Upon reading Michelle's blog (see her in the sidebar of followers!) I was compelled to post what draws me to yoga, time and again. My practice began in 2000 with a strong focus on the physical asana of Ashtanga Vinyasa...and thereafter commenced a love affair with the traditionalist aspects of yoga (Right leg first, yoga sutras, Guru-disciple) etc. I've since put aside some of that. Much of my own personal journey has been working to heal psyche vis a vis the physical body, and I've found an excellent container for that process in the less- traditionalist teachings of Forrest yoga (www.forrestyoga.com). While less "traditional", I've found the Forrest practice to be an incredible bridge between asana, pranayama, and pratyahara and healing the stories held within my body.
So what's the line or the gateway between yoga and.... body based psychotherapy? Is there a line? Does there need to be one?
Yes and no. In terms of what you see in your classes at a local health club, there may be a self-designed line created by the participants of the class, or by who is the teacher, or by the lineage. When I practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa, for example, although my "stuff" came up, the paradigm of that practice did not give me a container to process it during practice itself- only later. Forrest yoga does.
In the Yoga Sutras, yoga is defined as "the cessations of the fluctations of the mind." Googling "body psychotherapy" as defined by Wikipedia , is a system that addresses the mind and the body, including awarness of the clients process as manifested in all aspects of the physical body. (rough translation, not word for word).
In a sense, all yoga is body psychotherapy (when we look at how the yoga sutras essentially address the nature of the mind...) , and in another sense, in conventional systems, weight is given to the devotional aspects of practice first and foremost.
Can we have both?
Absolutely.
My perspective on this is that its like building a house. In order to get to the sixth and seventh chakras (eg devotion) or even the heart (also devotion/bhakti) there needs to be a solid foundation in the first three chakras- the feet, legs, pelvis, and belly. Say, for example, you've recently been in a car accident, and you go to yoga class. Is the first priority to work through the ramifications of the car accident (fear, fight or flight, possibly injury?) or to connect with God? There may certainly be both at the same time....
...but we need to start with the ground floor, eg the physical and emotional bodies and lower chakras, our emotions as manifested in our body....in order for our spiritual connection to be solid and have staying power.
I've had several friends/clients ask me if they could just skip healing and go straight to God. Yes and no. Spirit/God/dess can certainly accompany all of us throughout our journey, but you can't build a house without a ground floor: at least, not a house that will weather life's storms.
So as our individual and collective healing work is done, whether through yoga asana or elsewhere, we are able to structure a more complete and authentic connection to God/spirit/source.
Back to the original topic : try an experiment. Next time you get on your mat, slow down your asana practice. Close your eyes, and send your breath into a part of you body that has been habitually tight. And from there begin to sense what emerges.
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