Every year at this time we see a bump in studio attendance. January and February always arrive with a group of new folks resolving to give yoga a try, as well as people who have been away for awhile and want to make a fresh start.
When March rolls around, class sizes begin to drop a bit, and as spring gathers momentum, the numbers come down a little more. On one level, those of us who run the studio understand that this is a predictable cycle in the ebb and flow of the community.
On another level, we have some interest in helping people sustain a practice that has benefits for them: we’re interested in why people might stop practicing, and if there is anything we can do to help them.
Some new students end up deciding that yoga (or yoga at Solaluna) is not their cup of tea, and we wish them success in discovering what works for them. No doubt there are also other things we can’t control that cause people to stop.
Yet in conversations with new students and with people who return to the studio after a long absence, it appears that many people who fall off from attending classes want to do yoga, and they want to come to the studio. It’s just that things tend to get in the way.
At least for some students, it seems that understanding the nature of the things that get in the way offers possibilities for keeping up the practice.
Obstacles
I was thinking about this recently while working with a yoga practitioner who is also a musician. Much of our conversation and exploration was focused on things that interfere with practice: pain, uncertainty, time (either too much spent, leading to overwork, or too little, leading to lack of progress).
We both saw how issues with practicing an instrument were much the same as those encountered with yoga.
As we explored these obstacles to practice, it became clear that certain expectations had built up around the obstacles. It struck me that a similar situation often happens when a student starts a practice but can’t sustain it.
My musician friend mentioned that she had expectations about not making mistakes and improving her skill. In the beginning, these expectations propelled her learning. They helped her to become more proficient.
But over time, those same expectations began to be coupled with physical pain. What’s more, that pain generated an underlying anxiety about playing the instrument. At this point, the expectations were getting in the way.
With new students, the drive of a resolution to start the year– so useful for igniting the practice– can become an obstacle over time, if the resolution becomes an obligation.
Obligations
Obligations and expectations emerge from our need for initiative and action. In order to do things, especially difficult or unfamiliar things, people need that sense of impulse and energy. However, obligation and expectation have a way of accumulating and attaching to ideas that get in the way of the initial intent.
Thus, if a student continues to frame attendance at yoga class as something they should do, as an obligation, it will become a struggle. Sooner or later, attendance falls off. When this happens, the very useful quality of initiative and discipline has turned against itself and become the major obstacle to practice.
When expectations begin to affect a practice or activity, there are some reliable signs: feelings about the activity become less spacious and more constricted. The activity becomes something that should be done as opposed to something that has a sense of curiosity or interest connected with it.
An attitude of exploration is perhaps the best antidote to such feelings. If coming to class or doing a practice starts to feel onerous, see how you might view the activity from a sense of curiosity. Yoga is a discipline, but it is not about discipline. The discipline and concentration of the practice serve something larger.
If the practice is only discipline it dries out and cannot be sustained. The life of the practice is exploration and learning.
Exploration and curiosity have an open quality. They are expressions of self-care and compassion. These open attitudes are useful when practice has few obstacles, and also when there are many.
Getting clear with your expectations of course doesn’t mean you’ll always get to class or be able to sustain a personal practice. It does offer the possibility of compassion and understanding when things don’t turn out according to plan.
This capacity for self compassion lies at the heart of yoga, and is one of the best ways to take the practice off the mat, into the rest of life.
Are there ways we can serve you more and help your practice grow in 2013. Please reply and give us your thoughts.
namaste,
The folks at Solaluna
