First off, hello and long time no see! Been a busy summer! My wife Hannah is in grad school at USC in Los Angeles whilst I am here in Austin and she was home for the summer for an internship, thus, me being quite distracted for the last three months! But i digress…
I just recently had the pleasure of attending a weekend of workshops with Matthew Sweeney and had a fantastic time. There was quite a bit I picked up and am still processing and integrating much of it. The initial golden nugget that I came away with was a quote which he passed along to us and I can unfortunately not remember the source. It is a succinct way of defining a philosophy I have been a fan of possibly since birth.
“I use methodology, I just dont believe in it.”
He drove this concept home all weekend as it regards to teaching/practicing yoga and how many of us get so firmed in our belief of a method or technique, that we often stick to it much to our own detriment. I have personally found in my own teaching to use certain techniques to help students along the path, but to constantly leave myself open to completely altering that technique if something else seems to have a better result. There are far too many teachers and styles of yoga, in my own opinion, that adhere so strictly to a particular method, that they often are doing the student a disservice if not even injuring them at some point. If you think your way is right, you are wrong.
One of the gifts that separates some of the most successful teachers and some of the happiest human beings from the pack is the ability to have a well thought out and fact/experience based method or opinion and the freedom and forethought to give it up if something better comes along. I love it when I am in conversation with friends and holding strong to an opinion until someone gives me a better reasoning and I simply change my perspective. “I used to think one way, but now I am open to another, and I am better off for it!” There are few worse crimes as far as freedom of thought goes, than that of belief or blind faith. Once you put a thought or method in a steel box, all other option have now been ruled out.
As far as yoga goes and asana practice, every student that has ever been in a particular asana has had a different overall experience than any other person ever! We all have completely different ages, physical/psychological/ emotional injuries, body types, etc. Thus, methodology is a useful starting point but should never be the golden rule!
Let the temple doors open so that all that come may be served! (conch shell blowing in background)
Evolution-it’s not just for breakfast anymore!