Category Archives: Yoga therapy

Sounds a bit wishy-washy, doesn’t it?  What would that even look like – to show up on your yoga mat with no expectations?  I admit that I don’t know.   I imagine that, even when you think you have none, there are some lurking underneath the surface.  I suspect that the real question to ask is,  “What is your relationship with those expectations?”

Do they rule you?  Or is it the other way round?  And, if you say neither, it can’t be true.  Expectations, by definition, set the stage for judgments to set up camp along every step of the way.  They open the door for evaluating what you do, comparing what’s happening now with what you expected.  Of course, there may be times when this attitude may well serve you.  Perhaps it helps move you forward.  And then, depending on how loud the judging voice is, it might just keep you in a stuck place or even send you down the rabbit hole.

What might it be like to interrupt the setting up of expectations, inserting awareness to bracket them as they arise?  No matter if they seem attainable and positive or if they are negative and drain your energy.    They are simply ideas that you have, albeit ones with the potential for becoming beliefs.

Awareness allows you to recognize them for what they are and proceed in a neutral way – keeping open to the moment or to the task-at-hand.  Like having a foot in the door, awareness lets expectations move through to another room, out of the way of what you are doing right now.   And if you wish to let them back in later, that’s okay.  Awareness can just keep them from getting in the way of you being absolutely fully present to this moment; right here, right now.

Got it?  And, of course, you know this isn’t just about how you show up for yoga…

Consider how you, or anyone else, arrives on his/her yoga mat?  What are the forces that enable the next step of unrolling the mat and showing up?  I suspect, of course, the answers to be many and varied, though at the core is there not an intention? And that intention would probably have something to do with supporting yourself.

Unlikely that you would show up hoping for some negative effect, however, I’m not certain that there needs to be a hoped-for effect at all.  There are so many reasons to practice yoga, from increasing flexibility to calming emotions, and  invitations abound as yoga increases in popularity among the general culture.  Often these reasons feel as if rooted in advertising and marketing – not that they are not valid – but what else might there be?

Returning to the idea of supporting yourself – how might that translate into everyday language?  It might have to do with improving or changing some aspect of your body or ability.  It could also mean creating space to check in with yourself on another level, meaning besides what’s evident in your day-to-day consciousness.    Perhaps just wanting to understand a bit more about what’s happening now with you and your body, and maybe noticing other aspects of your life that just might surface during this yoga practice.  So it could potentially be many desires that determine how you choose to meet your practice this time; and maybe it’s not a desire at all, but an interest in just being and exploring.

Whatever it is, beginning your yoga practice with intention seems like a way set a direction or determine an attitude – at least for the start of the practice.  It may morph into something else entirely by the time you are finished.  Deliberately setting an intention, or recognizing the one you have, is about a readiness to begin.  Actually you’ve already begun; you have just taken the next step…

This blog is offered in service to those involved in the giving, receiving, training and future of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.  It is begun with the intention of keeping the door open to the essence of this work.

Take a moment to look again at the title:

YOGA – Many have some idea, but some may find themselves hanging on to only one limb, when there are, in fact, eight limbs of yoga available to support them.

THERAPY – An encounter with Wikipedia reveals the “attempted remediation of a health problem.”  Then “remediation” referred to “remedy” – defined as a “treatment that relieves or cures a disease.”  Consider what might be the dis-ease for which yoga may offer a relief or cure.  Leaving that for you to ponder…

EXPERIENCE – Well, it’s pretty much what’s happening now for you, isn’t it?  Or, in other words, it refers to all that you are taking in through your senses, your body, your emotions, your thoughts, and, perhaps, that sense of something beyond your immediate self – whatever that might be.  The point being that it’s bigger than what you hold in your mind or in some part of your body!

So…Has your curiosity been peaked?  If so, it’s worth remembering that one doesn’t need a diagnosis in order to benefit from Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy – unless “Curiosity” is a diagnosis.  Who knows, it may well be…