Reflections on Kaiut Yoga: Collection 1
If we use poses as painkillers or try to do cool poses we want to do before we get too old, then we are using the poses like drugs.
Every pose in our practice should be to help our system and prepare us for the future.
——————————————
Everything you say as a teacher is to help students to be more present. Your own definition of yoga has to be the power behind every word you say. Don’t just speak words. Be precise in what you mean and have a purpose for each word.
Check the consequences of what you say and do in class. You’re not there to listen your own voice and be impressed by how inspirational the words you say are. You may think you taught a great class, but what are the consequences of it? Does it resonate in the student’s body outside of class?
——————————————
Balance is a force of nature that happens to you. Do not try to control or create it.
If your poses never change, you build new patterns of resistance. Vary your shapes. Sometimes go deep, sometimes pull back. Sometimes narrow, sometimes widen. Sometimes focus on on one spot, sometimes melt with time through many layers.
Ask yourself, “Am I present, or am I working from my memories?” Don’t go for the sensations you normally feel.
——————————————
Simplicity and variety are the recipe for delivering something everyone needs. The more layers you add to a practice, the more complexity you build in the mind and body of the practitioner. All yoga poses are about meditation.
——————————————
No one can make a broken bone heal. We can only aid in nature taking its course and then get out of the way. Most often, the pain is the last thing to change when we are freeing up mobility.
Just as the root has finds its way around the fence post, our bodies build themselves around our restrictions. Cleaning our joints takes time and patience. Do not try to rush the process.
——————————————
When we practice through discipline and will, not freedom, we create injury. The yoga pose is never about the shape. It is always about the function.
If we effort, there is resistance. Every yoga pose is about meditation and union, so we must be soft and at ease in shapes. Don’t be in pain in a pose and telling yourself to relax. We must diminish pressure.
——————————————
Without your blockages, who are you? This body has been created by you. You define it, and it defines you. We stand, walk, sit, and react from our restrictions.
In this way, bodies and DNA are proof of our karma. By changing our bodies, we are changing our karma. You can’t be the same you in a new body.
——————————————
In your practice, you will make mistakes. Mistakes make you learn and grow. You aren’t going for what you know. You’re going for something brand new that is unknown.
The mark of progress is when you realize that you are no longer dealing with your daily issues.
——————————————