Reconstructing Yoga: How To Keep It Yours

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Strala people get around. You might see them in your yoga class. They’re the movers, the explorers, the creative ones. If the teacher says there’s just one way to do things, they’re probably doing it a different way, and doing it easily. They’re living without gurus or rules. They’re getting into their own bodies. They’re making their own yoga.

We love people like this! Tara and I are really lucky we get to be around so many of them. It’s inspiring. We also love when they bring us yoga stories from the road. They hear a lot of things around the yoga world. They get told a lot of things by yoga teachers.

 

They’re told to stop moving. Stop exploring. Stop creating. There is a right way, the way of our guru, our master. Their poses are “corrected” and their bodies “fixed.” They’re told to be still, be stiff, be tense. Absolutely no wiggling of any kind!

 

The odd thing is, these authoritative teachers can’t do much. They’re not academic leaders, and don’t have much high-level education. They’re not doing much physically – in yoga or in their lives – without a whole lot of stress and struggle. So where’s the authority? What’s the basis for their certainty? Their guru told them so?

 

If we believe things simply because someone else told us so, can that be yoga? We all agree yoga is about going to the source. You are the source. Yoga is an experiential science: you discovering you directly through you! It’s connecting you with what you’ve got, and getting really good at using it. So that other stuff isn’t yoga. It’s something else. It’s something that’s happened to yoga in the last hundred years.

 

Nobody would believe you live a better life by following someone else’s rules, than by discovering your own.

Nobody would believe it’s better to hold stress in your body, than to let it move out of you.

Nobody would believe you’re going to be healthier, a better athlete, more capable at work, or happier, if you can put your foot behind your head.

 

So nobody would believe these things if you told them. But that’s what is happening in “traditional” yoga now. Things that don’t help people. Maybe occasionally, by accident, people help themselves in spite of it all. People are amazing! But yoga can do much better than helping occasionally, and by accident.

Nobody walks into a yoga studio thinking “Gosh, I want to learn how to put my head in my behind!” Pretty much everyone walks in wanting to feel good. Maybe I’ll be a better athlete, and heal some injuries. Maybe I’ll get healthy. Maybe it will be fun!

But looking around, what Strala travelers often find isn’t any of this. It’s posing circles, occasionally interrupted by a rousing game of follow the guru! A whole lot of group effort is going into bending over backwards and shoving a foot behind your head. Even better if it’s two feet behind your head, and then bounce around the room on your bottom!

 

If you see a bunch of people sitting around a yoga room trying to get each other “deeper” into “more advanced” poses, move to a safe distance. There’s a black hole growing there. Injuries are forming, joints destabilizing, athletic ability declining. People are becoming less capable in their lives.

 

You don’t need detailed instructions from a guru or anyone else to get into you. You don’t even need someone to give you permission to do it. Just do it.

 

There are no “deeper” or “advanced” poses. There’s just you getting into you. If it looks just like what someone else is doing, it’s probably not you. That’s true for yoga. It’s also true for your life.

If someone believes there is one “sacred” alignment, keep moving. If someone believes that rules are rigid and unbreakable, keep moving.

 

If someone has removed freedom, exploration and creativity from their own yoga – while still seeking it in their life – keep moving. Nobody can help you with what they don’t have themselves.

 

If you want freedom, you practice freedom. If you want to move capably, easily, happily in your life, move capably, easily and happily in your yoga. It’s the same thing.

Strala people get around. You might see them at work, on the street, or in the news. They’re the movers, the explorers, the creative ones. If someone tells them there’s just one way, they’re doing it a different way, and doing it easily. They make their own rules. They live inspiring lives, and inspire others to do the same.

It’s more fun this way. You can do it!

-Mike

 

About Strala Yoga Training

Strala combines the movement and healing wisdom of tai chi with the form vocabularies of yoga, tai chi, qigong, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine, to help people release stress, move easily through challenge, and live radiantly inspiring lives.

It begins with a mindset, that says our best way to get where we’re going is to feel good along the way. It also works miracles for whole health, helping us to find ease in our bodies and minds, and create the right conditions both for healing and optimal performance.

In our Strala Training Courses, you learn to shape your destiny on every level that counts, from your psychology, chemistry and neurology, to your chromosomes and even gene expression. The unique set of skills you develop – for connecting with yourself and others, unblocking your energy, healing what needs healing and accomplishing challenge with ease – uncovers your ability to create the life you want, and be an inspiring leader to the people around you.

Who’s What’s and When’s of Strala Yoga Training