The Integrated Body

 

When practicing Yoga, we direct our awareness inwards – sensing, feeling and exploring the richness of our inner landscape.

 

This practice brings us closer to who we are.

 

Before getting a sense of our expanded Being, we need to recognise that the body is a collection of various systems, rather than just a musculoskeletal organism.

 

The way Yoga is often taught today focuses almost entirely on working with our muscular and skeletal body. There are number of major dangers in this approach.

 

Firstly, our musculoskeletal system is fed by the sympathetic branch of the nervous system, which is responsible for the fight or flight response. Whilst we clearly need this software for our survival, when it is continually on, it drains our vital energy and does not offer us a chance to replenish. Consequently, an asana practice with repeated emphasis on creating flexibility and strength only, will not nourish us on deeper level.

 

And when talking about vital energy, muscling our way through an asana practice can block prana. I am sure that many have had an experience of feeling deflated or even drained after a “good” asana class. Prana, which is primarily fluid and is best accessed through our fluid body, gets dissipated if we draw our support largely from the musculoskeletal system.

 

Many Yoga injuries happen when people overuse their muscles without the underlying support of the organic body. When we initiate the movement from our periphery, rather than our core, that movement will often lack stability.

 

And when we do not access the organic body in our practice, we can cut ourselves off from our emotions which live primarily in our organs.

 

So, what can be done to restore the balance in our practice?

 

Firstly, slow down! We can only start perceiving the depth to our Being, when the rush to get to that perfect asana is over.

 

Then, we can ask ourselves the question – why do we practise?

 

If the idea is to train the body to perform an ever-increasing range of physical positions, then indeed the outer form is what we need to focus on.

 

If, however, our curiosity is fired by the desire to move beyond the endless mind chatter and explore how the asana practice can be instrumental in this, we need to expand our sensory awareness to include the fact that we have organs neatly packed inside our torso, that we are some 80% water and that we are also billions of cells, each full of potential and creativity.

 

There are many practices that can help us perceive deeper levels of our Being. But if I were to suggest just one thing, that would be making space in everyday life (not just on the mat) to notice our breath; how it ebbs and flows, how it emerges from an empty space and how it dissolves back into it and how it shifts with our moods, emotions and activities (both mental and physical).

 

Then, if we give this process enough space and when we give up effort and expectation to achieve specific results, we can start hearing the ever-present intelligence and depth of our Being.

 

Archives