Everything all the time...—The Eagles
Today’s entry starts with a quote from one of my favorite bands. I play all kinds of music in my classes—originals, covers, mashups, remixes—no band is safe from a good cover, even the Eagles. That said, I adore them and their peers like Journey, REO Speedwagon, Fleetwood Mac, and more. I grew up in a house filled with music. We all sang and played instruments (piano was mine), and I’ve been in bands as a singer, sometimes playing keyboard. A tambourine's always handy too—it gives me something to do up there!
But onto today’s point. When learning something new, we often expect to follow a linear path. Take yoga’s Eight-Limb path, for example. You might think we start with step one and go on to step two, and so on. However, it took years of practicing before I learned about anything beyond asana (the poses). I’d hear bits and pieces about the other limbs from teachers, but I was mostly there to move, breathe, and enjoy the music and how it all fit together and felt within my body. For me, step one was just showing up to class. Step two was learning the poses. Step three was feeling connected—to others and to myself.
Looking back, I realize many of us skip steps in our yoga journey, jumping straight to asana instead of starting with the yamas and niyamas. But rather than feeling like we’re learning yoga "out of order," I resonate with what Gates says in his book: "In fact, we take up all the limbs together. As the Eagles song goes, we do everything all the time." I’d even add, "whether we know it or not!"
When we step onto the mat, whether it’s our first time or our thousandth, we’re benefiting from the entire practice, not just one part. Yoga is everything, all the time. Whether or not we intentionally come to practice self-study (svadhyaya—one of the niyamas), paying attention to our breath, our reactions to a pose, or even how we respond to someone's slamming their belongings down too loudly, we’re practicing.
There are so many ways the other limbs influence our asana practice. Gates says, "Each time we come to the mat, we have an opportunity to work the entire path, moment by moment." As a teacher, I love weaving aspects of this path into my classes, whether overtly or subtly. Every January for the past eight years, I’ve dedicated weeks to teaching through the chakras, yamas, and niyamas. Even when there’s no specific theme, elements of the Eight-Limb path show up in every class—when I cue breath, encourage students to find their own pace, or offer adjustments for more depth in a pose. I might not always call it out, but those aspects are always there. And now that I’ve revisited the limbs, I just might!
I aim to create an environment where students can gain a deeper understanding of themselves on their mat, while also learning ways to enhance their experience off the mat. After all, yoga is the light that never dims, right? Its effects last long after class is over. We might find ourselves feeling more peaceful, patient, or even practicing yoga in other areas of life without realizing it. How we shop for food, take a walk, or even fold laundry can become as mindful and intentional as our time on the mat.
Like the Eagles sing, "Everything all the time." Even when we’re not consciously practicing yoga, we are—or at least now that you’ve read this, you might start noticing those moments when your daily life feels like yoga. And so it is.
Namaste, and thanks for reading!
Lauri
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