How can yoga be applied to people with imperfect bodies? Is yoga really about exercise or something else?
Two thoughts came to me when I read these two questions: First, I’ve yet to come across a human being with a perfect body, either inside or outside of my yoga classes. Second, my favorite yoga quote is “If you can breathe, you can do yoga.” Yoga is ultimately the connection of body, breath and mind. Anyone can do it, and everyone can benefit from a well-designed yoga practice.
I’ve taught yoga to professional ballet dancers, tri-athletes, and weekend warriors. I’ve certified yoga teachers who have multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I’ve taught kids as young as six (others teach students who are even younger!) and adults who are ninety-years-old plus. I’ve taught students who were deaf, blind, and one who was both deaf and blind. I’ve taught group classes to students who use canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. I know of yogis who have no arms; others who have lost both legs. I have yet to find a student who couldn’t do some form of yoga, if it was appropriately modified.
Yoga as a form of exercise is a Western idea. Its origins were more closely aligned with clarifying and balancing the mind. Physical fitness was simply a cool side benefit. We often confuse yoga in the West with asana (yoga postures), which is only one of many tools of yoga. Yoga encompasses that and so much more: meditation, pranayama, ritual, chant, right relationship, and so on. So yes, anyone and everyone can benefit from doing yoga.
Even asana, which is the simplest of yoga’s tools, can be done by anyone if appropriately modified. That’s what I love so much about Viniyoga, the style of yoga that Kate—the yoga teacher sleuth in my series—and I both teach. The word viniyoga means “proper application and adaptation.”
In Viniyoga, we adapt poses to the individual. The goal is to work within a pain-free range of motion with the goal of increasing that pain-free range of motion over time. My most rewarding work as a teacher is helping students learn how to move in a pain-free way, both during practice and out in their daily lives.
Regardless of age, body type, injury, fitness level, or goals, yoga is a tool that that can help anyone. If you try a class and it doesn’t work for your body, try another! There are dozens of yoga styles, each different from the rest. There are at least a gazillion yoga teachers. I truly believe there is yoga for everyone.
Namaste
Tracy Weber
1 comment:
Yoga sounds really versatile, Tracy--and potentially fun, too. How fun that you not only do it and teach it, but also use it in your wonderful mysteries!
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