Learning A Tool

As mentioned in the “Purpose of Yoga Poses” post, the practice of yoga poses is a tool for identifying and removing discomfort in your body. With any tool, it takes time to learn to use it well. Patience is key when starting out.

Imagine your first time learning to drive a car. You have to learn the location of different controls — gas pedal, brake, gear shift, signal light, windshield wipers, etc. — their functions, and how to use them in conjunction. At this stage, your mind is occupied with developing an understanding of the tool. It won’t be able to pay full attention to the road. You will be moving forward very slowly.

It’s the same with practicing yoga poses. When you haven’t moved your body in a variety of ranges, you lose neural connections to parts of your body. It will take time to rebuild mind-body connections to these parts. After that, you need to learn how to align the various body parts correctly to perform a yoga pose. If the alignment is off, your practice will be ineffective. This process will take time as well.

In this stage of learning the tool, forward progress may seem slow. So it’s easy to feel discouraged. The key is not focusing on the destination. Notice the subtle changes, like your growing comfort with the tool. This is progress too. Noticing the subtle improvements will keep you motivated. 

As you get more familiar with the workings of the car, your mental capacity will be freed up to be able to pay more attention to the road. Then you will be able to move towards your destination with increasing speed.

The road to mastery is endless. The more you practice yoga poses, the better you’ll get at using this tool to identify and remove discomfort in your body. There are always deeper layers of the body that are hidden beneath your awareness. As you discover and free up these layers, you will see how well your body is really designed to feel.