on to that.  The shins!!  There is so much to know about the shins!  (Suddenly).  Can I send breath to my shins?  What are my shins doing in this pose?  And this one?  Do I favor one shin above the other?  Can I even FEEL my shins or do they just seems like dead weight and if they dooooooo, then what is that about?

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

Just imagine, then, if the class is about softening the heart or expressing grace or non-grasping or any of the other gorgeous sparkly gems of themes that some of my teachers have blessed me with over the years...the right teacher can just open up the whole universe of even the most mudane of subjects (the pinky toe, aw yeeeeeeeah, a revelatory toe!)  And beyond all of that...even bigger and brighter still...a well-wrought theme can actually begin to open one's mind to the possibility of the expression of ALL THINGS via the body.  It only takes one time in class where all of your cells seem to ring with the deeper implications of your stuck shins (for example) to really begin to understand how deep the practice can go...

Which would YOU rather be?

I told you that this would happen...

I'm going to talk now a little bit about my shins. Shins, shins, shins...where do I begin(s)? Um, okay, a quick and total bastardization of the alignment principles of Anusara is to follow here, so bear with me if you're unfamiliar, and if you ARE familiar, I apologize in advance.

I've been working on the back body, I told you that...I've been working on inner and outer spiral, I think I mentioned that (it is what it sounds like--and it's mostly used in reference to the thighs, as in, one should be spiraling IN and one OUT in a one-leg-forward one-leg-behind kind of position, and both should be spiraling either in or out together if you're in a standing or seated pose where the legs are together. Got it? Good. Congratulations, you're certified.) I'm kidding, of course, that is an utterly terrible explanation of inner and outer spiral but I still don't totally get it myself and I don't have tiiiiiime, people, I don't have the tiiiiiiiiiiime!!

Ahem. Anyhoooo...so, I've been working on the ol' spirals and have been newly trying to incorporate for the last several weeks something called: "Shins In". Which basically means that your shins should be moving...um...in.

Shins. In.

This was another one of those instructions where when I first heard it I was basically like, "yeah, okay buddy, 'shins in' no problem. Got it." (to be read with intense sarcasm). This was not an I don't understand that, that's too complicated moment for me, this was a that sounds duuuuuuuuuumb and I'm sure I don't really need to pay attention to that moment.

(Cue all of my Los Angeles yoga teachers clutching hearts and looking horrified).

So, yes, I was ignoring Shins In. Because I kind of thought I was probably already doing it, I mean, I'm standing there in a forward bend, you know, torso and head hanging over my straight legs, and my teachers are telling me to, um, move my "shins in", but I'm not supposed to actually MOVE my shins, I'm just supposed to, you know, energetically draw them in. So, yeah...yeah, I'm probably just doing that, naturally. Because, I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but I am very giiiiiiiiiifted at yooooooooooogaaaaaaah.

But all of this has changed! I have discovered Shins In! Well...what I've actually discovered is WHY we are asked to perform "shins in"...I'm sure I am far from having implemented it into my practice. But.

Here is the discovery in a nutshell:

A lady can hang over her own legs in two ways--she can be engaged, or she can be collapsed. And what I'm learning is that so much of the Anusara instruction: "hug to the midline!" "muscular energy!" "shins in!" "ankle loop!" "groins back!" is about building an engaged foundation...because if I'm NOT doing these things then what I'm doing, basically is just hanging over my legs. And if I'm just hanging over my legs, then probably, I don't know, I'm rolling slightly toward the outsides of my feet or my knees are splaying a little bit or I'm just collapsing all that heavy weight of my torso and my head smack down on top of my poor little hip flexors...and if all of that is happening then my hamstrings aren't being stretched correctly or safely and my low back and hips and knees and ankles are all at risk.

Basically I'm either like a drunk construction worker hanging over my legs or a lithe little ballerina hanging over my legs, and the thing that makes the difference is engagement. And in this case, in particular, the engagement of my shins. Because that little bit of energy directed to the shins sends a ripple affect of energy and attention all the way up and down my legs--reminding me to ground down, reminding me to engage.

It's funny, earlier this week I was listening to some recordings of some "spiritual teachers" (ick) that I love and I noticed something that each of them said that rang out as totally new, though I have definitely listened to these recordings before...both of them said something about how important it is not to be passive, but to be active...that we can't expect to see results from a bunch of loosey-goosey behavior, basically, and that actual progress and change requires focus and effort. So, as much as one might be hearing the instruction to let go or surrender...it is actually not possible TO surrender (i.e. hanging over ones legs), without engagement...focus and discipline.

I swear, I had NEVER heard that before...and it stuck out to me because it has been weeks full of conversations at my house about discipline and focus and how to find those things and how to use them. And what I realized that both of these teachers were saying...and what all of my yoga teachers are saying...and what also my dear wise better half at home is saying, is that you have to ENGAGE. You have to have to have to...you can hang over your legs all you want, but if you're not pulling in to that pose, if you're not hugging in to it from your pinky toes to the ends of your hair, you are missing something.