Let the ego go and let you be free!

Bringing your personality onto the mat

Before I did my teacher training I practiced 3-4 times a week, I did a mixture of classes and self practice but always got more out of the classes I went to as I got distracted easily in my self practice. During my teacher training I was practicing yoga every day…. I did a month long intensive training course and by end of week one I was really hurting. My body ached all over, my wrists felt weak in my chaturangua, rotating my shoulders in downward dog caused my face to wince in pain and my hamstrings felt tighter than ever. I started to question the benefits of doing yoga every day and worry about the negative effects it was having on my body.

I remember during an afternoon break this being the topic of conversation among most of the group. We were all exhausted , sore and worrying about how we would physically and mentally get through the next 3 weeks of the course. There was no doubt we were all fully committed to each practice, were eager to learn and apply our learning’s from the previous days but our egos were the problem, they were very present on the mats and the effect was quite interesting. We had all pushed ourselves too far. We hadn’t listened to our teacher’s constant requests to bend our knees, take modified poses and take child’s pose when we needed to.

As we went through the course we slowly learned to listen to our bodies and often learned that by doing a modified version of a pose you could connect to it in a totally different way and deepen our learning as well as our practice. By week three the flipside had happened…. We were being a little too kind to our bodies. I noticed it in my own practice- I was pulling myself back from my usual version of the pose and overthinking how it looked and felt. It was a strange few days of practice, I sort of felt lost and confused as to what I should be doing – do I straighten my legs in down dog or do I go for the bind in my side angle stretch….

But then I had a moment… I was in warrior 1 with my arms overhead shoulder width apart and the teacher gently put my palms together, my instant reaction was to pull my shoulders down away from my ears but there was to tightness or tension to release, my arms were perfectly straight. I just smiled, I had been overthinking and worrying when there was no need- it didn’t really matter what version or modification I took of the pose. I know it might sound really simple and obvious to anyone reading this but it was a real eye opening moment. If we had taken a snap shot around the room and looked at all the different warriors we would have seen 23 different variations, each one an individual interpretation of Warrior 1! At that moment I made a promise to myself to always bring my personality onto the mat and to really encourage my students to follow their own bodies and bring their own poses to life on their mats.

Here I am 4months on and I love the individuality I see in classes and I really enjoy seeing different students interpret instruction or visual cues. Before I became a teacher I remember being in classes and wanting to move my body slightly differently to the way the teacher had said but rather than listening to me I followed the instructions even if it compromised my pose. Now that I am a teacher I see how crazy that thought process is, watching students take on their version of the pose really connecting to their own bodies on that day is a lovely thing to watch.

Some students need to be directed and guided through every stage of the class and they rely on you to almost be the puppeteer as their bodies move to the strings attached to your words…. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s a personal preference and can often lead to a very deep practice but for anyone reading this who has ever felt like taking a child’ s pose when it wasn’t offered or wanting to smile in your balance…. Next time go for it! It is your practice; every day you step onto the mat will be a new experience. Leave your ego outside and bring you onto the mat. 

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