Yeah, but does it work?

I haven't blogged in a few days...things get busy around here once school kicks into gear.  Lab reports and tests need to get graded, lessons need to be planned, kids need to be shuffled around to sports and lessons, homework needs to be done.  Now this year I'm adding my own homework, lessons, and classes to the mix.  Suffice it to say, I've been meaning to write, but time is at a premium.

It's a topsy-turvy world I've created this fall.  I was up and out of the house by 5:20am on Friday, just to observe a class and back home in time to get to work early because I was doing a lab with my students that required a bit of prep.  Today, I'm set to take my first all-day teacher training session (Husband is gamely willing to entertain the boys solo today), followed by a Jack White concert at Radio City later tonight.  Whew.  Even still, I feel it's going to be worth it in the end, and I'm enjoying the journey thus far (even if the homework is a bit anxiety-inducing - see previous post).

I was sharing with someone at work that I was going back to school this year to get a new teaching certification, and when I explained that it was for teaching yoga, she raised an eyebrow and said "Oh?"  "Yes...", I continued, "I've been practicing for a long time, and I felt like this was the next step for me to take my practice a little further, a little more serious."  She questioned back, "Yoga, huh?  You don't seem like the type.  I mean, does it even work?"  I didn't even know how to answer that.

First of all, the comment that I didn't seem like the "type"...what's that supposed to mean?  How about Marilyn up there, hands in Anjali Mudra...does she seem like the type?  I mean, she's wearing lipstick and jewels and everything!  Should I start there (I've been known to don a red lip and a few gems now and again)...or am I supposed to drench myself in patchouli and wear tunics, mala beads, and Birkenstocks everywhere?  I know that people make assumptions about "yogis", so I took no offense...I thought it was funny that her first reaction was that I wasn't the type.  

The second query was the one that made me pause:  Does it even work?  Does yoga work for what?  Straighening your hair?  Getting out stains?  Probably not.  The thing about yoga is that everyone has a different reason and intention for coming to the mat, and I would venture to say that it probably does work for whatever intention you set out for yourself.  The biggest thing to realize is that yoga is not a "magic bullet" solution for your problems.  I was scanning my brain about how to explain this for her, but I quickly realized that people can't be made to see this until they are ready to see it.  A yoga practice is something you build over time - nothing happens overnight - and with each session on the mat, be it restorative, iyengar, or vinyasa, you'll have an opportunity to work on your intention.

Is your intention to relax?  True, relaxation can happen in a lavender-scented bubble bath, but yoga can also offer relaxation.  Is your intention to build strength?  Lift some free weights...or do a few planks and down-dogs.  Do you want to restore the flexibility of your youth?  Yoga is one path.  Is it weight loss you're after?  Well, the time spent on your yoga mat is time that you're not spending eating, so I suppose weight loss could be in the cards for you.

I'm not trying to be glib.  The point is that yoga can help you accomplish just about any intention you set for yourself.  You just have to acknowledge what that intention is, and decide that yoga is going to be your path to that intention.  It was the scoffing attitude, I think, that got me...almost with a tone of judgement..."Does it even work?"  My eventual reply was a chipper "Well, it's working for me.  Give it a try, maybe it will work for you!  I'll be looking for people to test out my teaching with soon..."  I think she was looking for something more concrete, though.  She wanted me to say, "I've lost 10 pounds since I started!"  or "Check out my ripped biceps!" or "Well, I've magically lost the urge to scream at my 8th graders every day!"

Since I had no glory stories to tell, I may not have been as inspiring as she needed me to be.  Sometimes people need something material to grasp onto before they come to the mat...but once they get there, I think the truth dawns on them:  that yoga is not magic, but it can be whatever you want it to be, and that's what's so great about it!  Maybe that's magic afterall...

"By practising Yoga, impurities dwindle away and the light of wisdom dawns." - Patanjali's Yoga Sutras