At a certain point, though, I decided that I should just write honestly about what I think and feel about running, and stick to my own style.
Haruki Murakami, “What I talk about when I talk about running”, 2009
The initial effects of practice are like picking low-hanging fruit. Within the first few weeks or months we see change. But then we have to stick with it over many years to get to the deeper levels of our habitual patterns. Eddie Stern, “One simple thing”, 2019
At the end of the day, you have to know this practice, personally, for yourself, without the teacher.
Maty Ezraty, “Back to Basics: Interview with Maty Ezraty”, 2017
If you attend regular group yoga classes, it’s likely you have become accustomed to doing things in a certain way. On the other hand, if you drop in at a class you haven’t attended before, you will have expectations based on its name on the studio’s timetable. Whether it’s labelled ‘Ashtanga’, ‘Vinyasa’, or ‘Hatha’, it is likely that you will have an idea of what the class will involve. Yet, inevitably, whoever is teaching that class will be guiding you through that particular style in their own unique way. Which means, if you haven’t practised with that teacher before, things might turn out to be not quite what you had expected based solely on the name of the class, and that’s the beauty of the different approaches used by different teachers.
However, this diversity of styles and approaches can feel daunting to someone who is starting out in their yoga journey. If not daunting, it can cause confusion as to what the different labels mean. For example, I have had many students say to me that every ‘Vinyasa’ class they attended seemed very different from others within that same style and that, because of this, they didn’t understand what made it a Vinyasa class. It’s also important to keep in mind that not all yoga classes focus only on asana (posture) practice, since Yoga encompasses a much wider set of applications than just postures. However, for the purpose of this article, I will primarily focus on asana-based led group classes.
Labels
In a book I have been reading by primatologist Frans de Waal, the question of labelling comes up. De Waal explains how humans are a symbolic species with a propensity for defining and categorising what is otherwise a continuum of phenomena and behaviours in the natural world. While labelling can be useful in certain contexts, it limits our understanding of the complexity of the events we observe and experience. Labelling can also lead to judgment (of self and others) and narratives that may be unhelpful.
In the context of yoga classes, labels can provide a general sense of whether a class will be posture-based, or whether it will include a meditation section, or pranayama (breathing practice); whether it will be dynamic (focusing on the transitions between postures) rather than more static (focusing on the individual postures and alignment), and so on. With more standard styles, such as Ashtanga Vinyasa, or Iyengar, we know that classes use a set system, or structure, where poses and transitions are done in a specific way, or in a certain order. For example, Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutation, is a very common micro sequence that you will find in many different yoga styles. However, it is performed differently depending on the class style. Even within the same style, different teachers will emphasise different aspects. Within a set system like Ashtanga Vinyasa, you will find different approaches to the way the system itself is taught (and practised), while retaining its traditional structure. Nothing is as monolithic as we sometimes seem to think. I have previously written about the Ashtanga framework and how this has informed my practice and, consequently, my teaching.
Some general yoga classes are marketed as ‘Beginners’, ‘Intermediate’ or ‘Advanced’. This categorisation can lead to misunderstandings. Many people consider the ability to do intense hip-opening poses, such as pigeon or leg-behind-the-head pose, ’Advanced’. While a practitioner who can get into these poses with relative ease may indeed be considered an advanced practitioner who has refined their skills over many years, it is quite common to see people with a high range of hip mobility, due to their constitution, “get into” these poses on their first attempt, or so it seems. A trained observer can differentiate the advanced practitioner from the highly mobile one. This shows that beginners may confuse high levels of mobility with advanced levels of practice when in fact the two are not necessarily linked, although they can be related.
One of the problems connected to this is that new practitioners with a high degree of mobility may take on positions that are either not suitable to their body constitutions or that, due to lack of practice, they may not fully understand how to enter or exit effectively. Both scenarios can lead to injury. Even when injury is avoided, these approaches overlook the mindfulness aspect of the yoga practice.
To address this dilemma, I tend to speak of experience, or years of practice instead. This doesn’t always solve the problem of labelling. However, I feel that categorising classes on the basis of experience is a more useful approach that doesn’t put the onus on the individual’s subjective sense of their abilities, and it instead emphasises the time they have dedicated to the practice. I feel it’s a more objective approach that takes some of the unhelpful narratives around “ability” away.
It is also important to consider the differences among individuals within the same ‘level’. In other words, every class, regardless of the label, is technically a mixed class. In reality, the only classes that are not mixed are private one-on-one sessions.
To stress my point regarding led group classes, which is the format I am addressing here, I understand and support the need of a beginner level as it introduces new practitioners to key concepts and applications of the yoga practice. However, I personally consider any level beyond the ‘beginner’ label as a ‘mixed’ all-level class, and I teach it accordingly. I try to give individual attention to each participant, while recognising the constraints associated with teaching in group settings, such as the number of people in the room, duration and purpose of class, as well as specific studio etiquette.
What constitutes a group yoga class
As things stand today, there are many yoga styles practised around the world, with significant variations among them. In what ways are they all yoga?
For a discussion about the way yoga works I will need to write a different article. However, for the purpose of this one, which is specifically about how we learn yoga in a group class context, I will begin to address the question by emphasising that yoga extends beyond the physical. For example, I have previously discussed how yoga is not considered a sport.
Traditionally, Hatha Yoga is not a specific style of yoga (as it has become in modern days). It is instead one of several routes that individuals can follow in their exploration of Yoga. These pathways include: knowledge, devotion, ritual, action, meditation, and the path focused on the body. The latter is Hatha Yoga. All forms of physical yoga, regardless of style or method, fall under the umbrella of Hatha Yoga, as they engage both the body and the breath.
While rooted in physicality, Hatha Yoga serves as a valuable tool for self-inquiry. It engages our nervous system to facilitate a transformation. Each yoga practice session is an opportunity to encounter what I like to call a minimal shift. Based on my experience as a yoga practitioner and teacher, it is through the consistent application and refinement of practice that transformation takes place, even in the smallest of ways, such as in the gradual improvement in our execution of postures. And that may be all we're after at the start. In fact, this is true of any practice.
Overtime, these minimal shifts may become less obvious. To go back to beginners, it is usually at this stage that we experience the most dramatic changes, where we easily pick the low-hanging fruit Eddie Stern refers to in the quote at the start of this article. Regular practitioners, on the other hand, may not notice much change over time.
While we may not always be fully aware of these subtle shifts, they take place every time we practise.
For me, an effective yoga class is one that allows this process to unfold in its unique ways while providing a supportive and informed environment.
My main objective when teaching a group yoga class
It is not possible to convey the implications of the yoga practice within the timeframe of a one-hour class. However, there are ways to work with the physical body that can impact people in a profound way, outlining an avenue of self-inquiry that is ultimately a personal journey. The teacher can only offer pointers along the way.
If you follow the Minimum Yoga Facebook page you will have seen this post I shared from Feldenkrais UK. Teachers are about creating conditions for continued learning. Teaching (anything) isn’t simply about conveying information. One can read a book for that. Especially when a body practice is involved, creating these conditions (for embodiment) is key. Unfortunately, this critical aspect of guiding what is fundamentally a personal journey is often overlooked in some yoga teacher trainings. So it is all the more important that practitioners do the exploratory work necessary to find teachers who can create the conditions that are optimal for them.
If I had to narrow down to a single thing what my objective is when teaching a group yoga class, it would be that of enabling a shift. I aim to create an environment where people - regardless of their experience, injuries, or current physical and mental states - feel comfortable engaging playfully with the content of the class, while being appropriately challenged. My goal is for them to leave the session with a sense that something shifted. It can be a feeling of opening, lengthening, or grounding in their bodies, or perhaps some tiny rearrangement of their attention patterns, however that manifests in that moment in time. While this may seem abstract, it is rooted in the physicality of the practice. This minimal shift emerges as a result of a material and direct intervention on the body and its functions (muscular, chemical, respiratory, energetic, etc.)
In other words, I aim for people to step back from whatever they may have faced earlier in the day, and to enter a different space, both physically and mentally. I hope this will be a space of opening and exploration through movement and postures, fostering new possibilities. This shift is first and foremost a body shift. I’ve had people at the end of class say things like: “That was a really good stretch”, or “I’m feeling taller”. After a workshop on backbends I taught this year, someone wrote to me: “My back and hips felt amazing when I left, like I’d been to the osteopath or had a treatment.”
One feedback I consistently hear is that a client needed that space; they felt more grounded, less reactive, more relaxed after a session. Of course, once we leave the practice room, we may encounter various forms of chaos again, such as work deadlines, family responsibilities, and technological pressures; the list goes on.
How can we extend the effects of the practice so that they last beyond the confines of the yoga class? There is a way.
This is a lifelong pursuit and a work in progress. Of course, there is no permanent state, as long as we’re alive. However, there is a way to extend the benefits of this practice and that is by maintaining it consistently over time. Feed by doing. Whether you practise once a week, or every day, consistency is key for those minimal shifts to continue to occur. This principle applies to any practice.
For this to occur, we need to keep putting in some attention and some effort, much like watering a plant, or tending to a garden. It is therefore important to seek out classes that can help us cultivate this mindset while also embracing lightness and humour as integral parts of our journey.
Comments